2024 Conference - Somaesthetics of Atmosphere

This conference was awarded a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Call for papers

The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture of Florida Atlantic University invites paper proposals for a conference on “Somaesthetics of Atmosphere” that is planned for November 7-8, 2024 at FAU’s Boca Raton campus. The conference’s call for papers is as follows:

Atmosphere is a topic that commands increasing attention not only with respect to climate change but also in the humanities, particularly in philosophy, design, and the arts. Besides its climatological meaning, atmosphere indicates the pervading tone, mood, or ambience of a place, situation, or work of art. Because atmospheres somatically envelop us, they are a crucially influential factor in our experience, affecting our feelings, perceptions, and actions. Although the soma is immersed in atmospheres and experiences them directly, there is often difficulty in clearly discerning and defining them because atmospheres are difficult to individuate. Like the soma, they do not fit neatly into our common binaries of object and subject, physical and mental. Atmospheres are an elusive in-between that challenge those rigid dualisms, as does somaesthetics. Given their importance, their elusiveness, and their variety, atmospheres deserve extended study to improve our understanding of what they are, how they function, and how they may be protected, modified, or designed to improve our lives and world. By focusing on better understanding atmosphere in its multiple senses, our conference will explore how such improved understanding could benefit health, quality of life, social welfare, and aesthetic experience.

The conference is open to contributions from diverse disciplinary perspectives in the humanities (including medical humanities), social sciences, and the arts. Selected papers may be developed for publication in The Journal of Somaesthetics or in an edited book based on the conference papers to be published in the Brill book series Studies in Somaesthetics.

Please email your abstract (250-300 words) and CV to shuster1@e21system.com and to bodymindculture@gmail.com. The deadline for submission of abstracts is August 20, 2024. Notifications of acceptances are planned for September 20th, 2024.