Friday March 13 and Saturday March 14, 2020 will be the sixth biennial ASWM conference. There will be two days of keynote addresses, panel discussions, workshops and roundtables. It will be a great time to share our passions for women and mythology, as expressed in our scholarship in research and the arts.
In 2020, we will meet at the beautiful Temaya Hyatt Regency, Santa Ana Pueblo,  near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visit the link to explore this gorgeous location.
For those of you who are interested in our friends in the Matriarchal Studies group, they plan to meet in the same location on Sunday, March 15, 2020.
"Feminism on the Borderlands" with Dr. Monica Mody April 16, 2019 moderated by Gayatri Devi PhD How do we move into the borderlands to reclaim our full relationship with modernity, secularization, and the shadow spaces in our own psyches? How do we relate to the shadow produced by European and western modes of being, thinking …
Tuesday, April 16, 2019, Â 3:00 – 4:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time
Neolithic Women’s Figures
ASWM is hosting conversations with scholars about issues relating to women and mythology.  In order to be eligible to participate, renew your membership before April 13, 2019. We will send the  Zoom call in information to all current members on April 14.
How do we move into the borderlands and reclaim our full relationship with modernity, secularization, and the shadow spaces in our own psyches? How do we relate to the shadow produced by European and western modes of being, thinking and relating to the world, to each other and to ourselves? What do we need to give up? What do we reclaim and bring to the surface?
Let’s have a lively discussion on these questions that transcend disciplines and affect our daily and creative lives as women.  Join Dr. Monica Mody for an inspiring discussion on discovering the shadow projects of modernity and secularization from the perspective of feminist and borderlands spirituality and scholarship.
Monica Mody
Monica Mody holds a PhD in East West Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies, where she worked on a cross-genre dissertation on the decolonized feminist consciousness in an Anzalduan framework of the borderlands. Monica is a trained dancer and an internationally published poet.
Our salon is moderated by Dr. Gayatri Devi, Associate Professor of English at Lock Haven University, and longtime member of the ASWM Board.
ASWM Winter Warmers Film Festival 2019
ASWM Biennial Conference Film Series 2018
Synopsis
La Frontierra Chingada is a poetic non-fiction film about motherhood on the US-Mexico border. These figures (mythic and otherwise) manifest themselves at Friendship Park–a space where families on either side of la frontera can come together, but under extreme conditions of surveillance. Guided in part by conversations with the filmmaker’s matrilineal family, this Spanglish film concerns itself with relationships between bodies, space, and the shared land and history in the San Diego-Tijuana region.
Trailer
"A huge part of my trepidation in making this film was about not wanting to presume to be able to make a relevant film about the border as an Anglo American filmmaker. But I think it’s incredibly important for white artists to make reflexive work about the border, given that we are implicated in its existence, and that our understanding and perspective shift is necessary to improve the situation (which includes death, dehumanization, and forced separation of family). At some point I gave myself permission to trust that I could make meaningful art about the border, and that the story I had to tell was important." - Emily Packer
Bio
Emily Packer is a non-fiction filmmaker with a focus on women's stories and an interest in Border Culture and Border Theory. Her documentary style ranges from observational to reflexive, experimental, and poetic. Emily graduated from Hampshire College in December of 2015. The following year, she organized the three-day event Arte on the Line in San Diego and Tijuana, where she screened her second feature-length film La Frontierra Chingada. Emily’s first film, Nationless, explored the unique socio-political situation of Tibetan refugees in Nepal. In addition to her independent work, she has consulted and edited for Deliberate Healing Productions and Ashbourne Films. She works as a media manager for Zero Point Zero Productions in New York City, and in her spare time volunteers for Tribeca Film Festival’s programming team. Emily collects voicemails for future use; consider yourself notified.
At our 2016 conference in Boston, we were honored to have three speakers from the Wabanaki Confederacy present this healing, thought-provoking panel.
“Ritual, Tradition and Feminine Intuition among the Wabanaki of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes” was a discussion by Patricia Saulis (Maliseet), Miigam’ agan  (Mi’ Kmaq), and Sherri Mitchell  (Penobscot). We are pleased to offer this video of that panel. Although most of our conference videos are offered in the member-only section of the website, we feel strongly that this presentation deserves a wide audience, and so we offer it to the public as well.
At the close of this presentation, the speakers honored us with a traditional song of thanks and friendship. At their request, that song has been deleted from this video. It was a special gift for our members who were present that day, and it was not given to be shared with a wider audience through recordings. We honor their request with gratitude for their offering.
In a time when everyone captures images and words so easily, please remember that some gifts are given for one occasion, for one moment only. It is especially important in witnessing Native American and Indigenous cultural events to ask permission before pulling out a phone to record events. Let us be good, respectful allies to one another; never record speakers or events without first receiving permission.
As you view this video, we invite you to consider the importance of the speakers’ messages and also the need to grow an authentic conversation with contemporary Native American and Indigenous women. Let us create opportunities to join together in as many settings as possible. And for those of us who wish to be good allies, let’s remember that we have much to learn in all such meetings.
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