9th Global Conference: The Erotic

9th Global Conference: The Erotic Tuesday 4th November - Thursday 6th November 2014 Prague, Czech Republic Call for Presentations Mapping the field of the erotic is a complex and frustrating endeavour; as something which permeates lived experience, interpersonal relationships, intellectual reflection, aesthetic tastes and sensibilities, the erotic is clearly multi-layered and requires a plethora of approaches, insights and perspectives if we are to better to understand, appreciate and define it. This inter- and trans- disciplinary project seeks to explore critical issues in relation to eroticism and the erotic through its history, its emergence in human development, both individual and phylogenetic, as well as its expression in national and cultural histories across the world, including issues of transgression and censorship. The project will also explore erotic imagination and its representation in art, art history, literature, film and music. These explorations inevitably touch on the relationship between sexualities, gender and bodies, along with questions concerning the perverse, fetishism and fantasy, pornography and obscenity. Papers, presentations, workshops and pre-formed panels are also invited on any of the following themes: - The Erotic and the Virtual - Eros and the Exotic - Fantasy of Eros - Erotic in sports - Erotic in Nature - Erotic as Symbolism in art and creativity - Erotic and the virtual: chats, webs, facebook, erotic pictures of the profiles. How do people present themselves in social networking? - Can religion be erotic? Saint images, celibacy, witch hunts. - The erotic in literature and film: erotic acts, images and figures as in Nabokov's Lolita or Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. The beauty of erotic. Where is the line between the erotic and pornography? - Contemporary erotic: a phenomenon of 50 Shades of Grey. - New supernatural romances and teen erotic (The Twilight Saga, Hunger Games, etc) - National and cultural histories of the erotic - Ancient erotic of the old Greece and the old Rome: erotic images (pictures and sculptures), aesthetics of the ancient erotic, erotic in mythology (Zeus and Leda, Helen, Venera, etc). - Erotic and folklore: folk stories, songs, customs. - The erotic and phases of human development - The psychology of the erotic: subconscious, dreams, theories - The erotic and the perverse: fetishisms, toys, pictures, objects of desire - The politics of the erotic inc. issues of censorship and transgression - The eroticism of childhood: we normally associate children's erotic with paedophelia but is this so? Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a children's book but it's also a reflection of the author's desire for a young girl. Are there any other examples in literature, art and history? - The most erotic figures in the history of humankind: Marilyn Monroe, Cleopatra, Messalina, Jackie Kennedy, Brad Pitt, Barack Obama. Is there any difference between sex and erotic appeal? - Erotic pedagogy: is there a place for the erotic in the classroom? Erotic relationship between a professor and a student. Is it possible to teach erotic? We welcome submissions from within specific disciplinary boundaries, but we are also particularly interested in inter-disciplinary contributions that balance the scope of insight that disciplines bring with the limitations that disciplinary boundaries create in failing to recognise cross-disciplinary connections, which neglect important historical and cultural perspectives on the development of the 'erotic' as a locus of attention. Consequently, we are particularly keen to encourage submissions that are not subsumed within disciplines, but cut across and between disciplinary vocabularies to provide new synergies, domains and inter-disciplinary possibilities. We warmly welcome proposals which go beyond traditional paper presentations and encompass also panels, performances and workshops. In order to support and encourage inter-disciplinary engagement, it is our intention to create the possibility of starting dialogues between the parallel events running during this conference. Delegates are welcome to attend up to two sessions in each of the concurrent conferences. We also propose to produce cross-over sessions between these groups - and we welcome proposals which deal with the relationship between The Erotic, Revolt and Revolution, Making Sense of Suffering and Truth and Truthfulness. What to Send: 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 27th June 2014. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 19th September 2014. Abstracts should be submitted to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word or RTF formats, following this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords. E-mails should be entitled: Erotic 9 Abstract Submission Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend. Organising Chairs: Natalia Kaloh Vid: nkv@inter-disciplinary.net Rob Fisher: er9@inter-disciplinary.net The conference is part of the Gender and Sexuality series of research projects, which in turn belong to the Critical Issues programmes of Inter,Disciplinary.Net. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore discussions which are innovative and challenging. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume. Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation. For further details of the conference, please visit: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/gender-and-sexuality/the-erotic/call-for-papers/ Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.