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Abstract: DISPLAYING, HIDING: NARRATIVES AND IMAGES OF SARCOMA

 Natalia Fernández Díaz-Cabal, Ph.D.

Autonomous University of Barcelona and University of Shanghai

DISPLAYING, HIDING: NARRATIVES AND IMAGES OF SARCOMA

 

Despite its "insignificance" from the point of view of its social and cultural impact, sarcoma, throughout its history as an identified and identifiable clinical entity, shows some curiosities that we would like to deal with: its visibility from the monstrous (the dimensions of a sarcoma can be of a remarkable enormity compared to other malignant tumors) to the invisibility of the term itself (sarcoma evokes bitter destinies and especially since the irruption of AIDS - Kaposi's sarcoma - gives it a definitive deadly connotation). This displaying or exhibiting objectifies the patient - the principle that the patient is only his/her illness applies. The human subject is not of interest; only his/her exceptionality and stigma do.

In order to understand the meaning of what is displayed, it is necessary to delve into the etymology of the word "sarcoma", which comes from the Greek and which, from Galen until the late 19th century, was used in its most literal sense: fleshy excrescence. This excrescence is what was shown at medical and media gatherings, and to a general public eager for oddities, as were human specimens exhibited in several cities in Europe at that time. Currently, sarcoma is just a rare tumor (a variety of rare tumors) and narratives of patients remain silenced (if not ignored).

We are going to explore this initial body display at the end of 19th century, where the patients were just objects to be exposed. It will be the best framework to approach to the work of the Irish writer Lucy Grealy, author of  “Autobiography of a face”, where she narrates her experience with Ewing sarcoma in her face and her permanent war against mirrors due to deformity and the social imperative of being beautiful.

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Conference Programme

Programme 09:00 - 09:15 Welcome and intro Dr Jane Draycott, University of Glasgow 09:15-10:15 Keynote Prof Adrienne Mayor, Stanford University 10:15-11:15 Panel 1: Metamorphosis of Bodies Dr Tanika Koosmen, University of Newcastle, Australia [Dis]Playing Changing Bodies: Metamorphic Greco-Roman Myths as “Display” of Form Dr Ryan Denson, University of Exeter: Pickled Tritons: The Bodily Display of (Divine) Cryptids in the Roman Empire COFFEE BREAK 11:15 – 11:30 11:30 - 12:30 Panel 2: First Impressions/Judgement of Bodies Jasmine Sahu-Hough, PhD candidate - Yale University: “The Sort of Man You All See Me To Be”: Visible Disability and Citizenship in Classical Athens Dr Dan Mills, Georgia Institute of Technology: Physiognomic Disability in Literary, Statuarial, and Numismatic Depictions of Claudius 12:30 - 13:30 Panel 3: Bodies of Servants Dr Anastasia Meintani, Universität Wien: Bodily Display in the Context of the Banquet Shreya Sharma, Independent Scholar: Visual Arts and British Impe

Call for Papers

An increasing amount of attention has been paid to impairment and disability in classical antiquity in recent years. However, one aspect of the subject that has not received significant attention, despite recent developments in the study of ancient paradoxography (e.g., Kazantzidis 2019; Geus 2018) and ancient collections, collectors, and collecting (e.g., Carpino et al. 2018; Higbie 2017; Thompson 2016; Gahtan and Pegazzano 2015; Rutledge 2012), is the public display of impaired and disabled people. The same applies to extraordinary (in all senses of the word) bodies. Whether those bodies were human, animal, or cryptid, when scholars have acknowledged this phenomenon, the focus has been placed squarely on those individuals responsible for the displaying. For example, the imperial biographer Suetonius uses this as an indicator of virtue or vice in his subjects: Augustus is a good emperor for avoiding bodily display while Tiberius and Domitian are bad emperors for indulging in the pr