CFP Deadline: Malady (Graduate Conference)

Maladies, broadly construed as an illness or sickness, have formed the foundation of countless theoretical and philosophical conundrums. From Hippocrates to Joseph Lister, these questions have led to solutions that have shaped the way we have come to view maladies as inherently interdisciplinary, requiring a community effort to ponder, analyze, and attempt to solve. In light of recent times, the need to continue these conversations has intensified. This conference seeks to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue between fields such as literature, disability studies, philosophy, and the medical humanities within the combined thematic, theoretical and critical orientation provided by “malady.” The English Graduate Student Association of Georgetown University seeks proposals from various disciplines and theoretical approaches addressing, but not limited to, the following questions: What does it mean to be ill? What does it mean to be healed? What does illness look like? Who/What can be considered ill?

Proposals may also be considered for inclusion in Predicate, EGSA’s interdisciplinary journal in the humanities, which will be published in Spring 2024.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
● Illnesses of the body and/or the mind
● Disability studies
● Social maladies
● Bad readings
● Environmental maladies
● Apocalypse
● Health and healing
● Rethinking the Body
● Resistance and Resilience
● Sensationalism/Sentimentality
● Spirituality

Please submit (1) an abstract of between 250 and 300 words, including the title of your proposed paper, and (2) a bio of about 100 words as an attached document in an email to Sarah Licht (sbl60@georgetown.edu) AND Kavita Premkumar (kp820@georgetown.edu) by July 20, 2023. And feel free to email us with your questions, concerns, clarifications, or complaints.