Genders, mobilities, and interdependencies: the aims and theoretical background of bodies in transit

Abstract

The aim of this round table is to present an overview of the aims, research topics and theoretical framework of the new project “Bodies in Transit 2: Genders, Mobilities, and Interdependencies”. This project has connections with the previous one, “Bodies in Transit: from Conflict to Healing” in its focus on embodiment, and on how bodies are historically transformed through social relations and their technologies from feminist, queer, and posthuman theoretical approaches, but departs from it by shifting the focus from violence and healing to the body and its metamorphoses within a wider network of human and non-human actions. Rather than approaching the topic in discontinuous units, ie. one isolated example of conflict (with ensuing trauma and healing process if any) in its contemporary literary rendering, we aim to look at bodies as immersed in ever-widening circles of relations and interdependences with other natural and/or social formations. This general topic comprises four specific concepts that will be addressed in four work packages: Embodiments, Mobilities, Interdependencies, and Accountability.