The Body and the Page in Victorian Culture, jointly sponsored by the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) and the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada (VSAWC), will be held 26-28 July 2018 at the University of Victoria, Canada. Full details about the conference are available at:http://web.uvic.ca/vsawc/vsawc-conferences/2018-joint-rsvpvsawc-conference/
This interdisciplinary and international conference will focus on the relationship between bodies and texts in Victorian culture. We invite proposals for individual papers or themed panels that examine this relationship under the following main themes:
- the bodies constructed by the page: topics include racialized, gendered, and/or classed bodies; animal bodies; children’s bodies; religious bodies; queer bodies; modern bodies; hybrid bodies; medicalized bodies; non-normative bodies; dying bodies; grotesque bodies; national bodies; industrialized bodies; automatic bodies; unconscious bodies;
- the bodies that made the page: topics include the labour of illustrators, authors, compositors, binders, engravers, editors, booksellers, and newspaper salespeople, sandwich-board people, delivery people;
- the body of the page: page design, typeface, illustration, dimensions, paper, ink, and other material aspects of print; and
- the digital scholars who remediate the pages of Victorian texts today: topics include specific online Victorian projects or remediated Victorian texts; methodological challenges; collaborative and pedagogical opportunities; digital Victorian texts in the classroom.
As the conference is jointly sponsored by RSVP, we intend that fully half the conference will be devoted to panels that consider Victorian periodicals. We therefore especially welcome paper or panel proposals that consider our four main conference themes in relation to Victorian newspapers, journals, magazines, scientific periodicals, and the journals of professional associations.
- Paper Proposals: A 250-word abstract with a title plus a separate 75-word biographical statement.
- Panel Proposals: A set of three 250-word abstracts with titles plus a general title for the session. Include three 75-word biographical statements for all participants.
The conference committee has some funding available for travel bursaries for students and independent scholars. Please indicate in your cover email if you wish to be considered for these bursaries.