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Updated Call for Papers, 2014 Conference

We have updated our CFP to reflect developments in program planning!  Please share widely.

Call for Papers

Borderlands: Scholarship as Pilgrimage and Mystery

The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM)

2014 National Conference San Antonio, TX March 28-30

 

We invite you to submit proposals to the ASWM Third Biennial National Conference. ASWM is a professional organization supporting scholarly and creative endeavors that explore or elucidate aspects of the sacred feminine.

  • As this conference takes place in the modern borderland between Mexico and the US and in the stronghold of Native American and Latina traditions of the Southwest, we invite you to consider these topics:

    • Mesoamerican/American Indigenous cultures in relation to women and myth

    • Weaving as spiritual practice

    • Indigenous foods as connected to place and self

    • Native language retention as connected to cultural preservation

    • Spiritual, cultural and mythic traditions (such as Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos and La Llorona, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Corn Mother, Spider Woman)

    • Borderland myths and reality of women’s lives

    • Curanderas and healing practices

    • Myth and folklore associated with water

    • Women’s roles in spiritual practices at home and in community

    • The language of  petroglyphs as markers of female diety

  • How does mythology about women interact with the sense and reality of place? How does our scholarship change when place becomes an element or partner in our research? What does it mean to find wisdom in places?

  • What are new paths for the field of Women’s Spirituality and Goddess Studies, including archeomythology?  What are new models and methods for our scholarly inquiry?

  • What are the complexities around issues of Cultural Appropriation?  How do we understand and address the tensions around rootedness and local culture and issues of lineage and history?  Are there new ways to honor history and culture while enriching our scholarship?

  • One of the groundbreaking books from Patricia Monaghan was Oh Mother Sun: A New Vision of the Cosmic Feminine. We invite you to submit proposal ideas that are in dialogue with this work about solar goddesses.

  • Animal mysteries, including myth and folklore especially related to horses or to predators.

  • Liminal deity, spanning borders of species, sex, and gender

Proposals for papers, panels, and workshops addressing these topics will be given preference, but other subjects will be considered.  Papers should be 20 minutes; up to four papers on a related topic may be proposed together.  Workshops (limited to 90 minutes) should be organized to provide audience interaction and must clearly address theme.

 

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

To submit your proposal, complete this online form by November 1, 2013 .

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Report on 2013 Symposium

In April, we presented our 2013 Symposium:

“Lady of Ten Thousand Lakes:  Finding Wisdom in Places”
ASWM Regional Symposium, St. Paul, MN, April 20, 2013

Our keynote speaker was Arieahn Matamonasa-Bennett, Ph.D.,  a Native American scholar and licensed clinical psychologist on the faculty of DePaul University School for New Learning.  Her presentation was  “Honoring the Web:  Indigenous Wisdom and the Power of Place.”

In addition, Lydia Ruyle was on hand to receive the 2013 Brigit Award for Excellence in the Arts.  Lydia’s Goddess Icon Banners have flown all around the world, bringing goddess imagery to new audiences.

Panels included Methodology, Place Wisdom. Matriarchal Studies, and Art and Archaeology.  There was a special showing of “Things We Don’t Talk About,” a documentary of the Red Tent movement by ASWM member Isadora Leidenfrost.

Watch for articles bout the Symposium, and save the dates for our 2014 conference!

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Archaeoacoustics Conference

ARCHAEOACOUSTICS: The Archaeology of Sound

INTERNATIONAL MULTI-DISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE 19-22 February 2014 on the Mediterranean Island of Malta

An exciting international multi-disciplinary event that welcomes academics, researchers, musicologists and non-presenting enthusiasts.  Anyone can attend.  Anticipated presentations include performance, discoveries, observations and science from around the world — all focused on the Archaeology of Sound.

Our goal during this event is to pull together information and experience from a wide range of sources, seeking a thread that identifies the most fundamental application of the human experience of hearing.  We are particularly interested in the role acoustic behavior may have had in the development and design of important architecture and ritual spaces throughout the ancient world, and its possible biological impact on human brain activity

Hosted by the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Malta and organized by the U.S. based OTS Foundation, the Archaeoacoustics event is already stirring up excitement with its first submissions.   Researchers from Australia, Chile, Iran and all over Europe are proposing presentations that imply that there is more to this scenario than anyone imagined. They may be unlocking something big, and it underscores the value of a multidisciplinary event that puts these people in the same room to share experiences, methodology and observations.

On hand will be the Senior Lecturer in Music Technology at the University of Huddersfield and author of ‘Songs of the stones: the Acoustics of Stonehenge’, Dr. Rupert Till; Senior Curator for UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Malta, Dr. Reuben Grima; and the Head of the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta, Dr. Nicholas Vella.

All presentations will be in English.  Registration is required.  Call for Papers is now open.

Website: otsf.org

Free literature and registration form on request.  The OTS Foundation, P.O. Box 17166, Sarasota, FL  34276  USA   ~  941 918 9215  ~  Conference2014@OTSF.org

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2014 Conference Call for Proposals

Borderlands: Scholarship as Pilgrimage and Mystery

The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM)

2014 National Conference San Antonio, TX March 28-30

 We invite you to submit proposals to the ASWM Third Biennial National Conference. ASWM is a professional organization supporting scholarly and creative endeavors that explore or elucidate aspects of the sacred feminine.

Suggested topics for this conference include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • As this conference takes place in the modern borderland between Mexico and the US and in the stronghold of Native American and Latina traditions of the Southwest, we invite you to consider these topics:

    • Mesoamerican culture in relation to women and myth

    • La Virgen de Guadalupe and other Dark Goddesses

    • Cultural and mythic traditions (such as Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos and La Llorona)

    • Borderland myths and reality of women’s lives

    • Curanderas and healing practices

    • Myth and folklore associated with water

  • How does mythology about women interact with the sense and reality of place? How does our scholarship change when place becomes an element or partner in our research? What does it mean to find wisdom in places?

  • What are new paths for the field of Women’s Spirituality and Goddess Studies, including archeomythology?  What are new models and methods for our scholarly inquiry?

  • What are the complexities around issues of Cultural Appropriation?  How do we understand and address the tensions around rootedness and local culture and issues of lineage and history?  Are there new ways to honor history and culture while enriching our scholarship?

  • One of the groundbreaking books from Patricia Monaghan was Oh Mother Sun: A New Vision of the Cosmic Feminine. We invite you to submit proposal ideas that are in dialogue with this work about solar goddesses.

  • Animal mysteries, including myth and folklore especially related to horses and predators.

  • Liminal deity, spanning borders of species, sex, and gender

Proposals for papers, panels, and workshops addressing these topics will be given preference, but other subjects will be considered.  Papers should be 20 minutes; up to four papers on a related topic may be proposed together.  Workshops (limited to 90 minutes) should be organized to provide audience interaction and must clearly address theme.

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


Send 250-word abstract (for panels, 200 word abstract plus up to 150 words per paper) to aswmsubmissions@gmail.com by October 15, 2013.  Include bio of up to 70 words for each presenter, as well as contact information including surface address and email.  See www.womenandmyth.org.

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Pronunciation Resource

Many of us are researching cultures and literature based on languages other than our own.   This can lead to pesky pronunciation issues when explaining our work. A possible resource is Forvo, an on-line pronunciation database with contributions from native speakers worldwide.  The database is limited to single words, but it can be extremely useful.  The site also invites participation from native speakers.