Tag: 2026

Panel #1:  Gatekeeping/Safekeeping Material Culture

2026 Online Symposium ~ May 3, 2026: Reimagining Goddess Scholarship:  At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge

Speakers:

Carla Ionescu, “Where Are the Hundreds? Museum Display, Fragmentation, and the Hidden Magnitude of Goddess Cults”

Mary Beth Moser, “Sacred Belonging: The Enduring Presence of the Black Madonna in Italy”

Barbara Mann, “We Don’t Play with Dead Things” 

Panel #2:  Revitalizing Sacred Ceremony

2026 Online Symposium ~ May 3, 2026: Reimagining Goddess Scholarship:  At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge

Speakers:

Cutcha Risling Baldy “We Are Dancing For You: Native Feminisms and the Revitalization of Women’s Coming-of-Age Ceremonies in California”

Kay Turner “Dining with Hekate: Embodied Knowledge as a Source of Nourishment”

Apostolia Papadamaki, “Anamnesis: Embodying Ancient Greek Mysticism Through Ceremonial Performances”

Panel #3: Dethroning Human Hubris

2026 Online Symposium ~ May 3, 2026: Reimagining Goddess Scholarship:  At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge

Speakers:

Arieahn Matamonasa Bennett, “Western Science is “half-brained”: Indigenous Elders had it right: Rethinking Animal-Human relationships and research“

Monica Mody, “Divinity and Life in Nondual Consciousness: Revisioning Our Relations With More-than-Human Worlds”

Judy Grahn, “Spirit Talks to Us, But How Do We Know? (Encountering mutual consciousness in tiny forms)”

Recovering Manuakepa: Navigating
Traditional Indigenous Knowledge Protocols

Keynote Presentation

2026 Online Symposium, May 3 2026

Reimagining Goddess Scholarship:  At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge

Apela Colorado, Ph.D. (Oneida-Gaul) is a renowned Indigenous scholar, educator, and cultural bridge-builder whose work centers on restoring Indigenous wisdom and forging ethical relationships between Western and Indigenous knowledge systems. A Ford Foundation Fellow, she earned her Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University in 1982, with additional coursework in Federal Indian Law and Child Welfare at Harvard University.

Dr Māhealani Ahia (she/her/ʻo ia) is a Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) scholar, educator, songcatcher and storykeeper with lineal ties to Lahaina, Maui. With a background in theatre arts, writing and performance from U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Irvine, Māhea is committed to creating artistic-intellectual projects that empower Indigenous feminist decolonial research. Her Master’s Degree in Mythology and Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and her PhD research in Pacific Women’s Literature—particularly akua moʻo (reptilian water deities)—emphasize the power of cultural stories to heal. Māhea is the newest member of WISN’s dream team working with Indigenous narratives, sacred sites, and publications.

Katrina Maulion Arriola, M.A., is the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network’s (WISN) Research Associate. She is of Tagalog and Bicolano descent. She acquired her Master’s of Indigenous Science and Peace Studies from the United Nations’ sanctioned university, Universidad para la Paz and has worked intimately with Indigenous cultural practitioners from the Philippines, United States, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, France and Ethiopia. Her current work with WISN includes developing Indigenous Science research, especially in the field of dreamwork as the “glypher” or dream illustrator. In the past three years, she has travelled with Dr. Apela Colorado and the WISN “dream team” to Chartres, France and various conferences for the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD).

Presentation Description:  Thirty years of research has unveiled a web of sacred sites that evince the mysteries of conception, birth, death, and rebirth, and reveal a lineage of Hawaiian and western women carrying the stories and caring for associated sacred sites. Manuakepa, Owl Woman and Chief of the White Springs (Woman’s) Temple, is a mythical, shapeshifting Owl who confronts invaders, frees village prisoners, and takes them into the underworld. Her story, encoded in the Manuakepa sites, prepares the villages to confront patriarchy and the spirit of death.

The women of the Worldwide Indigenous Sciences Network  will discuss the barriers they experienced while recovering the foundational story of Manuakepa the Owl Woman and navigating traditional Indigenous knowledge protocols. They will also highlight innovative approaches to negotiating voice, copyright, and access. Their presentation will take a narrative approach, “sharing the challenges we have encountered and illustrating how we are actively working to open pathways and expand access.”