“Wisdom Across the Ages” 2021 Symposium Program

 

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

July 16-18, 2021

Marija Gimbutas in Slovenia, 1993. Photo by Joan Marler

UNESCO has recognized the centennial of Marija Gimbutas’ birth as  one of the world’s most influential events for 2021.

In honor of her work and life, ASWM’s 2021 Symposium is presented in cooperation with the institute of Archaeomythology.  This unique event offers cutting edge scholarship in the context of artistic celebrations and memories of this revolutionary scientist, who was also a wise mentor and a loving friend.

We are pleased to introduce the program for our Online Symposium. The program features two important keynote addresses:

“Celebrating a Great Woman of Science: The Life and Legacy of Archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas” (Joan Marler)

“Marija Gimbutas’ ‘Collision of Cultures’: the Kurgan
Invasions and the End of Old Europe” (Dr. Harald Haarmann)

See the full program at the symposium website–and watch for updates coming soon. Registration for this event opens May 5, 2021.

Please note: We realize that there may be schedule conflicts during the weekend of the symposium. To give you plenty of time to view the program at leisure, all sessions will remain available, to those who register, for twelve months following the event.

Call for Papers and Art Entries for 2021 ASWM Symposium

Call for Papers and Art Entries: Deadline Feb. 15, 2021

ASWM 2021 Symposium

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

July 16-18 2021

Marija Gimbutas founded the groundbreaking field of archaeomythology to investigate beliefs, rituals, symbols, and social structures of early European 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 of works inspired by archaeomythology or Nature-based societies.

Deadline for submissions: Feb 15, 2021

All presenters must be or become members of ASWM ($30-60 dues) and register for the event.

2021 Call for Papers

2021 Artist Entries

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.