Category: Saga

At our Boston conference, Donna Read, innovator, filmmaker, producer and activist, received ASWM’s2016 Saga Award for Special Contributions to Women’s History and Culture. The award honors Donna’s role in making feminist scholarship and the history of spirituality visible and accessible to a wide audience,

The ASWM Board of Directors recognizes Donna as “one of the premier visionary artists of our time” for films that include the Women’s Spirituality Series (Goddess Remembered, Burning Times, and Full Circle), Signs Out of Time, Permaculture: The Growing Edge, and (with producer/directorDonna Roberts) Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil.

In particular, Donna’s visual chronicles in both the “Women & Spirituality trilogy” and “Signs Out of Time” document the history of the sacred feminine and its re-emergence in the cultural mythology and activism of our time. Her films introduced scholars, feminists, artists and interested women to new interpretations of the myriad array of images of the female divine. As her award letter states, this work “has enlightened and continues to inspire viewers to re-examine their assumptions about women, about men, about spirituality and about culture.”

We were privileged to have Donna present Yemanjá:  Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil to our 2016 conference, and moderate an important discussion about the film and the remarkable women upon whose work it is based.

Hearing of her award, Donna’s good friend and collaborator Starhawk had this to say:

Donna Read Cooper has made great contributions to women’s culture and history.  She created key resources through her work as a filmmaker, first with the National Film Board of Canada and later with her own independent company, Belili Productions.  She began as an editor, worked for many years at Studio D, the Film Board’s special studio for women, and progressed on to direct and produce documentaries concerned with women and the earth, including the Women’s Spirituality Trilogy:  Goddess Remembered, Burning Times and Full Circle.  Together, we made Signs Out of Time, on the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, and Permaculture:  The Growing Edge.  

As her long-time friend, and sometime film making companion, I know some of the obstacles she faced.  From the early days, when women in film faced prejudice and dismissal, to challenges persuading the more hard-nosed political feminists that women’s spirituality was a valid subject, to the difficulty raising funds for independent documentaries, to the health challenges that come with aging.  

But she always persevered.  Donna made films about key issues, but she also took action.  We’ve marched together in the streets, stood together in front of tanks on the West Bank supporting the nonviolent resistance in Palestine, attended endless meetings, and most recently, Donna has opened her home to Syrian refugees.  Through it all managed to raise five children, and remain a mentor, teacher, and a good friend to me and to many younger women.  

I am thrilled that Donna is receiving this well-deserved award that honors a lifetime of devotion to women and social justice.

Congratulations to Donna, along with deep gratitude for her work which has both chronicled and transformed generations of scholarship.

 

The Saga Award: Contributions to Women’s History and Culture

The Saga Special Recognition Award in Women’s History was created by the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM) in 2012.

Named for the Norse goddess of history and prophecy, the Saga Award honors contributions to women’s history and culture. The phrase “women’s history” came into prominence in the Second Wave of Feminism, as a corrective to patriarchal histories that excluded women’s experiences and accomplishments. The ASWM Board recognizes outstanding scholarship that promote a balanced understanding of what is possible for women, and men and children, as we write a new history.

In 2016 this award went to filmmaker and activist Donna Read, “one of the premier visionary artists of our time,” for her role role in making feminist scholarship and the history of spirituality visible and accessible to a wide audience. Her films that include Goddess Remembered, Burning Times, and Full Circle, Signs Out of Time, Permaculture: The Growing Edge, and (with producer/directorDonna Roberts) Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil. In particular the Women & Spirituality trilogy and “Signs Out of Time” document the history of the sacred feminine and its re-emergence in the cultural mythology and activism of our time.

The 2015 Saga Award recipient is Dr. Zsuzsanna E. Budapest, author, ritualist, and tireless teacher of feminist goddess spirituality.   Starting with the publication of The Feminist Book of Lights and Shadows (now called The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries), she has inspired a vision of modern spiritual values. Z’s ideas have influenced women to explore both ancient and modern goddess scholarship and to develop their own connections with the divine feminine.  Presently she is also focusing on Femina Nation, her TV project that focuses on notable women.

Genevieve Vaughan was honored with the Saga Award in 2014, for her creation of and dedication to projects like the Gift Economy that promote economic and social justice. Her influential book, For-Giving, a Feminist Criticism of Exchange, has set forth feminist economic principles for creating a maternal economy as a basis for social change. She is also founder of the Temple of Goddess Spirituality, Dedicated to Sekhmet. Located in Cactus Springs, Nevada, near the Nevada Test Site, this Temple creates a sanctuary of feminist values of peace in a location where it is needed most.

In 2012 Dr. Heide Göttner-Abendroth was the first recipient of the award, for her work on Modern Matriarchal Studies. Göttner-Abendroth is the founder of Modern Matriarchal Studies and the International Academy Hagia for Matriarchal Studies and Matriarchal Spirituality in Bavaria. Her meticulous research demonstrates that matriarchies are egalitarian cultures based on gender equality and consensus decision-making. In 2005, Heide was nominated as one of 1000 Peace Women Across the Globe for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Other ASWM awards include the Demeter Award for Leadership in Women’s Spirituality; the Sarasvati book awards (in nonfiction and fiction); the Kore Award for Best Dissertation, recognizing excellence in scholarship in the area of women and mythology; and the Hestia Award for outstanding volunteer service to the organization. ASWM developed its awards program so that notable contributions to culture and scholarship would not fade with the passage of time.