Research Network: History of Body Politics in the Global South (Web); Elife Biçer-Deveci (Bern und Erlangen/Nürnberg), Sivan Balslev (Jerusalem), Esther Möller (Mainz), Cyrus Schayegh and Davide Rodogno (Geneva)

Time: 19.-22.06.2024
Venue: Geneva Graduate Institute
Proposals by: 20.03.2023

The conference will discuss the role of international organizations in shaping body politics in countries of the Global South during the 20th century. International organizations often took upon themselves responsibilities regarding the bodies of populations across the globe. Defending bodies from sickness, substance abuse, hunger, trafficking, and harmful labor was an official goal of organizations such as the League of Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, International Atomic Energy Association etc. Other international organizations such as missions, global businesses, humanitarian and aid organizations have equally dealt with body politics in their respective frameworks. The conference invites historians to discuss the agendas of international organizations from a critical perspective, questioning their neutral stances in the understanding and definition of the physical needs of societies in the Global South. (With Global South, the organizers refer to regions outside of Europe and North-America, which are newly industrialized, in the process of industrialization and are frequently current or former subjects of colonialism.)
Historians have often referred to racial and gendered biases in the agendas of international organizations towards non-European societies. Yet, the impact of their understanding of the bodies of the people they encountered is not yet sufficiently explored. The focus on bodies and body politics is usually considered in gender and sexuality studied, but less so in studies of international organizations. Examining the actions of international organizations can offer new insights on how colonial bodies were constructed by such organizations, how local actors reacted to such interferences, to what extent these constructions had an impact on social and political structures, and in which ways these constructions are perpetuated in the present. Read more … (Web)

Source: H-Net Notifications