Author: WomenandMyth

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“Creating the Chalice,” the 2012 National Conference Program

Chalice (and hand) by Susan Minyard

Registration is now open for our 2012 National Conference, “Creating the Chalice:  Imagination and Integrity in Goddess Studies.”  (See the registration page to register and, if you like, become a member.)

The conference takes place May 11-12, at the Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  We have a block of rooms reserved at a group rate; see link to Holiday Inn FW.

We are excited to present a rich and varied program this year.  Some of our panel topics include:

  • Archaeomythology
  • Cultural Appropriation
  • Mother-Daughter Mythology
  • Place Wisdom
  • Young Adult Fiction
  • Methodologies
  • Womanism, Goddess Studies, and Women’s Spirituality
  • Visual Arts
  • Matriarchal Studies
  • Poetry
  • Women in Publishing

Our keynote speakers are Miriam Robbins Dexter, Judy Grahn, and Ana Castillo.  There will also be a special presentation by our 2012 Demeter Award winner, Charlene Spretnak.  We will also have as a special panelist Dr. Heide Goertner-Abendroth, founder of Modern Matriarchal Studies. And we will present the winners of the Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology, and the Sarasvati Awards for Best Published Fiction and Non-fiction Books.

As in our past conference and symposia, we will feature selected films that are relevant to issues in women’s experiences, feminisms, and mythology.    We will also include workshops that permit the integration of body-mind wisdom.

We will again feature a lively networking luncheon, with opportunities to meet other participants to discuss such topics as academic careers, ritual, issues for graduate students, and the performing and visual arts.  We will have a Book Fair and Marketplace for arts and crafts.

Friday evening’s entertainment is coordinated by faculty members from the California Institute of Integral Studies and the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology.

Remember that the Matriarchal Studies Day takes place in the same location, on May 10—the day before our conference begins!  We hope that you will be able to attend both events for a long weekend of stimulating and inspiring presentations.

Keep checking back–in a few weeks we will announce the schedule.

About the chalice:  see Susan’s work at www.SweetwaterPottery.biz

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Matriarchal Studies Day, May 10, 2012

We have been working with a group of matriarchal studies scholars in the US, to arrange their Matriarchal Studies Day to occur the day before our national conference.  Like ASWM’s conference, their event will take place at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  We have also arranged to co-sponsor their evening keynote presentation by Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth, the founder of Modern Matriarchal Studies as a branch of feminist anthropology.

When you see their program, and ours, we hope that you will want to join us for both of these exciting events!

Priestesses of Pele, by Lydia Ruyle
MATRIARCHAL STUDIES DAY  May 10, 2012: 9:00 am – 9:00 PM
Fisherman’s Wharf Holiday Inn, San Francisco, California
May 10, 2012: 9:00 am – 9:00 PM
Updated Matriarchal Studies Day Prospectus, March 31, 2012
MATRIARCHAL STUDIES DAY AGENDA
9:00-9:30 am  Opening Ritual
Altar making :  Lydia Ruyle / Goddess Icon Spirit Banners
9:45-10:30   Herstory Overview of Matriarchal Studies–Beginnings
Max Dashu / Suppressed Histories
Joan Marler / Marija Gimbutas’s Legacy
Lucia Birnbaum / The Future Has An Ancient Heart
10:30-Noon  Teaching Matriarchal Studies / Where We Are Today
Vicki Noble & students
Marguerite Rigoglioso & students
LUNCH 12:00-1:00
1:00-2:00pm  Matriarchal Creative Movement / Matriarchal Language / Matriarchal Households
Leilani Birely–Hula Traditions
Delphine Red Shirt–Lakota Language
MaShiAat Oloya Tyehimba-Ford –Matriarchal Household, Egyptian Yoruba Lineage
2:00-3:00pm  Matriarchal Studies Voices from Europe / Indigenous Cultures
Mariam Tazi-Preve–European culture, Austria
Malika Grasshof–Kabyle Berber culture, Africa
Deborah L. Neff–Nayar culture, Kerala, India
BREAK
3:30-3:45pm  Future of Matriarchal Studies
Max Dashu, Lydia Ruyle–Social Networking / Digital Herstories on Internet
3:45-5:30pm Open General Discussion moderated by Vicki Noble
 
DINNER / On Your Own  5:30-7:30pm
7:30pm
Janie Rezner
Heide Goettner-Abendroth
(Presented In Conjunction with the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology
Please Note: Agenda subject to change
For more information or to register see next page.
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Announcing the Sarasvati Awards for Best Books

Sarasvati Awards for Best Books in Women and Mythology

The Association for Study of Women and Mythology announces the first biennial competition for the Sarasvati Awards for Best Books in Women and Mythology.  Two awards will be given at the ASWM national conference in San Francisco in May, one for nonfiction/scholarly work, one for creative work in poetry, fiction or other genre, for books published during 2010 and 2011.

Books must be published in print, not only in e-book format. Nominations must come directly from publisher; authors should contact their publishers to ask them to nominate for this award.  Each publisher may nominate one work in each category, although publishers may nominate in only one category if they prefer.  At this point, anthologies do not qualify for this award.  Publishers should contact ASWM at SarasvatiAwards@gmail.com to receive required submissions form and details of submissions process.

Judges will be a panel of published writers in women and mythology.  Their own work cannot be accepted for consideration for these awards.

Awardees will be invited to read at the ASWM national conference during the year of their award and/or the next biannual meeting following.

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Introducing the Kore Award Commission Judges

The Kore Award Commission, charged with giving the 2012 Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology, has established its panel of judges for the 2012 award:

Candace C. Kant, Ph.D., is an Emerita Professor of History with the College of Southern Nevada.  She is co founder of Goddess Ink, LTD. a press dedicated to publishing scholarly and creative books in the fields of Women’s Spirituality and Goddess Studies, and co editor of Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet.

 

Betz King, Ph. D.,  is a psycho-spiritual psychologist, and the Master’s Program Coordinator at The Michigan School of Professional Psychology.  Her dissertation, Bodyhood and Being-With: A woman’s experience of embodied spiritual empowerment, focuses on women’s experiences of body wisdom.

Dawn Work-MaKinne, Ph.D., is a 2010 graduate of the Union Institute and University with a doctoral concentration in Women’s Studies in Religion. Her dissertation, Deity in Sisterhood: The Collective Female Sacred in Germanic Europe, won both the 2010 ASWM Kore Award and the 2010 Marvin B. Sussman Award for Excellence given by the Union Institute. Dawn is on the faculty of the Women’s Thealogical Institute. She makes her home in Des Moines, Iowa.

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Announcing the Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology

The Kore Award, offered through the Association for Study of Women and Mythology and made possible through the gift of a generous contributor, recognizes excellence in scholarship in the area of women and mythology. It is offered in even-numbered years, for dissertations completed in the previous two calendar years (including defense).

Applicants can be from any discipline, including but not limited to literature, religious studies, art or art history, classics, anthropology, and communications. Creative dissertations must include significant analysis of mythology in addition to creative work.   Applicants must be members of ASWM at time of submission.

Applications for the 2012 award may be made between November 1, 2011 and February 15, 2012.  Selection is made by a panel of scholars from a variety of disciplines.

_______

Application for Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology

Deadline for submission: February 15, 2012

Award announcement:  May 12, 2012

Name:

Mailing address:

Email:

Field of Study:

Title of Dissertation:

Date of graduation:

Degree granted by:

Dissertation advisor’s name:

Dissertation abstract:

Please submit this form via email to ASWM.KoreAward@gmail.com with Word attachment of dissertation.  Please have dissertation director email letter of support to same address.