2020 Keynote Speaker Annette Williams: The Feminine Power of àjẹ́
Among the West African Yoruba, àjẹ́ is the power of the feminine, of female divinity and women, and àjẹ́ is the women themselves who wield this power. Women who are àjẹ́ have held power in religious, political, judicial, and economic domains, and àjẹ́ have also been branded as witches, feared, and persecuted. Oral history, myth, and ritual assist in understanding the roles and functions of the Yoruba àjẹ́ as well as reactions to their power from pre-colonial to contemporary times. Through appreciating àjẹ́ we reclaim the timeless female power of transformation.
Annette Williams is chair and core faculty in the Women’s Spirituality program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Religion with specialization in Women’s Spirituality. Her dissertation, Our Mysterious Mothers: The Primordial Feminine Power of Àjẹ́ in the Cosmology, Mythology, and Historical Reality of the West African Yoruba, was a recipient of the 2016 ASWM Kore Award for best dissertation in women and mythology. Her research interests have centered on soul healing from sexual trauma, and the theme of women’s spiritual power and agency within the Yorùbá Ifá tradition, with specific reference to the feminine authority of àjẹ́.
Register for the 2020 event!
Scholar Salon 3
Announcing Scholar Salon 3: Arieahn Matamonasa on Mongolian Shamans, Dec. 11
Lessons from the Roadless Road: Mongolia in 2019
Arieahn Matamonasa, Ph.D., DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Date and time: Wednesday December 11, 2019, 1:00 PM Central Time
Dr. Matamonasa writes,
“I am a clinical psychologist, researcher and cross-culturally trained traditional healer. My lifelong work has been building bridges between indigenous healing and worldviews and Western psychology. In the Summer of 2019, I traveled with a group of nine other Westerners to visit the ancient steppes and valleys of Mongolia to visit the people of Khuvdgal, the Darkhad Valley and Tsagaan Nuur. These people represent the world’s oldest shamanic traditions that have persisted despite years of persecution and oppression. The world’s remaining Indigenous people are the keepers of our human intellectual and ecological knowledge through deep time. This presentation highlights some of my experiences and the lessons that are invaluable for modern cultures in this time of ecological, spiritual and social crisis.”
Highlights will include:
- Stepping back in time: Vast, ancient wild spaces
- Community in the West: ‘downloaded’ but not installed
- Shaman’s Warnings: Consumerism and predatory cultures
Members will receive a link to join the Salon. If you are not yet an ASWM member, join now to participate. The Salon recording will be available to members after the event.
Recordings are listed on our Member Library’s Scholars Salon page womenandmyth.org/salons. Updated Salon News and Scholars Salon recordings are here in chronological order, most recent first.
Call for Proposals: 2020 Poster Session for ASWM Conference
Due January 5, 2020
This year we will feature a juried poster session at our conference. This is a great opportunity to explain your ideas and applied work in a more engaging way to a wider audience. During the poster session, participants will informally discuss their presentations with conference attendees, and posters will be displayed throughout the conference. Poster session participants place materials such as pictures, data, graphs, diagrams and narrative text on boards size A0 (33.1″ x 46.8″) or video. Video posters are short videos where the presenter discusses the nature and impact of their research/project which is illustrated on the printed poster they are displaying at the conference.
As with paper presentations, posters should follow the conference themes found in our Call for Proposals.
Send a 250 word abstract in PDF or MSWord to aswmsubmissions@gmail.com by November 23, 2019. Use “2020 poster proposal” and last name in the subject header of your email. Include a bio of up to 70 words and contact information including surface address and email. Presenters from all disciplines are welcome, as well as creative artists and practitioners whose work engages mythic themes in a scholarly manner. Poster Presenters must become members of ASWM.
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