Call for Presentation
“A wanton woman is the figure
of imperfection; in nature an ape, in quality a wagtail, in countenance a
witch, and in condition a kind of devil” Nicholas Breton, 1615
Despite the attempts of feminists
the conjunction between evil and the feminine seems unbroken. Established as
secondary, derivative and hence inferior, women have been long suspected of
being the source of human (though more often masculine) miseries, always in
cahoots with the forces of evil and destruction. Paradoxically, at the same
time, some have also been put on the pedestal and lauded as ideals of purity
and dedication, yet these paragons only proved the rule that, on average, the
feminine/woman equals imperfect and transgressive. Mischievous, beguiling,
seductive, lascivious, unruly, carping, vengeful and manipulative – these are
only a few of the epithets present in cultures and literatures across the world.
In grappling with our understanding of what it is to be and do ‘evil’, the
project aims to explore the possible sources of the fear and hatred of women
and the feminine as well as their manifestations and pervasiveness across
times, cultures and media.
This interdisciplinary project
invites scholars, artists, writers, theologians, sociologists, psychologists,
historians, etc. to present papers, reports, work-in-progress, art pieces and
workshops on issues related but definitely not limited to the following themes:
- Evil Women and
Feminine Evil: Vices and Sins of Women
- Representing
and Misrepresenting the Female; Evil Women ‘Talking Back’
- Motherhood;
Monstrous Motherhood; Infertility and its Meaning across Cultures
- Monstrous
Births and Infanticide
- Matriarchy / Matricide
/ Spouse Murder
- Devious
Sexuality and Feminine Perversions
- Women and/as
the Abject; Unnatural Women/Femininity
- Menstruation,
Castration
- Fears and
Myths: Feminine Blood, Witchcraft, Vamp(ires)s, Sirens, Harpies, Lamias,
etc.
- Anthropological and Historical
Perspectives on Evil Feminine and Femaleness
- The Evil Woman
in Literature, Religion, Medicine, Law across Times and Cultures
- Psychoanalytic
Perspectives: ‘Vagina Dentata,’ ‘the Wandering Womb,’ ‘Poisonous Look’ etc.
- Sexualizing
the Female or Evil Objectification
- Trans-Cultural
Conceptualisations of Femme Fatale vs the Perfect Woman
- Women and (Misuse
of) Power
- Evil Beauty;
the Meaning of Hair and Make-up
- Evil, Feminine
in Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Horror, Thriller
- Evil, Feminine
in Mythologies and Religions across the world
- Case Studies: Evil
Women on the Agenda
The Steering Group particularly
welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. Papers will also be
considered on any related theme.
What to Send:
300 word abstracts should be
submitted by Friday 30th November 2012
If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be
submitted by Friday15th February 2013. 300 word abstracts should be submitted
simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word,
WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email
address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: EWF5
Abstract Submission.
Please use plain text (Times
Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting,
characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge
receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a
reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it
might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative
electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs:
Natalia Kaloh Vid: ten.yranilpicsid-retni@vkn
Rob Fisher: ten.yranilpicsid-retni@5fwe
The conference is part of the At
the Interface programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people
from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various
discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and
presented at the conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for
publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference
will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the
conference.
