Call for Papers: Book Chapter “Psychosomatic Imagery”: Photographic Reflections on Mental Disorders
Deadline: Mar 10, 2021
Contact Leiden University: dr. Helen Westgeest (h.f.westgeest@hum.leidenuniv.nl) and dr. Ali Shobeiri (s.a.shobeiri@hum.leidenuniv.nl)
Find the entire call for paper attached here.
If the current pandemic has shown us one thing over the past year, it is our vulnerability to pain, not only to physical but also to psychological pain. It has exposed the fact that all humans, regardless of their social, political, and economic status, are susceptible to conditions like anxiety, insomnia, and depression. But mental health conditions are nothing new; they were even described and treated by the populace of ancient Mesopotamia as early as 3,000 BC, who would consider them as “hands” of specific deities taking control over a person. In our time, according to the WHO, in most countries one in three people report sufficient criteria for at least one mental health condition at some point of their life, a number which signals the urgent demand for further research into this expanding field. The study of mental disorders, however, is not only limited to psychology, but has also been open to a variety of other disciplines, such as the arts and philosophy. For example, over the past decade numerous artists and other professionals have used photography as a way of reflecting on the characteristics of mental disorders, or as a means of recovering from such conditions.
Instead of using photography as a mere documentational means, our book project aims to provide new insights into the understanding of, and ways of communicating about, mental disorders by examining contemporary photographic practices, technics, and metaphors. Amongst many possible photographic approaches and metaphors, contributions may include reflections on, but are not limited to:
– Diffraction, inflection, deflection
– Window/mirror
– Shadows/lights
– Occlusion/eclipse
– Latency/dormancy
– Temporality/spatiality
– Disruption, dislocation, disjunction
– Projection, introjection
– Invisible/visible
– Framing/unframing
– The blind field
– Camera Lucida/Obscura
– Trace/index
Abstracts:
We welcome English abstracts of approximately 250 words that engage with and reflect on mental disorders through contemporary photographic practices, technics, and metaphors. Please send your abstract & a short biography (100 words) to the following email addresses no later than March 10st, 2021 (s.a.shobeiri@hum.leidenuniv.nl h.f.westgeest@hum.leidenuniv.nl). A selected number of abstracts will be invited to submit a full chapter of 5,000 to 6,000 words in August 2021.
The edited book will be published at a prestigious academic publisher in 2022.
Schedules & Deadlines:
Submitting abstract: March 10st, 2021
Communication of acceptance/rejection: March 30th, 2021
Submitting the full chapters: August 30th, 2021
Provisional date for publishing the book: The first half of 2022
Co-editors:
– Dr. Helen Westgeest, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History and Theories of Photography, Leiden University
– Dr. Ali Shobeiri, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Theory and Photographic Studies, Leiden University