Mercoledì, 8 novembre 2017

Health, Reproduction and Sexuality: Neoliberal-Authoritarian Modes of Governing the Woman’s Body in Turkey

International Symposium, Bremen, 5-6 April 2018, Bremen University, Germany

Versione stampabile

The  call is aimed at collecting  original contributions from different branches of social sciences (sociology, gender studies, medical anthropology, history, political science, or governmentality studies) to examine the various ways in which gendered bodies are governed by neoliberal, conservative, authoritarian or religious discourses, policies and practices in contemporary Turkey, in the areas of health, reproduction and sexuality. These various ways can be analyzed at different levels: (i) representations of the woman’s body (political, media, religious, industrial, juridical, feminist);
(ii) interventions on and transformations of the woman’s body (biomedical or disciplinary via care, or through violence); (iii) commodification of the woman’s body or its organs or biological material. The papers can follow these research lines by focusing on a specific policy field (family/marriage policies, health policies, abortion policies, etc.), on a specific object/sector (ARTs, sexually transmissible diseases, anorexia, aesthetic surgery, etc.), on a specific subject of government (religious or ethnic minority women, lesbian and trans women, feminist groups, etc.), or they can rather choose to propose a transversal or comparative analysis of different objects, fields and subjects. We privilege the analysis of the period that starts with the strong neoliberal turn of early 2000s until now, but are open to more historical accounts. Contributions that highlight autonomous practices, resistance forms, and production of alternatives to the institutionalized body regimes also enter in the scope of this symposium. Last but not least, while focusing on Turkey, we encourage international and transnational comparisons as well.

Submission Guidelines
Please send your abstracts around 800 words as well as a short biography, to bremensymposium [at] gmail.com
Before December 1th, 2017. The abstracts should offer a precise description of your research object, methodology and data if it is based on a research. If your abstract is accepted, you will be asked to provide a full paper by March 5st, 2018. We may cover the travel and/or accommodation expenses in accordance with the budget of the symposium.