The Red Tent and Women's Studies (11/15/02; NWSA, 6/19/03-6/23/03)
Seeking Proposals for a Panel being submitted for National Women's Studies
Association (NWSA) 24th Annual Conference
June 19 - 22, 2003, New Orleans, LA (conference website:
http://www.nwsa.org/nwsa2003/2003cfp.htm)
As of October 22, 2002, 801 readers had submitted reviews of Anita Diamant's
novel The Red Tent. The novel has been embraced by book clubs, places of
worship, and women's studies programs.
This panel seeks to explore interdisciplinary studies of The Red Tent and to
discuss the text as it acts as a bridge between women's studies in general
and a wider audience of readers (especially women) who might shun the labels
"feminist" or "womanist," but who take great interest in the topics
that
arise in the novel. Topics that may arise include, but are not limited to:
gender and deism; women's rituals involving life cycles and menstruation;
the fictive nature of a narrative rooted in the Bible; relationships between
women; women's communities; and women in medicine.
Panel participants must be members of National Women's Studies Association
(NWSA--http://www.nwsa.org/meminfo.htm) and must register for the
conference.
I invite papers that would complement the following abstract of an
ecofeminist analysis of the novel.
"Luna Over The Red Tent: Ecofeminism, the Feminine Divine, Women's
Bodies, and the God of Jacob in Anita Diamant's The Red Tent"
This presentation examines Anita Diamant's 1997 novel The Red Tent and its
exploration of the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, as rooted in The
Bible. While the novel finds its general foundation in Genesis 34, the
author uses literary license to follow the stories of the women and their
rituals, knowledge, identity, and community. Ecofeminist theories will be
utilized to examine the novel and identify the relationship between
ecological, woman-centered theology and the gender relationships as
contrasted to the God-centered, patriarchal worldview of Jacob associated
with the seeds of Judaism. The cooperation of the women within the red tent
differs radically from the culture that endorses murder, rape, and
vengeance. Riane Eisler's scholarship in The Chalice and the Blade and
Sacred Pleasures will be considered along with the work of Judy Grahn in
Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World.
Deadline: November 15, 2002
E-mail submissions are encouraged: including the proposal within the text of
e-mail message is preferred to file attachments
Please e-mail 1-page abstracts or 10-12 page papers to:
Corine Coniglio, Ph.D. cconigli@kettering.edu
Asst. Prof. of Communications & Literature
Liberal Studies Dept.
Kettering University
1700 W. Third Ave.
Flint, MI 48504
Every applicant will receive a prompt response.
