Highlights of the Regional Meeting at Gonzaga, May 13-15, 2011

Our regional meeting is coming very soon!  We have interesting sessions and panels this year, more than ever before.  Who can resist the papers in these sessions!

Friday afternoon

Women, Water, Purity, and Gender Boundaries

Saturday Morning Session  

What You Wear Is Who You Are: 
Hindu Brides, Christian Virgins, and Warrior Princesses

Saturday Afternoon Panel #1  

Keeping Women in Their Place: 
Christian Women in Roman Society

Saturday Afternoon Panel #2  

Feminist, Womanist, Mujerista and Queer Theology Goes Confessional: 

Transformative Trajectories in the Tradition of Martin Luther

Sunday Morning Session

What Were They Thinking? 
Queen Esther, Ruth and Naomi, and the Mother in Me

Other items of interest include the ASOR plenary speaker on Saturday morning, Martha Joukowsky of Brown University, speaking on "Pioneering Women in Archaeology." 

The AAR plenary speaker, Wendy Farley of Emory University, will also speak on Saturday morning on "Gathering Those Driven Away: Thoughts from the Margins of Christianity."

Our first poster session is small but notable.  Susan G. Carter will present an electronic poster "Spirited Images: Rock Carvings as Spiritual Expression in Ancient Scandinavia."  Ardy Bass is presenting a poster "Compositional Strategies in the Coptic Gospel of Mary."  Both can be found in the Book Exhibit Room.  Be sure to browse through and have a look.

See you all very soon!  If you have any questions or need any assistance, please let Ardy know. 

Posters are Coming to the Regional Meeting!!

The Women and Religion Section is pleased to cohost a poster session with the Arts and Religion Section and ASOR. We welcome proposals in any area related to these program units (see separate call for papers for each). Conventional posters as well as short video presentations are acceptable. Students are especially encouraged to submit proposals. Please consider this venue for presenting your research.

The session will be held on Saturday afternoon. Each participant will be given a 4' x 8' space for their presentation. They must be present during the entire session. Depending on the number of proposals, non-monetary awards will be given (details to follow).

If you are interested in learning more about a poster session, please consult Fraser D. Neiman, “A Poster Primer: A Few Tips for Planning Your Poster Session,” SAA Bulletin 12.1:13–4, which is available for download in PDF format.

2011 Special Session with the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR)

Funerary Relief of Husband and Wife (left) and Priestess of Isis (right) (Palazzo Massimo, Rome) (photo taken by Ardy Bass)

This year, the Women and Religion Section is happy to present a special session hosted by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR). If you would like more information about SAMR or would like to join, please visit their website.
 
Recent work on women in ancient Mediterranean religions — such as Joan Connolly’s Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece (Princeton University Press, 2007) and Celia Schultz’s Women's Religious Activity in the Roman Republic (University of North Carolina Press, 2006) — has shown that women had a far greater role in these religions than had previously been assumed. Women of the ancient Mediterranean had not only an important role in private religious rituals, such as rites of passage, but also had a significant part to play in public rituals; serving, for example, in leadership roles as priestesses and prophetesses, as well as participating in a number of important public religious festivals. This session seeks to explore the wide variety of women’s religious roles in ancient Mediterranean religions, including Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and ancient Near Eastern religion, as well as early Judaism and Christianity. Papers that seek to compare women’s religious roles in different cultures are particularly sought for the session.

Call For Papers for May 13-15, 2011 Meeting at Eastern Washington University, Spokane Campus

The Call for Papers has been published on the AAR website (http://aarweb.org/About_AAR/Regions/Pacific_Northwest/call.asp).
The Women and Religion Section is seeking papers in these general areas:

(AAR) We invite individual papers or panels on any aspect of the study of women and religion. This Section especially welcomes proposals that facilitate cross-disciplinary and/or religious traditions in the study of women. Papers exploring feminist pedagogy are also welcome.

(SBL) We invite proposals on topics that explore the intersections between religious ideas and constructions of gender and/or sexuality. Exegetical studies on the role of women in ancient religion are also welcome.

Proposals should be submitted electronically at the region’s online website.  The deadline for submissions is January 24, 2011.

“Dinosaurs of Eden: Who Rules Over Whom in Creation Accounts for Young Readers?”

Co-chair Val Ziegler gave an enlightening paper on “Dinosaurs of Eden: Who Rules Over Whom in Creation Accounts for Young Readers?”

“Freeing the Oppressed: A Male Response to Confronting Oppression of Women.”

Ron Clark gave an intriguing presentation on “Freeing the Oppressed: A Male Response to Confronting Oppression of Women.”

Women and Religion 2010

Our first session on Friday was delayed due to some technical problems, as shown here.  Once we connected with the right people, all went according to plan!