[Bilimsel Haber] CFP/CONF.: RETHINKING WIDOWHOOD IN HISTORY, CULTURE AND SOCIETY, Swansea, July

[gpultar at kulturad.org]

THE MERRY WIDOW: RETHINKING WIDOWHOOD IN HISTORY, CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Papers and full sessions for a strand on medieval widowhood are  
currently being sought for a conference hosted by the Centre for  
Research into Gender in Culture and Society (GENCAS) at the University  
of Wales, Swansea, July 7th-9th 2007.

Keynote Speakers.
Veena Talwar Oldenburg, Professor of History, Baruch College, CUNY
Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly, Professor of German Literature, Exeter College, Oxford
Dr Anneke Mulder-Bakker, Fellow in Medieval History, U. of Leiden, Netherlands
Susie Boyt, Novelist

The figure of the widow has long been a cultural stereotype overlooked  
in many feminist investigations into the roles allocated to women  
within society. There are many published studies of mothers,  
daughters, wives and sisters, but the ambivalent figure of the widow  
has never received sustained attention. This conference aims to  
address this oversight, instating the widow as potential site of  
female empowerment, as well as examining the ways in which traditional  
discourse has denied her a specific identity outside the role of  
memorializing her dead husband. We wish to replace such cultural  
cliches with a multi-faceted approach to the figure of the widow and  
the multiple and often contradictory meanings ascribed to her.

The conference seeks to investigate the position of the widow in  
culture across a range of periods and disciplines. Papers are sought  
particularly from the areas of literature, history, cultural studies,  
sociology, politics, art history, law, medicine, psychology, film and  
media studies, economics and modern and medieval languages.

Aspects of widowhood that papers at this conference might address include:

*        The black widow
*        The merry widow
*        The maternal widow
*        The 'power' widow
*        The Welsh widow
*        Widows' weeds
*        The war widow
*        The media widow
*        Widows' rights
*        The young widow
*        The domestic(ated) widow
*        The mourning widow
*        Widowhood and sexuality
*        Widowhood and religion
*        Widowhood and trauma
*        The widow as writer
*        The widow and propaganda
*        The widow and reproductive technologies
*        The widower

Abstracts of up to 500 words for individual papers or full sessions should
be sent to:
Dr Sarah Gamble or Dr Liz Herbert McAvoy at
widowhood at swansea.ac.uk
by December 31st 2006.

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