‘Sensual Communism’ Conference, Poland

Deadline: 15 March 2013
Open to: representatives of humanities, especially anthropologists, sociologists, historians, literature, theatre and film researchers, orientalists, political scientists, etc.
Venue: Spała, Poland from April 11-14 2013.

Description

Warsaw University, the Institute for Polish Culture, Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, the University of Warsaw Foundation, the Cathedral of Culture Association, and the Communism Culture Research Group would like to invite you to the international interdisciplinary conference, “Sensual communism: Somatic experience of the era” in Spała, Poland from April 11-14 2013.

Conference Costs

The conference fee is 200 PLN (50 €) and includes conference materials, 3 nights, full board. Please indicate if you prefer vegetarian meals.

Topic

This conference is an eleventh interdisciplinary meeting connected with multifaceted anthropology of communism or the research on „civilisation of communism”. This time, they are mainly focused on somatic and sensual experience as a way of existing in the communism times and as a carrier and catalyst of the memory of this era. They would like to analyse carnality understood as an element of communist anthropological project – it’s conceptualization, appreciation and diminishing of it’s value as well as subjective sensual experience forming our memories, relationships and artistic activities corresponding with the experience of communism. They also consider important every sing of involvement of communist somatic paradigm in local/regional ways of perceiving the body and all of the practices connected with it.

These issues were hitherto put on the margin on contemporary scientific thought of communist civilisation, and treated mostly as case studies or curiosities. Rarely were they methodologically interpreted or analytically studied. They truly believe that looking at this issues from the new perspective, could be helpful in discovering new research fields and it can allow us to investigate how permanent are the ideas, sensations and behaviour patterns created in the times of communism. They also consider reasonable to take into consideration all of the methodological and theoretical issues connected with the above topic.

They offer following list of issues as an inspiration:

• New sensuality of a New Man
• Sex, gender. Taboo
• Mythologizing and demonizing of sex appeal
• Communist intimacy
• Clean and stain in communism
• Illness and degeneration of the body
• Communist geography of the nose (dustbin, public toilet, perfumery)
• Communist soundscape
• Tastes of communism (culinary, recipes, restaurants)
• Sensuality versus modernization and spread of technology
• Sensory deprivation in a culture of scarcity
• Communist strategies of aestheticization of carnality
• Healthy body. Physical culture in the communist project of socialization
• On vacation. Convenience and sensual pleasures.
• Drugs and communist sensual transgression
• Communist materialism and occultism (psychotronics, miracular sensuality, prophecies and wonders)

Language of the conference: Polish, English and Russian.

Eligibility

All the representatives of humanities are warmly invited, especially anthropologists, sociologists, historians, literature, theatre and film researchers, orientalists, political scientists and all the others interested in this field of the research.

Application

The deadline for applications is March 15, 2013. Please send your submission to popkomunizm.polon@uw.edu.pl including the following information:

• the title of the speech,
• short (up to 10 sentences) description, stating whether it will have the character of the paper (20 min.) or a statement (10 min.)
• personal information (affiliation, interests, academic title).

See the official call for applications HERE.