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Call for Articles - Productive Bodies. Towards a Body and Material History of the Modern Economic (17th-20th centuries)Ed. Peter-Paul Bänziger and Marcel Strengon behalf of the Arbeitskreis für KörpergeschichteThe projected peer reviewed edited volume addresses a variety ofquestions at the intersection of economic, material, and bodyhistory. Drawing on new research in these fields, it aims athighlighting the material dimension of economic processes (1) andreassessing the emergence of productive bodies since the 18th century(2).(1) The renaissance of heterodox approaches in economic history overthe course of the last two decades has significantly enlarged thescope of this field. This trend mainly benefits from the cultural andsocial sciences and has fostered research on phenomena that cutacross the classic schemes of both labor division (production,distribution, consumption) and the economic spheres (services,industry, and agriculture). For instance, several studies havefocused on the history of raw materials and industrial products suchas chocolate, dyes, coffee, paper, shoes, cotton, and soy beans, toname only a few. In so doing they have highlighted the analyticpotential of these new approaches in economic history. Drawing on newinstitutional economics, scholars have also analyzed the role thatnomenclatures and expectancies of actors have played in theestablishment and stabilization of large networks of production,commercialization and consumption. Heuristic concepts such as?quality convention?, developed in French economic history, andinnovative approaches emerging from the fields of Science andTechnology Studies and history of knowledge stimulate an interest inthe material dimension of economic processes that was traditionallybanned from economic history. However, the perspectives of bodyhistory on productions of all kinds, and especially on the genealogyof the very social and objective relation commonly dubbed ?theeconomic?, are still largely missing in this debate.(2) Likewise, historians of the body are still reluctant to engagewith economic history. Pioneering studies in the 1990s were scarcelyfollowed. This situation is about to change as economic aspects areincreasingly integrated into histories of the body. In particular,some scholars have begun to analyze historical regimes ofsubjectivity. In search of the conditions of possibility of ?theeconomic? these scholars have, amongst other things, explored the(hetero)genesis of the ?homo oeconomicus? and self-descriptions ofeconomic subjects. Many such studies have focused on technologies ofgovernment and of the self, e.g. the education of monetary subjects,the social production of debts and debtors, and the emergence of the?entrepreneurial self?. Interestingly enough, though, the dimensionof corporeality/materiality remains in the shadows. Bodies like thatof the calculating subject, for instance ? of bankers, travelingsalesmen, managers, salespersons ? are still waiting forhistoricization, even if a recent study on the ?serving subject?opens interesting perspectives in this regard. Particularly, ahistory of productive bodies within the industrial regimes thatemerged after the threshold of biopolitical modernity of around 1900remains a desideratum. This also holds true for the case of theagricultural laborer. Likewise, the ?post-materialist? or ?post-Fordist? working subjects have remained remarkably disembodied,although we know quite well how bodies are used to optimize andregenerate the ?resources? of these subjects ? via techniques of theself like ?body therapy?, ?wellness?, ?self healing?, and the like.The projected volume draws on both agendas and highlights the body inits intrinsic relations with ?the economic?. Contributions shall thusfocus on the corporeal and/or material dimension of the production ofthe economic, particularly in the following fields:a) While the model of the ?human motor?, borrowed fromthermodynamics, was crucial for the constitution of productive bodiesat the end of the 19th century, new findings suggest its irrelevancefor present regimes of production and cultures of the self. It isunlikely, however, that this model was directly and thoroughlyreplaced by new ones. In this regard, we are looking forcontributions focusing on transformations of the ?human motor?, ontransitions between hegemonic subjectivities of the ?carbon? and the?silicon age? (Gilles Deleuze), as well as on simultaneously emergingconcepts of productive bodies.b) Relatively little research has hitherto been done with respect tohistorical aspects of the corporeal/material production of ?theeconomic? itself, e.g. the production and selection of ?economicallyrelevant/irrelevant? bodies. Contributions which address these issuesby crossing the classic scheme of economic liberalism (production,distribution, consumption) are thus highly welcomed. We especiallyinvite scholars from the fields of dis/ability, gender, post-colonialand queer history, and from the history of forced labor, who arewilling to explore the entanglements and exclusions by which economic/productive bodies are constituted.c) The discussion on whether only human bodies can become productivebodies is to be (re-)opened as well. Obviously, working subjects arehardly separable from their tools and means of production ? rangingfrom a simple hammer to the ?cube farm?. We therefore invite scholarswho address, from a historical perspective, the question of the human/non-human nature of productivity by analyzing ?productive objects? or?bio-assemblages? (e.g. plants, animals, machines, production sites,robots and computers, as well as pencils, desks and prostheses, toname but a few possible objects) and their influences on theconstitution of specifically human productive bodies.d) Finally, the constitution of productive bodies and economicproductivity accompanied the emergence of industrial regimes ofworkforce organization as well as the establishment and integrationof markets, well before the 19th century. Little is known so far, forinstance, about the prehistory of the thermodynamic model that wasmost prominent at the turn of the 20th century. We therefore welcomecontributions addressing the above listed issues and questions from a?longue duree? perspective, especially those focusing on the?Sattelzeit? of the decades around 1800.Proposals should include an abstract of about 500 words and a shortbiographical note. Please send proposals to Arina Heussler(arina.heussler@unibas.ch&#60;mailto:arina.heussler@unibas.ch&#62;) no laterthan June 30, 2014. Notification of acceptance of proposals will begiven by July 31. The full papers are to be submitted by January 31,2015. Acceptance is based on a double-blind peer review process andwill be communicated by March 31, 2015. Publication is scheduled Fall/Winter 2015.