The Young Scholars Forum: “38. Suicide, Exploitation and Pleasure in the Cultural Uses of Self-Inflicted Bodily Harm. Contemporary ethnographies and theories” will be held as part of the 4th Vienna Anthropology Conference 2024. In this workshop we will share research related to cultural practices and bodily harm (mortification and sacrifice, extreme practices in gymnasium culture, self-inflicted behavior and suicide, immolation, hunger strikes, etc.).

The Young Scholars Forum: "38. Suicide, Exploitation and Pleasure in the Cultural Uses of Self-Inflicted Bodily Harm. Contemporary ethnographies and theories" will be held as part of the 4th Vienna Anthropology Conference 2024.

Argument

The body has been a classic theme in anthropology. Mauss, Douglas, Turner or Le Breton, among others, have addressed in depth how symbol and ritual shape the body and how these same bodies are the main element of the individual's relationship with the world. Likewise, "the other" is also a body, subject to our sensitive experiences, we can hear, feel, smell or see him, and from this field of bodily interaction we reflect on him, we imagine him, we prejudge him, we propose the codes with which we communicate and in a broader sense we build culture.

Particularly the violence exercised on one's own body is not a new topic for ethnography, especially as far as the symbolic framework of ritual is concerned. However, inserted in the context of hypermodernity, there are cultural forms of self-inflicted harm that demand to be studied under the focus of new interpretative frameworks, where desire, performativity, hybridizations and the rupture with dualities and the introduction of epistemologies built from the margins allow us to have more fluid dialogues and deeper looks at these practices.

This Workshop aims to reflect on the meanings of those practices that stress bodies, take them to the extreme through pain or behaviors harmful to health from contemporary analysis. To this end, we propose the submission of papers that address a wide range of manifestations: mortification and sacrificial ideas in the religious sphere, extreme discipline and risky behaviors in gym culture, desire and BDSM practices, self-injurious behaviors and suicide, ideological expressions of protest with bodily harm -hunger strike, immolation-, behaviors associated with eating disorders, addiction to plastic surgeries, self-violence in the context of assisted reproduction, etc.

Submission guidelines

If you want to present a paper in the panel, you have to register and send a 300 words abstract through the platform. 

The deadline for submitting proposals is June 1.

Participation can be online or in person, https://vanda.univie.ac.at/registration/.

The submissions will be evaluated by the respective workshop organizers until mid-June. If you have any questions about the content or internal organization of the workshop, please contact the workshop organizer directly, you will find the names and contact email above the abstract.

If you decide to attend in person, please contact me to share useful information. If you have any questions, please contact me at luislopezlago@unex.es.  

Responsible for the proposals selection

• Luis López-Lago Ortiz. University of Extremadura.