CFP: ‘Phobia’ Constructing the Phenomenology of Chronic Fear, 1789 to the Present
October 2, 2008 in Events, News, Related Events by bsls | Permalink
‘Phobia’ Constructing the Phenomenology of Chronic Fear, 1789 to the Present
Glamorgan Research Centre for Literature, Arts and Science
University of Glamorgan | The ATRiuM Campus Cardiff
8-9 May 2009
Keynote Speakers: Laura Otis (Emory University) | Andrew Thacker (De Montfort University)
CALL FOR PAPERS
The history of phobias as disease entities is intimately connected to the phenomenology of modernity. Whereas the emergence of spatial phobias such as agoraphobia (Carl Otto Westphal, 1871) and claustrophobia (Benjamin Ball, 1879) coincided with growing urbanisation and the development of the modern metropolis, Sigmund Freud’s modern subject theory situated phobia at the heart of his psychoanalytical practice (‘Little Hans’, Totem and Taboo, Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety). The fin de siècle was rife with cultural and social fears about the present and the future, and the twentieth century—with its two global conflicts, its natural disasters and the threat of terrorism—has ushered in a period of postmodern panic. Fear and anxiety are omnipresent in the modern age. But when, how and why does fear become chronic, morbid or abnormal? And in what ways has fear been conceptualised by medical practitioners, cultural theorists and artists?
This interdisciplinary conference looks at the different ways in which writers, artists, historians, art historians, cultural and human geographers, scientists and medical practitioners have constructed, represented and theorised phobia and chronic fear.
We welcome proposals for papers on any aspect of phobias and anxiety disorders in the period from 1789 to the present. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged. Topics may include but are not limited to:
- spatial phobias
- biophobias
- social phobias
- phobia and the Gothic
- the fin de siècle
- phobia, modernisation and modernity
- phobia and psychoanalysis
- phobia and cultural geography
- fear of science and technology
- phobia, the senses and physical sensations
- phobophobia
Abstracts of 300 words and a short CV should be sent to Dr Vike Martina Plock and Dr Martin Willis via email at rclas@glam.ac.uk by 1 December 2008. Proposals for panels (comprising three speakers) are also welcome—please submit the title and a brief description of the panel as well as abstracts for the individual papers.
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Important links
- AHRC Science in Culture Theme
- Bergen Literature and Science Research Group
- British Society for the History of Science
- Cardiff ScienceHumanities
- Commission on Science and Literature
- Erlangen Center for Literature and Natural Science (ELINAS)
- Fiction Meets Science (FMS)
- History of Science Society
- International Union of History and Philosophy of Science
- Journal of Literature and Science
- Literature and Science at the University of Oxford
- Literature and Science Hub, University of Liverpool
- London Interdisciplinary Discussion Group
- Natural History Museum Centre for Arts and Humanities Research
- Royal Society Centre for History of Science
- SLSA, Europe
- Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts
- University of Reading Centre for Interdisciplinary Research into the Humanities and Science (IRHS)