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<TITLE>(Re)Figuring Sex: Somatechnical (Re)Visions</TITLE>
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The (Re)Figuring Sex: Somatechnical (Re)Visions Conference is taking place at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts on the 20th-21st November 2009. We'd like to invite all interested parties to come along!<BR>
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Recent theory has thoroughly critiqued traditional ways of imag(in)ing sex/gender and sexuality, challenging its tendency to render invisible those ways of being in the world which undermine such normative structures. Such critiques have developed sophisticated ways of understanding embodiment and its representation, investigating perception/s, issues of visibility and visuality, and the effects on the lived experiences of those both within and without the norm: the effects of sexed imaginaries shape the experiences of the unusual and anomalous, and the everyday and conventional. This conference, the 5th international Somatechnics conference, takes as its central concern, then, the interplay between visuality and embodiment, and seeks papers engaged across a variety of areas extending from critical engagements with representations of sex and/or bodies, through to analyses of the shaping of perception/s as one facet of bodily being-in-the-world.<BR>
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We are lucky that Ulrika Dahl and Gwen Haworth have agreed to be our keynote speakers, and we have a great lineup of papers and films. For more details, including how to register, please see <FONT COLOR="#001FDD"><U>www.somatechnics.mq.edu.au/conf</U></FONT> <<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.somatechnics.mq.edu.au/conf">http://www.somatechnics.mq.edu.au/conf</a></U></FONT>> . Please note that registration by emailing or mailing registration forms closes on the 13th November, though you will be able to register on the day if necessary. Please just let our Administrator know via <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="somatechnicsadmin@gmail.com">somatechnicsadmin@gmail.com</a><BR>
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About our Keynotes<BR>
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Ulrika Dahl<BR>
Ulrika Dahl is assistant professor in gender studies with a concentration in anthropology. Trained in cultural anthropology and gender studies at US institutions (BA, Lawrence University, 1994; Ph.D. University of California, Santa Cruz 2004), Dahl has worked at Södertörn since 2005. Before that she taught in the Swedish Program at Stockholm University (2002-2004) and in the departments of Anthropology and American Studies at UC Santa Cruz (2001-2002). <BR>
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Currently she is a chair of gender studies which means that she is working primarily with departmental development and less with teaching. When she do teach, she does so on all levels, primarily on feminist and queer theory, postcolonial, critical race-, and women of color feminism, kinship and family, sexuality, the body and aesthetics, feminist methods and movements and on cultural theory. <BR>
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She is an activist as much as a researcher and lectures and teaches extensively outside of the academy and write for so called 'non-academic' audiences. In 2009 Atlas Förlag is publishing a collection of those essays. Since 2002 she has above all been interested in feminist sexual politics and intersectional perspectives on queer femininities. In 2008 she got funding from the Bank of Sweden's Tercentenary Fund for the project Femme as Figuration: Rethinking (Queer) femininities where she studies how various strands of feminist theory have discussed femininities. Along with photographer Del LaGrace Volcano she recently published the book "Femmes of Power: Exploring Queer Femininites" (Serpent's Tail Press, 2008) [link to <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.serpentstail.com/book?id=10909">http://www.serpentstail.com/book?id=10909</a></U></FONT>]. Based in collaboration, Femmes of Power features more than 60 queerly feminine heroines from 12 cities in 7 countries. The book has had many very positive responses, including the following:<BR>
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'Femmes of Power weaves interviews, analysis and testimony around a selection of stunning LaGrace portraits. This book glows, sparkles and leaves the reader seduced, tempted and in awe' Jack Halberstam<BR>
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‘Intimate, audacious, and exploding with interpretative trajectories, these images reach beyond their edges to re-envision projects of queer visual testimony’ Juana Maria Rodriguez<BR>
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‘An innovative and much-needed literary and visual re-articulation of queer testimonies and an exciting book to anyone thinking creatively about femme-inist community-based activism internationally’ Tiina Rosenberg<BR>
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Gwen Haworth<BR>
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Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Gwen Haworth is a transgender filmmaker, editor, and instructor. After graduating with a degree in psychology in 1995, Gwen went on to complete undergraduate and graduate degrees in Film Production at the University of British Columbia. She has trained as a director's intern with the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and served as a programmer and board member for Out On Screen, which holds Vancouver's Queer Film & Video Festival.<BR>
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Critical of the construct of objective filmmaking, Haworth's films embrace a point of view approach that strive for empathy and collective storytelling. Her first short film Not Kokura re-examines the WWII bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, questioning the use of weapons of mass destruction on primarily civilian targets. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and received recognition at a number of North American festivals.<BR>
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Between 2000 and 2004, Gwen came out as transsexual to her friends and family and transitioned genders from male to female. During this process, she became painfully aware of the media's marginalized depictions of trans individuals, often as victims of discrimination & violence or objects of fetish. In She's A Boy I Knew, Haworth turns the camera on her own family, capturing an intimate, complex, and emotionally ground-breaking account of their journeys through this experience.<BR>
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When not making films, Gwen divides her time teaching film production at post-secondary institutions, working at an emergency homeless shelter, and DJing for fundraisers and non-profit events in Vancouver's Eastside.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Dr Samantha Murray<BR>
Postdoctoral Research Fellow<BR>
Somatechnics Research Centre<BR>
Department of Media, Music & Cultural Studies<BR>
Faculty of Arts<BR>
Macquarie University<BR>
Email: <a href="smurray78@gmail.com">smurray78@gmail.com</a><BR>
<a href="samantha.murray@mq.edu.au">samantha.murray@mq.edu.au</a> <BR>
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