This seminar will examine how human bodies function as a medium of signification, how various forms of power (authoritarian, patriarchal, religious, legal, military) signify through or on the body, with or without consent, and how diverse bodies are read and interpreted. Papers are welcomed on, inter alia:

• significations imposed on, or agentially expressed by, racialized, queer, non-conforming, differently abled, or aging bodies;
• legible and illegible bodies;
• the distribution, manipulation, training, classification, or disposal of bodies within disciplinary and/or biopolitical regimes;
• the relational meanings of human bodies within particular ecosystems;
• technologies for reading and interpreting the body (e.g., medical or surveillance apparatuses);
• the body as a source or signifier of cultural capital; and/or
• specific instances of art forms that take the body as its medium (e.g., dance, performance art, theater, or tattoo art).

This seminar is conceived intentionally broadly in the interest of eliciting unexpected intersections, unpredictable insights, and creative conversations. It thus welcomes relevant submissions not listed above.