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Representations of the Body in Saga LiteratureFor ICMS at Western Michigan University - Kalamazoo, MI - May 10-13, 2018The New England Saga Society is delighted to once again offer a panel for those interested in Old Norse literature, history, and culture. We are currently seeking proposals for our sponsored session, “Representations of the Body in Saga Literature,” a panel that will explore the ways in which bodies and corporeality are constructed and represented in saga literature.The body is an object upon which culture writes itself. It is the site of definition and re-definition as it witnesses history, moves through time and space, and is shaped by social, political, and cultural phenomena. Understanding how medieval audiences viewed the body and participated in the social construction of the body as object is essential to a better appreciation of medieval ideations of the human condition. We are interested in cultural, ideological, and literary investigations of the experience of embodiment in medieval Scandinavia and the representation of this experience in literature, art, philosophy, ethics, law, theology, and science.Topics could include, but are not limited to:body-mind dichotomyideological constructions of the bodyableness and disabilitythe monstrousgender and sexualityillness, death, and dismembermentbody-soul dichotomypagan vs. Christian bodiesqueer theorymedicinemedical transformations of the bodybody as landscapeimages of bodiesBrief (200-300 word) proposals are welcome anytime before September 15, 2017. Please e-mail abstracts to either of the organizers:Andrew Pfrenger (apfrenge@kent.edu)John P. Sexton (john.sexton@bridgew.edu)