Fwd: 2nd Global Conference - Making Sense Of: Pain

2nd Global Conference
Making Sense Of: Pain

Wednesday 25th ? Friday 27th May 2011
Warsaw, Poland

Call for Papers

Pain and the body's vulnerability to it are
inevitable aspects of the experience of all
sentient beings. Pain is universally feared. Many,
if not all, fields of human activity have the
potential to occasion pain ? and much of what we
do as individuals and/or collectivities involves
our efforts to prevent, ameliorate, cure or avoid
pain. Nonetheless, despite the unpleasantness and
sometimes the agony of the experience of pain, we
are also capable of enduring it. Depending on the
context, we may do so willingly.

Yet there is also the dark side of pain: humans
are capable of inflicting it and at times do so
intentionally, for gain or enjoyment; they can
also injure and hurt other beings through
carelessness and disregard of their needs and comfort.

This interdisciplinary conference provides a forum
for inquiry into the vicissitudes of pain: its
nature and existential significance, and the
many ways in which pain plays a part in our lives.
Of concern, too, are the biological, social and
interpersonal circumstances within which our
reactions to pain occur.

The following themes are suggested as guidelines for
the formulation of topics for papers and workshops:

1. The Nature and Evolution of Pain

2. Elaborations on Pain ? in science, history,
philosophy, literature, drama and art

3. Inflicting Pain ? torture, sadism, self-harm,
neglect and disregard

4. Animals and Pain ? in nature and in culture

5. Pain through the Life-Cycle ? variations on the
theme from birth to death

6. Pain Acceptance ? martyrdom, childbirth,
cosmetic surgery, work, performance (e.g. sport,
music, dancing)

7. Perspectives on Pain ? patients' and
professionals'

8. Narratives of Pain and Palliation ? managing,
succeeding, failing to alleviate pain

9. Practices, Philosophies and Dilemmas of Pain
Relief ? personal, professional, cultural,
economic, political (macro and micro)

10. Pain and Communication ? expressing pain,
understanding pain, describing pain, pain as a
metaphor, silences about pain

The Steering Group particularly welcomes the
submission of pre-formed panel proposals. Papers
will also be considered on any related theme.
300 word abstracts should be submitted by: Friday
10th December 2010. If an abstract is accepted for
the conference, a full draft paper should be
submitted by: Friday 1st April 2011. Abstracts
should be submitted simultaneously to both
Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word,
WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following
information and in this order:

a) author(s)
b) affiliation
c) email address
d) title of abstract
e) body of abstract

E-mails should be entitled: PAIN Abstract Submission.

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain
from using footnotes or 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
Mira Crouch
School of Social Science and International Studies
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Email: [email protected]

Nate Hinerman
Nursing/Theology and Religious Studies
University of San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
E-mail: [email protected]

Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road, Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
Email: [email protected]

The conference is part of the 'Making Sense Of:' Hub;
a series of ongoing research and publications
projects conferences, run within the 'Probing
the Boundaries' domain which aims to bring together
people from different areas and interests to share
ideas and explore innovative and challenging
routes of intellectual and academic exploration.

All papers accepted for and presented at the
conference will be eligible for publication in an
ISBN eBook.  Selected papers may be developed for
publication in a themed hard copy volume.

For further details about the project please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/making-sense-of/pain/

For further details about the conference please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/making-sense-of/pain/call-for-papers/
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