Perhaps of interest.

Best,
Roberto

From: [log in to unmask]
Date: October 1, 2013, 7:15:08 AM EDT
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CFP: 6th Global Conference: Evil, Women and the Feminine
(May, 2014: Lisbon, Portugal)

6th Global Conference: Evil, Women and the Feminine

Friday 2nd May – Sunday 4th May 2014: Lisbon, Portugal

Call for Presentations:

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.

Evil, Women and the Feminine seeks to engage fruitful academic
discourse over the core theme of evil and monstrous women, and the
variations thereof. Although this type of discourse can lend itself to
a feminist theoretical standpoint, the conference does not necessarily
align itself as such and welcomes a variety of theoretical and
critical approaches, such as –but not limited to – queer studies,
post-structural, Marxist, psychoanalytical, anthropological etc.

Among the core themes to be explored at this years conference explored
are:

-Murderess’, terrorists, child-killers, kidnappers, abusers, serial
killers
-Monstrous motherhood in literature and film: monstrous births and
infanticide (Beowulf, Alien, Rosemary’s Baby, etc.
-Archetypical fears: feminine blood and castration
-Portrayal of Evil Woman in Literature: from Shakespeare’s Lady
Macbeth to Kessey’s Sister Ratched.
-Psychoanalytic perspectives: “Vagina Dentata” etc
-Historical perspectives of female evil
-Women and/in Power: Cleopatra, Messalina, Isabella of Castile, Mary
Tudor, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, Lucia Borgia, Eva Peron, etc. Were
these women truly evil or did they merely try to survive in a man’s
world?
-Holocaust and Nazi witches: Irma Grese or the “Bitch of Belsen,
Ilse Koch Born, Witch of Buchenwald and others;
-Evil women in the visual arts
-Cultural and racial stereotypes
-Mythological icons: Medusa, Jezebel, Delilah, Lilith, Harpies,
Sirens, Hel, Eris
-Female revenge: women who took revenge on their unfaithful husbands
or ungrateful children. From mythology to real life: Kriemhield,
Medea, Clytemnestra, Katherine Knight, Maria Savez, etc.
-Evil females in children’s books and cartoons. Step-mothers are
supposed to be the most evil women in the world of fairy-tales and
Disney cartoons but is this really so?;
-Ethical studies
-Beauty as threatening or evil: from the times of witch-hunts female
beauty was considered dangerous. Do we still feel threatened by a
female beauty?
-Fantasy: evil women in strips and video games;
-Folklore: female Vampires, witches, witch-hunts, pact with a devil
-Evil Women in/and Religion: Dark Goddesses and Counter-Readings

The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of pre-formed
panel proposals. Papers will also be considered on any related theme.

In order to support and encourage interdisciplinarity engagement, it
is our intention to create the possibility of starting dialogues
between the parallel events running during this conference. Delegates
are welcome to attend up to two sessions in each of the concurrent
conferences. We also propose to produce cross-over sessions between
two and possibly all three groups – and we welcome proposals which
deal with the relationship between evil, women, femininity and/or
violence and/or femininities and masculinities.

What to Send:

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 6th December 2013 If
an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should
be submitted by Friday 14th March 2014. 300 word abstracts should be
submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be
in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this
order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in
programme, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of
abstract, f) up to 10 keywords.

E-mails should be entitled: EWF6 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: [log in to unmask]

Rob Fisher: [log in to unmask]

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.

Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and
professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should
attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make
this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation.

For further details of the conference, please visit:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/evil/evil-women-and-the-feminine/call-for-papers/

Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we
are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or
subsistence.


===============
Dr Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader
inter-disciplinary.net

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