Category: Awards

ASWM’s mission includes the conferring of awards of excellence in a variety of fields comprising Women and Mythology

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Announcing 2018 Kore Award for Best Dissertation

The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology 2018 Kore Award Committee is pleased to announce the following honorees:

  • The 2018 Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology has been awarded to Dr. April Heaslip of Pacifica Graduate Institute, for “Regenerating Magdalene: Psyche’s Quest for the Archetypal Bride.”
  • The 2018 Dissertation of Merit is awarded to Dr. Elizabeth Wolterink of Pacifica Graduate Institute, for “Cloaked in Darkness: Feminine Katabasis in Myth and Culture.”

Dr. April Heaslip’s work focuses on the capacity of feminist mythology as cultural and psychological change agent embodied in the lost and degraded archetypal Bride, Mary Magdalene.  As a Middle Eastern woman embedded within a complex web of gendered religious “history” and mythology, she is also located within a dynamic and enigmatic mystery linking ancient Mediterranean goddesses, including Inanna, Isis, and Ariadne, with a partnership lineage relevant for our times.   The void created by this lost and misrepresented archetypal feminine as a sovereign and powerful presence has left Western cultures with a corrupt, wounded, and incomplete masculinist paradigm longing for wholeness. Utilizing literary and film studies, Jungian psychology, feminist studies, archaeomythology, and religious studies to examine the cultural and personal phenomenon of Magdalenian renewal, this study explores how remythologizing bridal regeneration—as well as remapping the neglected Wasteland landscape—revitalizes the relationship between psyche, culture, and Nature.
Dr. Heaslip will discuss her work at our Las Vegas Conference, on the Friday panel LIVING MYTHS: REVIVING FEMININE IMMANENCE
Dr. Elizabeth Wolterink’s study of feminine katabasis asserts that myths of the journey to the underworld in which the protagonist is female have been marginalized in favor of stories in which the descender is male. Female figures on the journey, also called the nekyia, act in significantly different ways than their male counterparts and stories of feminine descent commonly result in the protagonist remaining in the underworld. Analyses of the nekyia of Ereshkigal, Hel, Izanami, Hine-nui-te-po, Inanna, and Persephone show that female descent narratives are as wide-spread as those of males and illuminate the differences between feminine descent and the traditionally accepted pattern of katabasis. The study finds that these female figures, far from being “defeated” by the underworld, cloak themselves in its power and come to abide there, making it their home.
The honorees will be awarded at the 2018 ASWM Conference in Las Vegas, March 16-17, 2018.  Please join us in congratulating these fine scholars and in celebrating emerging scholarship in Women and Mythology.
The 2018 Kore Award Committee
Dr. Dawn Work-MaKinne, Chair
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2018 Sarasvati Award Goes to “Sheela na Gig”

Sheela na gig
: The Dark Goddess of Sacred Power 

by Starr Goode

Published by Inner Traditions

 

The ASWM Board of Directors is pleased to present the 2018 Sarasvati Award for nonfiction to Inner Traditions for this provocative and beautiful book. With over 150 illustrations, this book explores the archetype of the Dark Goddess in the form of female display figures. It examines a range of images of supernatural females like Sheela na gigs adorning medieval architecture.

The award letter reads in part:

This book advances the field of feminist mythological/Goddess studies, presenting both scholarly information and wonderful images to the reader.  The inclusion of this large number of illustrations is essential in a work of this type, in order to convey the rich and diverse imagery of Sheela na gigs and displaying figures.

This book is very well-balanced in offering descriptions and lists of Sheelas along with scholarly explorations and an understanding of issues regarding their their deep meanings and mystery. Additionally, this book gives evidence of similar sacred display figures throughout the world: in Polynesia, in Africa, in India, in Europe, and in the Far East.  It takes the reader from sacred display figures dating to the Upper Palaeolithic, to those from the Neolithic, to those from the Classical era, and finally those dating to the medieval era in Europe.

 In short, we believe this book has great value in to interdisciplinary studies of myth and folklore.  We would strongly recommend it as a resource to faculty, researchers, travelers, and general readers.  

The author will be on hand to accept this award at our 2018 Conference in March.

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2018 Sarasvati Book Award Applications

The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM)

Sarasvati Award for Nonfiction

The Sarasvati Book Award solicits nonfiction books published during 2015-2017 in the field of goddess studies/women and mythology. Named for the Hindu goddess of learning and the creative arts, the Sarasvati award from the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM) honors creative work in the field of goddess and mythology studies. The award will be presented during ASWM’s biennial conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, 16-17 March 2018. Book submissions must be received by ASWM Sarasvati Award committee no later than 15 November 2017.  Books must be submitted by publishers only.  Anthologies and self-published books are not eligible for this award. 

The 2017 deadline for submissions has now passed. Past winners of this prestigious award for the study of women and mythology include:

  • Miriam Robbins Dexter & Victor Mair and Cambria Press for Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia
  • Elizabeth Wayland Barber and W. W. Norton for The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance
  • Adrienne Mayor and  Princeton University Press for The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World

 See the link for submission form.

2018 ASWM Sarasvati Submission Form-2

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2018 Kore Dissertation Award

 

Euthydikois-Kore

The Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology is offered through the Association for Study of Women and Mythology and made possible through the gift of a generous contributor. The Award 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).  The 2018 award is offered for dissertations completed and defended in 2016 and 2017.

 

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. A letter of support from the dissertation director is required is part of the application.  Applicants must be members of ASWM at time of submission. Award-winning dissertations may be included in the ASWM members-only dissertation database.

Applications for the 2018 award may be made between November 1, 2017 and January 19, 2018.  Selection is made by a panel of scholars from a variety of disciplines.

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Application for Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Women and Mythology

 

Deadline for submission: January 19, 2018

Award presentation:  March 17, 2018 at ASWM National Conference, Las Vegas (successful applicant will be notified by February 15, 2018 and award presentation will be made in Las Vegas)

 

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 PDF or MSWord attachment of dissertation.  Please have dissertation director email letter of support, also in PDF or MSWord, to same address.

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Dr Elinor Gadon Receives Demeter Award in 2016

E Gadon Photo 2

At our 2016 Conference, the ASWM Board of Directorspresented Dr. Elinor Gadon with the Demeter Award for Leadership in Women’s Spirituality.* The award recognizes Dr. Gadon’s lifetime contribution to understanding the cultural and visual history of religion and myth.

With this Award, we honor and cherish her long career of feminist scholarship, education, and inspiration for generations of women artists. As an art historian specializing in Indian art and beyond. Dr. Gadon has analyzed myth and visual imagery in their cultural context and has provided an informed transmission of images related to the sacred feminine and women’s experience.

Her 1989 book, The Once and Future Goddess: A Symbol for Our Time, is a visual chronicle of the history of the sacred female and her re-emergence in the cultural mythology of our time. This work introduced scholars, feminists, artists and interested women to the astounding array of images of the female divine, culled through rigorous research from cultures across history, up to and including the work of contemporary women artists. This ground-breaking beginning was followed by numerous articles and lectures across the globe about art, gender, and the goddess, especially in India.

The award honors her widespread teaching and lectures at universities and conferences across the globe. Through scholarly publications, lectures, and curation, Dr. Gadon has contributed her expertise on religion and gender to wider international audiences. Her leadership also includes training the next generation; she founded the first graduate program on Women’s Spirituality.

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*In a break with tradition, this year’s award was also awarded to Dr.Gadon’s good friend Dr. Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum..