Book talk: Anatomophilia. The Liberation of the Body

Friday 28 August 2026 from 9:30am - Friday 28 August 2026 until 11:00am

Head & shoulders shot of a middle-aged woman with dark hair wearing a black and white top
Associate Professor Devaleena Das, University of Minnesota Medical School

Purai Global Indigenous History Centre presents a book talk.

Join Associate Professor Devaleena Das (University of Minnesota Medical School) and Professor Victoria Haskins  (UoN) to hear Professor Das talk about her interdisciplinary feminist studies book which develops a new feminist theory on the body.

Drawing from South Asian, Indigenous, feminist, and queer philosophies of Kālī’s body, at once beautiful and abominable, wounded and regenerative, violated and resistant, Anatomophilia develops the theory of anatomophilia as a radical love and reverence for diverse anatomies. Moving across medical education and clinical encounters, embodied histories of migration, dance and performance, protest in the streets, visual art, and everyday bodily rituals, Devaleena Das argues that Global South bodies do not merely illustrate theory; they think, resist, and generate knowledge through touch, affect, grief, and resilience. Challenging disembodied and technocratic models of justice and care, she offers an ethically demanding framework for teaching, learning, and practicing medicine and care differently.

Come and listen either  on line or in person:

Purai Global Indigenous History Centre, University of Newcastle, City Campus, University House (cnr Auckland and King St Newcastle, entry is via the sliding doors on Auckland House), Level 2, Room 208

Join via Zoom

Meeting ID: 817 1094 0518           Passcode: 610267

Event Information

  • Date:  Friday 28 August 2026 from 9:30am - Friday 28 August 2026 until 11:00am