The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology
ASWM-sponsored events: conferences and symposia and online events such as film series and scholar salons
We are very proud of this year’s schedule of presentations. It covers a wide variety of topics relating to animal mysteries, sacred places and earth-centered knowledge and traditions. We have panels, films, workshops, and surprises in store.
We know that there may be some changes between now and March 16–so please watch for updates!
The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology 2018 Kore Award Committee is pleased to announce the following honorees:
Environmental justice education is only genuine if it includes indigenous and women’s rights perspectives.
The Hawaiian cultural practice of weaving is imbued with cultural significance. In the traditional art form of Lauhala, Hawaiian women weave together leaf (lau) from the hala tree into mats, clothing, and other textiles. My research shares personal artworkings and those from environmental justice research, particularly Lauhala created by participants who wove pieces of agricultural plastic while discussing the weaving of perspectives. My research addresses climate change, water scarcity, and plastic waste in a primarily agricultural and immigrant community. The rich weavings from a multi-day environmental justice Monterey Bay walk imbricated these multivocal perspectives, including shifting women’s roles, naming stories, the naming of places, and the erasure of indigenous names by waves of settler-colonizers. Creating the weavings enabled re-envisioning what the original Ohlone landscape looked like and countered values enforced by patriarchy that lacked respect for weaving, otherwise seen as minimized “women’s work.” The work also heightened a desire for care for the land, malama ‘aina.
A. Rachel Kippen is a coastal environmental quality advocate and artist with a background in environmental program development and ocean conservation nonprofit management in Santa Cruz, CA. She is a Masters student in Environmental Studies at the Prescott College and holds a Bachelors in Environmental Studies and a Certificate in Strategic Leadership and Nonprofit Management. She researches environmental justice education through place and arts-based curriculum development in agricultural and immigrant communities, and coordinates environmental initiatives for the City of Watsonville.
Rachel’s presentation is featured on the panel, THE REGENERATIVE EARTH: GODDESSES, PRIESTESSES, ORACLES, FUTURES, with Marna Hauk, Mandisa Amber Wood, and Mandy Leetch
Many Neolithic cultures were equalitarian and matrilocal. After the migrations of the patriarchal Proto-Indo-Europeans throughout Europe, South Asia, and elsewhere, the cultures and the religions of the indigenous peoples were changed. “Great”-Goddesses of the life continuum which were worshipped by the indigenous peoples were assimilated into pantheons dominated by male deities.
At this time, the “group”-Goddesses, which would have had many powers and functions in the Neolithic, were likely demoted to fairies and often to witches. Many of these historic figures had avian characteristics, as did thousands of figurines excavated from the European Neolithic: they had wings and they could fly. Thus, they carried on some of the attributes of Neolithic female figures. These groups of female figures may have represented aspects of the divine and often the power of renewal.
Starr Goode will share her knowledge of British and Irish Sheela- na-gigs and their ancient origins; Dawn Work-MaKinne will discuss the Celto-Germanic (and Italic) Three Mothers, with information from her Kore-Award winning doctoral dissertation; Mary Beth Moser will present on Tyrolean Anguane, and Miriam Robbins Dexter will discuss Romanian Zâne, Latvian and Lithuanian Laumas and Raganas, Indic Yogīṇīs and Yakṣīṇīs, and Slavic Vili and Rusalki.
This panel features Kore Award winners Dawn-Work Makinne and Mary Beth Moser, and Sarasvati Nonfiction Book Award winners Miriam Robbins Dexter (2012) and Starr Goode (2018).
Joan Marler moderates this important panel for our upcoming conference in March. Scholars bring the perspective of archaeomythology, which combines archaeological and folklore evidence with information about sacred stories and images.
You must be logged in to post a comment.