Category: Events

ASWM-sponsored events: conferences and symposia and online events such as film series and scholar salons

Posted on

Matriarchal Studies Day 2016

logo

Modern Matriarchal Studies Day

March 31, 2016

 

Plan to come a day early to Boston and enjoy the Matriarchal Studies Day seminar and celebration, in the same location as our ASWM Conference.   Hosts for the day are Vicki Noble and Letecia Layson. The program includes a presentation from Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth, founder of Modern Matriarchal Studies (via Skype).   Also on the agenda are explorations of woman-centered arts, themes of motherhood, and the Gift Economy. Presenters will include Max Dashu, Polly Wood, Beverly Little Thunder, and Genevieve Vaughan. The keynote presentation is by Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, and evening entertainment will be provided by internationally known folksinger Julie Felix.

See the Matriarchal Studies Day agenda below or here Matriarchal Studies Day Agenda

The registration fee includes your lunch.  Follow the links to register:

$60 (before February 11)

$75 (Feb 11 to March 25)

$90 (after March 25 and Walk-ins)

For more information, contcact Joan Cichon at cichon@oakton.edu

Please note:  Matriarchal Studies Day is presented in conjunction with our conference, to the benefit of both groups,but registration for this event is not covered by registering for the ASWM Conference.

Matriarchal Studies Day Agenda

Burlington Marriott

Boston, MA

March 31, 2016

 

 

9:00     Opening Ritual / Julie Felix, troubadour

Greetings from Turtle Island / Kunsi Keya Tamakoce / Beverly Little Thunder

 

9:30-10:45

Herstory / Background of Matriarchal Studies:

Lydia Ruyle–Matriarchal Studies Conferences Intro

Matriarchal Studies Foundress: Heide Goettner Abendroth via SKYPE

 

BREAK

 

11:00-12:00

Woman Centered Art, Drama, Music:

Constance Tippett—Goddess Timeline

Indigenous Stories—Beverly Little Thunder

                        Polly Wood–Blood Songs

Foremothers Book—Vicki Noble & Miriam Robbins Dexter

 

LUNCH

 

1:00-2:20

            Reclaiming the Matriarchal, Radical and Wild Motherhood Panel:

Mariam Tazi-Preve, Genevieve Vaughan, Max Dashu, Lin Daniels

 

BREAK

 

2:30-3:30       

Women Centered Future:

Vicki Noble—Oxytocin, Matriarchy, and Human Evolution

Erica Starks—Matriarchal Studies High School Curriculum

Genevieve Vaughan—The Gift Economy

 

3:30-4:00

Honorary Speaker: Elinor Gadon—The Village Goddess in India

 

4:00-5:00

Presenters & Attendees Discussion

 

5:00-7:30                    DINNER [On Your Own]

 

 

7:30-9:00

Keynote Speaker: Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum

Closing Ritual: Julie Felix, Troubadour

 

Our gratitude and thanks go to Lin Daniels, who helped Lydia Ruyle and Vicki Noble plan the Matriarchal Studies Day 2016. Thanks to Barb Lutz for building our altar.

Posted on

2016 ASWM Conference: “Seeking Harbor in Our Histories: Lights in the Darkness”

April 1-2, 2016, Boston, Massachusetts 

Boston Marriott Burlington Hotel

Goddess Scholarship draws on historical, ethnographic and folk sources, among others, to document and honor the sacred and mundane stories which animate the traditions and spiritual lives of our global sisters and our foremothers.

This year’s conference theme embraces the heritage of location in the historical City of Boston, a harbor city rich in stories and symbols of First Nations of the Atlantic Northeast and the formation of the United States.

We are delighted to announce presentations by three outstanding keynote speakers.  Dr. Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum,  feminist cultural historian and author of  Black Madonnas, Dark Mother:  African origins and godmothers, The Future Has an Ancient Heart, and, forthcoming, black bird in a pear tree.  Dr. Elinor Gadon is a Resident Scholar of the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center, and is author of  The Once and Future Goddess:  A Symbol for Our Time and Tiger by the Tail:  Women Artists of Indian Transforming Culture.  Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac (Abenaki), is an anthropologist, museum consultant, historian, and performer. Her work includes Indigenous Archaeologies: A Reader in Decolonization, and Dreaming Again:  Algonkian Poetry.

 

The program will include a special plenary session of authors featured  in the new anthology, Foremothers of the Women’s Spirituality Movement:  Elders and Visionaries, edited by Vicki Noble and Miriam Robbins Dexter.

Plan to come a day early to attend the Matriarchal Studies Day, held in the same venue, and watch for notices about post-conference events.

Watch this site for information and registration links.  See you there!

Posted on

Call for Proposals: ASWM 2016 Conference in Boston

2016 Biennial Conference

Association for the Study of Women and Mythology

April 1-2, 2016, Boston, Massachusetts

Call for Proposals

 

“Seeking Harbor in Our Histories: Lights in the Darkness”

Goddess Scholarship draws on historical, ethnographic and folk sources, among others, to document and honor the sacred and mundane stories which animate the traditions and spiritual lives of our global sisters and our foremothers.

In past conferences, the innovative methodologies and scholarship of ASWM participants have served to problematize contemporary perceptions of civilization, “modernization” and “progress.” Multi-discipline research methodologies have focused on representing historical, thealogical, philosophical, mythological, symbolic, cultural, linguistic and aesthetic lineages.

This year’s conference theme embraces the heritage of location in the historical City of Boston, a harbor city rich in stories and symbols of First Nations of the Atlantic Northeast and the formation of the United States.

We invite papers and panels including, but not limited to the following topics:

  • Harbor and hearth as women-centered metaphors
  • Myth and lineage of the spirit of place, especially focus on the larger Boston area
  • Indigenous stories, histories, and women’s communities of the Atlantic North East
  • Paradigms of rebellion, freedom and independence
  • Water, ritual and civilization, stories of aquatic goddesses
  • Perspectives on First Nations/First Worlds
  • Women’s sense of self, social agency, and their roles as citizens
  • The female principle in ethics and ancient wisdom for modern times
  • Cultural ecofeminism
  • Animal mysteries and myth
  • Ancestry, foremothers and methodology
  • Changing experiences and definitions of the sacred and the profane

Papers should be 20 minutes; panels with up to four papers on a related topic may be proposed together. Workshop proposals should be organized to provide audience interaction and must clearly address the theme. All sessions and workshops are limited to 90 minutes.

Presenters from all disciplines are welcome, as well as creative artists and practitioners who engage mythic themes in a scholarly manner in their work. Presenters must become members of ASWM.

Send 250-word abstract (for panels, 200 word abstract plus up to 150 words per paper) in PDF or MSWord to aswmsubmissions@gmail.com by November 15, 2015.  Please use “2016 proposal” and last name in subject header. Include bio of up to 70 words for each presenter, as well as contact information including surface address and email. See www.womenandmyth.org for program updates and registration.

Posted on

We’Moon to Receive 2015 Brigit Award for Excellence in the Arts

WeMoonCover

The Association for Study of Women and Mythology Board of Directors is pleased to announce We’Moon as the 2015 recipient of the Brigit Award for the Arts.  In so doing we recognize the artistic accomplishment and leadership of the many women who have contributed to and produced We’Moon and all it stands for through its visionary art, poetry, and prose, offered in the form of empowering multicultural, earth spirited publications and projects.

From the 1980s to the present and with the establishment of Mother Tongue Ink, We’Moon has produced an impressive stream of publications, including day and wall calendars, visually stimulating posters and art cards, and the impressive retrospective volume, In the Spirit of We’Moon: Celebrating Thirty Years (2010). More recently We’Moon has published Starhawk’s inspiring children’s book The Last Wild Witch: An Eco-Fable for Kids and Other Free Spirits! We’Moon has also created the We’Moon Land Communities in Oregon and We’Mooniversity, which trains women and girls to find their earth inspired creativity.

We’Moon’s varied works continue to inspire women and to raise women’s consciousness, giving us the strength to see ourselves, our sisters and daughters as whole, diverse, spiritual beings who can change the world. We honor We’Moon as a vehicle for documenting the aesthetic contributions of visionary feminist artists of our time and thank the women who create it for modeling the gathering of feminist community to bring women’s cutting-edge art into our daily lives.

The Brigit Award for the Arts is granted by ASWM in odd-numbered years at our bi-annual Symposium. It was initiated in 2011 when it was awarded to musician and performance artist Layne Redmond. It was awarded to Lydia Ruyle, creator of the Goddess Banner Project, in 2013.

We are looking forward to presenting the Brigit award to We’Moon representatives in person at the 2015 ASWM Symposium, “Tales and Totems: Myth and Lineage in Goddess Scholarship,” on Saturday, April 11, 2015, in Portland, Oregon.