Saturday, March 29, 2025, Westward Look Inn, Tucson AZ
Reclaiming Animal-Human Relationships Drawing on Land Wisdom and Myth
with Claire Princess Ayelotan, Heather Taylor, Barbara Mann, and Kaarina Kailo
- Foundational Myths, Witchcraft Accusations, and the Symbolism of Cats in Yoruba Cosmology, Claire Princess Avelotan
- Bear wisdom and original Instructions for healthy living, Kaarina Kailo
- Original Instructions: Boundary Crossing with Bears, Barbara Mann
- Mythical Horses Connecting Us to the Primal Energy of Life, Land, and Imagination, Heather Taylor
Dr Claire Princess Ayelotan is a researcher in Theology, Religious Studies, and Law, specialising in African spirituality, witchcraft accusations, and Yoruba cosmology. Her interdisciplinary research explores connections between myth, social justice, and legal frameworks within Nigerian and diaspora populations. Utilising African Womanist viewpoints and symbolic interactionism, Dr Ayelotan examines the significance of human and animal symbolism in mythologies and traditions, focusing on their intersections with human rights and legal systems.
Dr. Kaarina Kailo is a cosmopolitan activist, politician, self-made artist and researcher. She has worked as professor of Women’s Studies at Oulu University, Finland, at the Finnish Academy, and has held women’s studies positions at Concordia University, Simone de Beauvoir Institute and University of Quebec, Chicoutimi, Canada. She has published hundreds of articles on the gift economy/imaginary, Bear and Great Mother Worship/mythology, the woman who married the bear, sauna and sweat lodge healing, Finno-Ugric ecomythology, and modern matriarchal studies.
Barbara Alice Mann, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Humanities, Jesup Scott Honors College, of the University of Toledo, in Toledo, Ohio, USA. Including encyclopedias and bibliographies, she has produced seventeen books and over 500 articles. Her latest work is The Woman Who Married the Bear (Oxford University Press, August, 2023) co-authored with Finnish scholar Dr. Kaarina Kailo. Mann’s most recent monographs include President by Massacre: Indian-Killing for Political Gain; Spirits of Blood, Spirits of Breath: The Twinned Cosmos of Indigenous America; The Tainted Gift: The Disease Method of Settler Advance; Daughters of Mother Earth; and Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas (Lang, 2000, 2004, 2006).
Heather A. Taylor is the Co-Founder of the International Society of Mythology. She is also producer/director of the award-winning documentary Breaking Through the Clouds: The First Women’s National Air Derby. Heather has a PhD in Mythology and a Masters in Producing Film. Heather has a special interest in helping people find their passion (genius) which is often done with the aid of an animal, real and mythic.
Read all about the ASWM Conference and register here.