Touching time: duration, bodies, politics

Touching time: duration, bodies, politics

The British Society for Phenomenology 2025 International Symposium
The Department of Philosophy and the Department of Culture Studies, University of Tilburg
Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis

Location: Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands. In-person and online.
Date: 23rd and 24th June 2025

In modern Western thought, time is often seen as a naturally linear, infinite succession of moments, moving from past to future. In this line of thinking, bodies are located in time as in an empty container, while the vastly different ways in which time is shaped by bodies and their interactions tends to be overlooked.

In this two-day symposium, we aim to explore the intersection of embodiment and temporality and to challenge the conception of time as linear succession. We invite our speakers to focus on ways in which different embodied practices, experiences, and relations shape and are shaped by time. Examples of such experiences could be chronic illness, ageing, political displacement, prolonged relationships of love or care, detention, or activism for a seemingly hopeless cause. For bodies in these situations, time can appear to be “stuck,” to stretch, fold, or move in unpredictable ways.

While the starting point of this symposium is phenomenological, we are also open to other intellectual traditions with an interest in lived experience. Contributions may draw on diverse fields, such as the arts, psychosocial theory, anthropology, and literary analysis.