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.