This is a CFP for a panel proposal for the upcoming British Shakespeare Association conference, February 2012. The theme of the conference is 'Shakespeare Inside-Out'
Shakespeare's inside-out immunities:
This panel seeks to explore spaces of liberty in Shakespeare's plays. Where does Shakespeare present us with protected spaces (religious, economic, legal or political) where outlaw speech or practices might be tolerated inside the community? How are these spaces defined and what purpose do they serve within the represented community? How are they threatened by and threatening to their wider socio-political context? How do these spaces refer to the body as social metaphor and (perhaps) point to medical understandings of immunity that would become gradually more common in the 17th and 18th centuries? How do different kinds of immunity interrelate to offer a vital and versatile mechanism in different fields of social experience?
Paper proposals that examine some aspect of 'immunity' or 'immune' space are welcome whether they approach the topic from a materialist or metaphorical perspective.
Please send 150 word proposals by Friday, 16 September 2011.
