Dear all, Brigid Haines has asked me to bring the
following to your attention - featuring our very own
Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly!
Best,
Debbie
THE MERRY WIDOW: RETHINKING WIDOWHOOD IN HISTORY,
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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,
University 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 clichés 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
[log in to unmask] by December 31st 2006.
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