The Sarasvati Nonfiction Book Award Application

Sarasvati Nonfiction Book Award submissions deadline has been extended:  Dec. 31 2021

Sarasvati by Raja Ravi Varma

The Sarasvati Nonfiction Book Award solicits nonfiction books published in English during 2019-21 in the field of 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 scholarly work in the fields of goddess studies and women and mythology. Anthologies and self-published books are not eligible for consideration. Applications must be submitted by publisher and must be received by the ASWM Sarasvati Award Committee no later than December 31, 2021.  The award will be presented during ASWM’s next biennial conference.

Publishers Submission Form:  2021 Sarasvati Submission Form

Previous winners of the Sarasvati Award for Nonfiction:

2018: Sheela na gig: The Dark Goddess of Sacred Power by Starr Goode (Inner Traditions)

2016: The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor (Princeton)

2014: The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology and the Origins of European Dance by Elizabeth Wayland Barber (Norton)

2012: Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia by Miriam Robbins Dexter and Victor Mair (Cambria Press)

For questions please contact the Awards Committee

2021 Symposium Call for Proposals for Papers/Visual Presentations

Wisdom Across the Ages: Celebrating the Centennial of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas

A Virtual Symposium   July 16-18, 2021

Submissions Deadline:  Feb 15, 2021

Proposals are accepted on these topics for this symposium 

          • Women at the Center
          • Voices from the Land
          • Human-Animal Relationships

WOMEN AT THE CENTER  (balanced societies engendering peace, collaboration and mutual respect), including such topics as:             

  • Perspectives of Indigenous, land-based cultures regarding traditional roles and social structures.
  • Views of Indigenous Mother-centered societies—birthing, nurturing, and guiding past, present, and future generations.
  • Women at the Center /Goddess at the Center: exploring archaeomythological expressions of the main themes of Old European Goddess symbolism described by Marija Gimbutas as “the mystery of birth and death and the renewal of life, not only human but all life on earth.”
  • Sacred symbolism, oral traditions, and women’s traditional arts and technologies within past and present female centered societies.
  • Principles of social and environmental justice: responses to structural violence against women and the planet.

VOICES FROM THE LAND (Old European/Indigenous/First Nations Wisdom, symbols and enduring traditions, codes of sustainability and respect – then and now), including such topics as:                     

  • Honoring the Earth as the source of life, origin stories linked with sacred places.
  • The land as a living sanctuary: rituals in sacred caves, springs, mountain top shrines and processional ways.
  • On the brink of extinction: floods, fires, earthquakes and hurricanes. Ancient wisdom for mutual [healing and] survival.
  • Sacred relationships with living ecosystems engendering traditional earth-based technologies, such as basket making, weaving, pottery, ethnobotany, and ancient pharmacology.

HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS (sacred roles of our non-human ancestors), including such topics as:

  • Animals as totems, teachers, touchstones:  Animal ancestors in myths, images, rituals, sounds, and symbols.
  • Animal-human fusions: hybrid figures of Old Europe and beyond when humans and animals shared a common language.
  • Supporting the Kurgan Hypothesis: What genomic studies and ancient DNA reveal about early domestication and human and animal migrations.
  • Honoring animals as models of collaboration, communication, interdependence,  and agency in folk mythologies, ritual expressions, and imagery.

Presenters from all disciplines are welcome, as well as creative artists, filmmakers and practitioners who engage these appropriate themes in a scholarly manner in their work. Presenters must become members of ASWM 60 days prior to the conference.

Proposals should be 250 words.  Presenters whose work is  accepted will be asked to submit full text of paper or powerpoint.  Presentations should be 15-20 minutes in length. Panels are 90 minutes including discussion. Submit a Proposal by February 15, 2021 via the Form below.

 

Notifications will be sent out by mid-March. Guidelines for proposals here.  For more information contact submissions@womenandmyth.org

UPDATE: SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED. Check in for new Calls from time to time by bookmarking this News feed: Calls for Submissions. Also bookmark our Calls for Submission page.

2021 Symposium Call for Artists’ Entries

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ENTRIES

JURIED ONLINE ART EXHIBIT 

Wisdom Across the Ages: Celebrating the Centennial of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas

 Offered in conjunction with online symposium, July 16-18, 2021

Presented by the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM) in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeomythology

Entry Deadline: Feb 15, 2021

This online art exhibition will be featured on the ASWM public website between June 15  and September 15, 2021. 

Submit a Response via the Form below.

Continue reading “2021 Symposium Call for Artists’ Entries”

“Wisdom Across the Ages” 2021 Symposium To Honor Marija Gimbutas

Wisdom Across the Ages: Celebrating the Centennial of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas

July 16-18, 2021

 Call Deadline: Feb 15, 2021

 

 

Marija Gimbutas

Marija Gimbutas’ pioneering scholarship on the earliest horticultural societies focuses on Old European cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean (6500-3500 BCE).

She founded the field of archaeomythology to investigate beliefs, rituals, symbols, and social structures of these early societies. Archaeomythology is inspiring a new generation of scholars to develop a deeper understanding of past and present earth-based societies.

Our ASWM symposium seeks to expand this understanding by highlighting the voices of First Nations and Indigenous scholars to discuss indigenous, Old European, and other Nature-based cultures.

We are seeking proposals in these topic areas:

  • Women at the Center: Matrifocal, Matristic, Matriarchal Societies
  • Voices from the Land
  • Sacred Human-Animal Relationships

We are also seeking artists’ entries for a juried art exhibit.

 Links to the Calls are on the womenandmyth.org/symposium page.

 

Our 2021 Symposium is presented in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeomythology (IAM). Inspired by the scholarship of Lithuanian-American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, IAM is an international organization of scholars dedicated to fostering an interdisciplinary approach to cultural research with particular emphasis on the beliefs, rituals, social structure, and symbolism of past and present societies. The Institute encourages dialogue among specialists from diverse fields by sponsoring international symposia, by publishing collected papers and monographs, and by promoting creative collaboration within an atmosphere of mutual support.

2022 ASWM Symposium

 “Hearing the Invisible: Lessons from Sentient Beings and Inter-relational Ecosystems”

ASWM Online Symposium: Sunday, April 10, 2022

DID YOU MISS OUR SYMPOSIUM? You can now purchase recordings for the concert or the whole event–

  • Concert only/General public all recordings  here.  
  • Members sign in and get $50 discount here.  
  • Join/Renew your ASWM membership here.
  • Questions? events @ womenandmyth.  org

“The Caretaker of the Precious” by Denise Kester

SYMPOSIUM DETAILS:

Jane Goodall has pointed out that human global disregard for nature brought on the current pandemic, documenting that mistreatment/exploitation of sentient beings can result in an exponential crisis for the whole planet.

Our 2022 biennial Symposium focuses on meanings found in the relational reality among science, culture, and mythology in regards to animals, the green world, and ecosystems.

With our primary focus on interconnectedness, we feature academic and artistic work that addresses collaborations between humans and other sentient beings, foundational myths about earth’s response to misuse, and scientific solutions to transgressions against the balance of nature. 

Read about Denise Kester and “The Caretaker of the Precious,” the featured artwork for this event.