Category: News & Articles

Sadly, we report that Dr. Savithri Shanker De Tourreil (1935-2019) passed away from complications related to illness, in Montreal, Quebec, on 18 June 2019. She was 84. She was a beloved member of our ASWM community of scholars.

Dr. De Tourreil who held degrees in English literature and religious studies was an active member of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM) where she presented foundational and engaging studies on the matrilineal cultures and customs of Kerala. Her groundbreaking ethnographic doctoral research on women-centered social customs among the Nayar community, *Nayars in a South Indian Matrix: A Study Based on Female Centered Rituals* (Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, 1995) continues to serve as an inspiring model of feminist ethnography, feminist religious studies, matrilineal kinship, goddess scholarship, Hindu women, social change and social customs. Savithri cherished her colleagues and friends in the ASWM circle, and until failing health prevented her from traveling, actively participated in ASWM conferences. Savithri’s clear, original and engaging discussions on the ethnographic, sociological, and anthropological dimensions of women-centered religious practices, gift-economies, matrilineal studies, and goddess mythology have enlivened many ASWM conferences. Savithri’s research has been widely published in feminist religious studies and matrilineal studies.

Full of laughter and wisdom, Savithri was an inspiration to scholars everywhere.  Her niece, Gayatri Devi, who co-presented with her, is a member of our ASWM Board. It was Savithri and Gayatri who taught us the wonderful Hand Blessing of the women of Kerala. To paraphrase the famous Jewish prayer, her memory is a blessing to us all.

We note the passing of feminist cultural historian Elinor Gadon with sadness but also with great gratitude for her work and her influence on research into goddesses and strong women.  On this post we will assemble remarks from those who knew her and also from those who benefitted from her work.  We will add comments as they are received.  To contribute your thoughts, email us at the “contact” address.

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Starr Goode, who interviewed Elinor for her Goddess in Art television series, says of her

Elinor Gadon, 92, died peacefully at her home in Cambridge, MA on May 8th.

As an art historian specializing in the art and culture of India, she taught at Harvard, Tufts and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and held an appointment as a Life Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center. Her 1989 book, The Once and Future Goddess, became an essential text for the women’s spirituality and Goddess movements, and for college courses on Women and Mythology around the world.

Longtime friend and colleague Dianne Jenett says that her research continued to the end of her life:

With stamina and passionate intellectual curiosity which inspired many of us, in her seventies and eighties Elinor returned to the India she loved in order to do research on the village goddesses of Orissa.  Her son John said, after he read letters women from all over the world sent to her, “I had no idea she changed so many lives.” She will be sorely missed.

Born on September 17, 1925 to Maurice H. Weiner and Jean (Kaplan) Weiner, Elinor grew up in Reading, PA, where her parents were the proprietors of Weiner’s Men’s Clothing store on Penn Street. She graduated from Reading High School in 1942 and from the University of Michigan in 1945. She later obtained her doctorate in History of Culture from the University of Chicago.

She was the recipient of the Honor Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts from the Women’s Caucus for Art, and of the Demeter Award for Leadership in Women’s Spirituality from the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology in 2016.

When she received the Demeter award, she responded,

“I have tears in my eyes… how nice of all of you to recognize my work. I really did what was in my heart and on my mind, and how wonderful to have it reach so many people. Let’s keep on with this vision because it’s women who are going to save the world.”