Call For Papers
Intersections of Life and Death: Artistic and Philosophical
Representations of Organ Donation and Transplantation
Interdisciplinary Conference, sponsored by the Trillium Gift of Life
Network and the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures
To be held at the Munk Centre at the University of Toronto, April 26-27, 2007
Keynote speaker: Dr. Michael Hutcheon
Lately, the topic of organ and tissue donation has featured
prominently in the media. As a result, the public is frequently faced
with a moral conundrum: Is it 'fair' for one person to receive an
organ, and thus a second chance at life, while another has to die?
What effect does the donor's final 'act' have on her/his family and
friends? In what ways is the recipient transformed? Are recipients
entitled to the organs they receive? To what degree is the recipient
the steward of the donor's organ(s)? Are medical professionals
involved in the process playing God?
In order to advance and increase the rate of donation, health care
professionals working on organ and tissue donation are forced to
examine and discuss many aspects of these and other questions. But
this is not just the domain for the medical professions; members of
various non-medical constituencies are also involved in important
ways. In fact, the questions of organ donation seem to challenge the
easy boundaries between scientific and non-scientific discourses.
This conference aims to explore artistic and philosophical treatments
of the subject of organ and tissue donation and transplantation, as
well as the intersections of life and death, and art and science in
more general terms.
Possible areas of exploration may include, but are certainly not
limited to, the following:
--History: Concepts of organ functions (and possibly ideas of
transplantation) in the ancient (Egyptian, Greek,
Roman)/mediaeval/early modern world
--Mythology: e.g. the myth of Prometheus, whose liver grows back after
an eagle eats away at it
--Literature: e.g. Kazuo Ishiguro's Never let me go (2005), John
Irving's The Fourth Hand (2001), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or The
Modern Prometheus (1818)
--Film: e.g. Micheal Bay's The Island (2005), Alejandro González
Ińárritu's 21 Grams (2003), Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
--TV Drama: To what extent do TV shows such as ER, House, Grey's
Anatomy, and Scrubs inform the public's view about organ and tissue
donation?
--Traditional associations: How do romantic notions of the connection
of certain body parts with specific emotions (the heart in connection
with love, eyes as the windows to the soul, etc.) inform the choices
we make regarding organ donation?
--Fine Art: For centuries, both professionals and the public learned
about the human body and its anatomy through art (the Renaissance
being the most prolific period in this regard). Intentionally or
unintentionally, to this day, depictions of this kind in mass culture
affect real outcomes, inviting the question whether artists bear a
moral responsibility when dealing with medical issues.
--Intersections between art and medicine: How and to what degree do
these two disciplines inform each other in the work of people who
practice (or have studied) both (e.g. G.E. Lessing, Arthur Schnitzler,
Sigmund Freud, Gottfried Benn, Alfred Döblin, Arthur Conan Doyle,
James Joyce, W. Somerset Maugham, Anton Chekhov, etc.)?
--Do the controversial Body Worlds exhibits by Gunther von Hagens
establish a dialogue between art and medicine, or do they merely strip
the exhibited, skinless bodies of their dignity, as some critics
argue?
--Philosophy: How are ideas of the soul affected by changing the body,
or parts thereof, which "houses" this soul?
Please submit a brief abstract (200-400 words) by November 15, 2006 to
[log in to unmask] Papers should not exceed 20 minutes (8-10
pages double-spaced).
--Maria Euchner, PhD
Lecturer in German Studies
University of Toronto (UTM)
[log in to unmask]
phone: 416.882.6588
*******************
The German Studies Call for Papers List
Editor: Stefani Engelstein
Assistant Editor: Megan McKinstry
Sponsored by the University of Missouri
Info available at: http://www.missouri.edu/~graswww/resources/gerlistserv.html
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