Sunday, March 30, 2025, Westward Look Inn, Tucson AZ
Reconstruction of fresco at Knossos
Day of Gifterhood,: A followup from the Global Day of Sisterhood after 2023 ASWM Conference
The Maternal Gift Economy Movement invites you to a day of gifterhood on Sunday March 30. We will gather from 9:00 to 4:00 local time at the same venue as the ASWM conference. Meet members of the MGEM network and enjoy the gifts of discussion, sharing and ritual. Debrief the conference, bringing in the gifts of ideas, of stories and of song, rooted in maternal gift economy. Join the conversation to shift the paradigm and link to a deeper understanding of nature, nurture, and the need for radical social change. Chat about how to create an ecovillage, promote citizen science, or organize a protest, and, in general strategize Where To Go From Here. We will close with a Gifterhood ritual.
There is no charge for this gathering, but in order for us to spend the whole day together, the hotel will charge about $50 for lunch. Let us know if this is an issue for you, or, on the other hand, if you are willing to provide a lunch for (an)other participant(s) as well as yourself.
Please email to register or get more information: maternalgifteconomy@gmail.comso we know how many to expect. More details about the program and logistics will be sent to you as they are available.
Meanwhile check out MGEM Conferences and Salons here.
Read all about the ASWM Conference and register here.
Long before our urban centers and city lights lit up the dark desert skies, the Tohono O’odham were cultivating and shaping the land with abundant agriculture—from squash and beans to corn and cotton. For generations they passed down their rich knowledge and culture grown from their connection to the desert. Join us for a program with Dr. Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan as she shares her knowledge about current Tohono O’odham issues of water rights, food production, and right relationship to the national observatory which is located on a sacred mountain.
“Farming” by Michael Chiago
“We were, as O’odham, as Indigenous people, the first astronomers, but that’s not what we called ourselves,” she says. “We were looking at the night sky, we were reading the constellations. My great-grandfather did that as a farmer. When I talk to Observatory staff, I offer the Himdag side.” The Himdag incorporates “the culture, way of life, and values that are uniquely held and displayed by the Tohono O’odham,” according to the Tohonoho O’odham Community College website.
Dr. Jacelle E. Ramon-Sauberan
Dr. Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan is from the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation. She is the Tohono O’odham Nation Education Development Liaison for NSF NOIRLab-Kitt Peak National Observatory and an adjunct instructor within the Tohono O’odham Studies Program at Tohono O’odham Community College. Dr. Ramon-Sauberan earned her PhD in American Indian Studies with a minor in Journalism from the University of Arizona in 2023. As part of her dissertation work, she created a living-document on the history of land and water in the San Xavier District, as told from a Tohono O’odham perspective. She has written for news publications across the US including Indian Country Today and is part of Arizona Humanities’ AZ Speaks Program providing presentations on Tohono O’odham History, Culture, and Foodways across Arizona. Jacelle also serves on several boards and committees including Wecij U’uwi Hemapai (Tohono O’odham Young Women’s Gathering), Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace-Mission Garden and Friends of Saguaro National Park.
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Our next Salon: To be announced, following our 2025 Conference
This Salon recording will also be available to members when processed after the event.
Thursday, March 27, 2025, Westward Look Inn, Tucson AZ
Join us on a delightful tour of Mission Gardens and the multi-generation fruit harvesting site associated with the Saguaro National Park, accompanied by Tanisha Tucker, a third-generation caretaker of the Saguaro site. She will discuss plant lore, food harvesting, and other practices from the Tohono O’odham Nation perspective.
Tanisha Tucker
At an early age, Tanisha was taught the tradition of the baidaj, or annual saguaro fruit harvest by her mother, Stella Tucker. Guided by the teachings of her mother, Tanisha is working to preserve traditional harvesting practices and restore native food ways. She is developing recipes with native foods, discussing their history, and hosting community tastings and classes in partnership with Tohono O’Odham Young Voices podcast.
Mission Garden, at the base of Sentinel peak, is a living agricultural museum of Sonoran Desert-adapted heritage fruit trees, traditional local heirloom crops and edible native plants. This site is Tucson’s birthplace, sacred to the Tohono O’odham, where archaeologists have documented 4,100 years of continuous cultivation. The Garden contains over a dozen distinct multi-cultural, ethno-agricultural heritage plots, each representing one of the many ethnic groups that farmed the Tucson Basin over the last four millennia. E. Director Alyce Sadongei, Megan Lopez, and other staff will share Indigenous practices (planting and harvesting by the traditional calendar) and early colonial gardens.
The Saguaro Harvest by Steven Meckler
Then we travel to Saguaro National Park and the Food Harvest Hill site where Tanisha will discuss how saguaro, buckthorn, prickly pear, and other fruits have been processed for generations. The Tucson District on the West side of Saguaro National Park is famous for its dense saguaro forests, beautiful sunsets, and the shorter scenic loop drive (Bajada Loop). We will end our field trip at the Saguaro National Park visitor center (West side) before traveling back to the Westward Look Resort.
Cost $90: includes box lunch, bus, and entrance and guide fees. Tips are optional. If you have a National Park Pass, please bring it for your admission to Saguaro National Park.
We planned this excursion to be easy walking on paved and some unpaved paths. We will be walking short distances that can accommodate canes and walking sticks if you use them.
Please bring: March in Tucson ought to be sunny and pleasant. Still, weather can be fickle so please be sure to pack a hat, long sleeves, water, and sunblock.
Itinerary
11:30 AM—meet at registration and put together your box lunch
12:00—board the bus (with food harvester Tanisha Tucker)
12:15 PM—Leave Westward Look Resort
12:45-1 PM—Arrive at Mission Gardens—After a 10-to-15-minute overview, we will divide into small groups to look at several garden areas. Or, if there’s time, you can explore the gardens on your own.
2:30 PM—Leave Mission Gardens for the fruit picking site at Saguaro National Park. At the fruit processing site Tanisha Tucker and colleagues will explain some of the processing aspects. After about a half hour at the processing site, we will go to the Red Hills Visitor Center in Saguaro National Park West.
4:45 PM—Head back to the Westward Look Resort
5:30 PM—Arrive at the Westward Look Resort
Register for the Tour and/or the Shechinah Banquet here.
Amidst the acute care crisis destabilizing almost all spheres of contemporary Western patriarchal societies, the need to explore alternative societal models has never been more urgent. This salon invites scholars and interested participants to delve into the potential of applying ubuntu: “I am because I belong.” This principle, as practiced by the Khoisan of Africa, sharply contrasts with the deceptive ideology of independence, portrayed as the elusive pursuit of happiness in patriarchal rhetoric. The ongoing application of the patriarchal principle of divide et impera affects nearly every facet of life, demanding a profound shift. In a world that values so-called independent individuals, addressing dependency as an inherently human quality becomes a revolutionary act.
In this salon, we invite participants to engage in an in-depth reflection and discussion on the principle of belonging, examining societies where individuals do not long for external validation or possessions because they inherently be-long. Insights from matriarchal societies will be connected to Joan Tronto’s concept of homines curans, exploring the multifaceted dimensions of care. The discussion will further consider how these matriarchal insights can illuminate pathways to fostering abundance and wholeness in Western contexts. By understanding what is necessary to nurture a care-centered society and exploring ways to establish these conditions consciously, participants are encouraged to reflect on how lessons from matriarchal cultures can support a transition from a mindset of scarcity to one of fullness and interconnectedness, aimed at creating future-oriented solutions.
Simone Plaza-Finis
Simone Plaza-Finis is one of the four founders of the Matriforum and a certified lecturer in Modern Matriarchal Studies. She holds a degree in Philology and is a translator and simultaneous translator. She has a son and grew up in Barcelona, influenced by German, Spanish, and Catalan cultures, though she has been living in Berlin since 2017.
Dr. Andrea Fleckinger
Dr. Andrea Fleckinger is a research fellow at the University of Trento (Italy). She is also one of the four founders of the Matriforum and a certified lecturer in Modern Matriarchal Studies. Currently, she teaches alongside Dr. Heide Göttner-Abendroth at the International Akademie Hagia.
The Matriforum is an organization that aims to encourage constructive dialogue between science and the public at large regarding alternative, egalitarian forms of society supported by the latest findings in the scientific fields of modern matriarchal research.
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Our next Salon: To be announced
This Salon recording will also be available to members when processed after the event.
ASWM Scholar Salon with Dr. Eftyhia Leontidou, "Healing Goddesses of Ancient Greece,"relates the stories of well known and lesser known deities and their symbols, particularly the snake, whose venom can kill or heal. She also discusses the state of modern "medicine women" in the health fields.
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