[Discussion] CFP: The Postcolonial Body (9/1/04; NEMLA, 3/31/05-4/2/05)

[sule tarakcioglu]

CFP: The Postcolonial  Body=20
Northeastern Modern Language Association  (NEMLA) Convention 2005=20
Cambridge, MA=20
March 31-April 2, 2005=20
Convention Information: _http://www.nemla.org_ (http://www.nemla.org) =20
(Panelists must be members of  NEMLA)=20
This panel proposes to examine the ways in  which the body reflects,=20
rehearses, and redefines the Postcolonial state.  As Colette Guillaumin
in R=
acism, =20
Sexism, Power and Ideology points out, the =E2=80=9Cnatural characteristic=
=E2=80=9D of =20
ethnicity, race, nation, or gender, =E2=80=9Cinscribes the system of
dominat=
ion on the  body=20
of the individual, assigning to the individual his/her place as a
dominated=20=
=20
person.=E2=80=9D  For the Postcolonial, this  inscription of dominance
leave=
s traces=20
upon the body, traces which are present  in the literature, film, and
cultur=
al=20
productions of previously colonized  nations.  Rushdie=E2=80=99s
fantastic =20
metamorphosing bodies in The Satanic Verses, Salih=E2=80=99s sexual
predator=
  in  Season of=20
Migration to the North, and the diseased body in Ghosh=E2=80=99s The
Calcut=
ta Chromosome=20
all exhibit the ways in which the body situates itself  as a site of=20
examination, explanation, and resistance to the colonial past and  the
neo-c=
olonizing=20
present.=20
In redefining the ways in which this body reacts and redefines itself,
Hard=
t=20
and Negri argue that =E2=80=9Ccorporeal mutations constitute an
anthropologi=
cal =20
exodus and represent an extraordinarily important . . . element of  the=20
configuration of republicanism =E2=80=98against=E2=80=99 imperial
civilizati=
on.=E2=80=9D  This =E2=80=9C
anthropological exodus=E2=80=9D describes  the points where the body can
be=20=
seen as both reacting to=20
and escaping the  hegemonies which were imposed by the history of=20
colonialism.  If resistance is enacted upon  representations of the body
and=
  displayed in=20
corporeality, it becomes  significant and successful in enforcing a
refusal=20
to join anthropological  normality and the disciplines of colonizing and=20
neo-colonizing culture.  This is also seen when Ian Baucom, in
=E2=80=9CCha=
rting the =E2=80=98
Black Atlantic,=E2=80=99=E2=80=9D locates the diasporic Postcolonial
subject=
  by  utilizing the=20
metaphoric body as it moves through global waters, refusing to  remain
or be=
=20
defined by either the point of departure or arrival.  This panel seeks
paper=
s =20
that investigate the ways in which the Postcolonial body is  represented
as=20=
both=20
a perceived conduit of =E2=80=9Cabnormality=E2=80=9D and monstrosity,
refle=
cting epistemic=20
colonial constructions, or examine the ways in which  the Postcolonial
body=20
serves as a trope for resistance and re-definition in the  diaspora and
in the=20
homeland.  =20
Please send  250-300 word abstracts to Rebecca Fine Romanow, University
of=20
Rhode  Island, at _rromanow@mail.uri.edu_ (mailto:rromanow@mail.uri.edu)
   by=20
September 1, 2004


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