​With the end of our academic year fast approaching, I wanted to wish everyone the very best of luck with writing and marking assignments and all the other associated duties involved in wrapping up our working year. Let us also not forget to celebrate our successes in 2024, acknowledge the challenges we faced and look forward to well-earned the summer holidays (wishing lots of strength to colleagues teaching summer schools and/or undertaking research and other activities). We have a lot to look forward to in 2025, starting with ASCS in Canberra. We will keep you up to date with AWAWS’s exciting plans for next year!

​AWAWS Panel proposed for MAARC 2, Online Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 2022

Extant visual representations of ancient, medieval or early modern Mediterranean women are layered with meaning, whether those representations depict human or divine, historical or mythological, Christian or Muslim women. Physical manifestations of the human female form beyond the children born of living women all still embody social, political and cultural spheres in which they were created, received and then transmitted to the present day. Over time, most of these physical images of bodies have been altered, sometimes violently, and all have endured through multiple changes of viewership and significance across myriad cultures and times. Their encoded meanings have been reinterpreted, remade or even wholly reimagined.

Modern and now Post-Modern (or Anthropocene?) and culturally-specific perceptions of women, the female body and gender have also greatly influenced the ways in which ancient and medieval female imagery has been interpreted. Ancient and medieval imagery of women has been, and still is, harnessed as a positive encouragement for self-confidence in some spheres and weaponised in others, either to action or to attack modern feminist (and other) agendas in academic, popular and international discourse.

This online panel for the 2nd Mediterranean Archaeology Australasian Research Community (MAARC) free meeting will explore a variety of ways in which women are represented in the material culture of the ancient, medieval and/or modern Mediterranean cultures (or their receptions); the processes by which these images were made, and how meaning was created, attached to these images, and changed; and the ways in which specific physical depictions of women have changed over media, time and different cultural contexts.

Papers are invited that:

• contribute to the discussion of women and gender representation in ancient material culture;
• examine reception of ancient, medieval or modern imagery of women in late ancient, medieval, modern or post-modern Mediterranean cultures; or
• engage with intersectional discourses such as queer studies, race and ethnicity studies, or disability studies.

This panel is organized by Dr Amelia R. Brown (UQ), with the assistance of Candace Richards (Chau Chak Wing Museum, USydney), on behalf of AWAWS. 

Abstracts for papers of circa 20 minutes are solicited from contributors in Australia, New Zealand or wider Australasia on current archaeological research on the ancient female form, and its reception, by email to MAARC and Dr Brown by December 19, 2021, at the MAARC email: [email protected]. If you have any questions please email Dr Brown via [email protected].             

AWAWS Brisbane, in partnership with the AWAWS Academic Mentoring Program, is hosting The Cancelled Conference 2.0 in order to showcase the work of mentees and provide an example of what can be achieved through the program.
 
The conference will be held over held over  Wednesday 29- Thursday 30 September, with a plenary session on the mentoring program on the first day. Attendance is open to anyone, and in particular we would like to encourage those who are interested in learning about and fostering postgraduate research to attend. 

​If you would like to register to attend the conference please email Brianna, Tyla and Janette (Conference Conveners & AWAWS Brisbane Co-Chairs) - [email protected]

Representations of ancient women, whether human or divine, historical, literary or mythological, are always layered with meaning. Physical manifestations of the human female form embody the social, political, and cultural spheres in which they were created, received and transmitted. Over time, most of these physical images of bodies have been altered, sometimes violently, and transmitted across myriad cultures and times. Their encoded meanings have been reinterpreted, or often wholly reimagined.
 
Modern perceptions of women, the female body and gender have greatly influenced the ways in which ancient imagery has been interpreted. Ancient imagery of women has been, and still is, harnessed as a positive encouragement to self-confidence in some spheres and weaponised in others, either to drive or to detract from modern feminist (and other) agendas in the academic and popular spheres.
 
This panel hopes to explore a variety of ways in which women are represented in the material culture of the ancient world (or its receptions); the processes in which meaning is created and attached to these images; and the ways in which physical depictions of women have changed over time and in different cultural contexts.
 
Papers are invited that:

• contribute to the discussion of women and gender representation in ancient material culture;
• examine reception of ancient imagery of women in medieval or modern cultures; or
• engage with intersectional discourses such as queer studies, race and ethnicity studies, or disability studies.

If you would like to participate in the panel please send your EOI including an abstract (max 250 words) and short bio (max 200 words) to [email protected] by Sunday 12 September. Note: The due date is earlier than the ASCS abstract deadline to allow for organisation of the panel. Participants must be financial members of ASCS.

This week we launched a new e-newsletter to bring you all the latest happenings from the AWAWS membership. We hope to bring you a newsletter update every two months. If you havent got yours please check your spam and then send us an email [email protected]

Diversity Officer
AWAWS as a group is committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone, with a particular focus on supporting minority and underrepresented groups and individuals. We aim to support diversity both within AWAWS and within ancient world studies as whole, including diversity in culture, language, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, socio-economic status, and religion. This role will help further support these aims.

The Diversity Officer will:
- help foster diversity and intersectional awareness
- liaise and affiliate with other groups (including passing along intersectional material of interest to be shared on social media by our web officers)
- advise on diversity presentation questions or code of conduct issues relevant to diversity should they arise.

Local Chapters representative
The aim of this role is to help streamline communication between the executive and the local chapters, to ensure events are well publicized, and to provide further support to Local Chapter Heads.

The Local Chapters representative will:
- liaise with local chapters about events, marketing, and funding opportunities
- liaise with web officers to ensure events are promoted to our membership
- raise any issues or challenges faced by local chapters in the Monthly executive meetings.

To nominate for one of these roles please email your expression of interest to the executive committee on [email protected]. Expressions of interest will be accepted until 15 September 2021, with an election window (if required) of 20-24 September, 2021. 

In March of 2021 the AAIA, in collaboration with CCANESA, The Chau Chak Wing Museum, Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies, and the University of Sydney Departments of Archaeology and Classics and Ancient History, hosted an international online conference ‘Modern’ Women of the Past? Unearthing Gender and Antiquity. What had begun life as a series of informal discussions between myself and Louise Pryke around a public outreach event on the theme of women in antiquity exploded into a dynamic, global affair which attracted contributions from over 60 speakers from more than a dozen countries. The conference was held over two intense 12-hour days on the 5th and 6th of March.

The response to the call for papers was both humbling and overwhelming, and we discovered the exciting degree of connectivity that an online conference can bring. Freed of the (often prohibitive) costs of international travel we were able to accommodate the voices of emerging scholars from far-flung nations. We were inspired by the work of Dinara Assanova (Kazakh National Pedagogical University) who has single-handedly created a national Online Museum of Women of Kazakhstan. Her work is both a means of preserving Kazakh heritage and amassing a wealth of sources for an expanding research archive. Oluwafunminiyi Raheem (Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding) sparked tremendous discussion with his research into votive practices, dedicated to Olokun Seniade in in Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria. Speakers overcame the tyranny of distance and international timezones to share their research. Tais Pagoto Belo (LARP Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, University of Saõ Paulo) presented her work on early Imperial Roman coinage at 3am Brazilian time in what was for her a second language, an impressive feat.

Beyond the demonstrations of stamina and linguistic flexibility, we were pleased to showcase impressive research by both emerging and established scholars, who were prepared to cross disciplinary boundaries and engage in enriching discussions and debates. Graeme Miles (University of Tasmania) examined the challenges Eunapius faced in his efforts ‘Representing Sosipatra in Eunapius of Sardis’ Lives of Philosophers and Sophists, while Lakshmi R (Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University) wrestled with the use of forms of Naṅkai or Naṅkaiyār in early medieval references to royal women in Tamil epigraphy.

Heidi Koepp-Junk (University of Trier) not only delivered a thought-provoking paper on ‘Women, Music and Eroticism in Ancient Egypt’ but went on to treat us with an impromptu performance, singing in ancient Egyptian, while playing a replica ancient Egyptian lute.

Discussion time at the end of sessions, and during break periods was rich with debate. Amjad Alshalan (King Saud University) revealed a razor-sharp scholarly intellect that marked her out as an emerging scholar to follow. Her paper ‘Euripides’ Medea: An Exploration of Male Representation of Women’, was a mere prelude to the pearls of wisdom she shared during discussions. Similarly Athenodora Nguyen received kudos as the non-speaker delegate who posed the most astute questions. Session after session they cut to the core of tangled issues of gender representation and interpretation, with a wit and humour that encouraged speakers to reveal their deeper thoughts on their chosen topics.
The first day of the conference concluded with the first of two keynote lectures. Dr Rachel Pope (University of Liverpool) delivered a powerhouse public lecture, hosted by the Chau Chak Wing Museum. With devastating precision, she laid bare the lack of representation of female scholars in the discipline of archaeology, particularly in the first half of the 20th century, and the deep impact this had on how the archaeological record – as it relates to women, especially powerful women – has been interpreted. She went on to explore the challenges that women working in the field face today, and the ways in which this continues to impact on how we understand the women of the ancient past. Beyond simply quantifying the nature and extent of these problems Dr Pope offered ameliorating measures such as support for women with caring responsibilities and critical re-appraisals of past interpretations of the archaeological evidence to offer more holistic understandings of the diverse experiences and roles of women who lived in the deep past.

At the commencement of the second day’s proceedings Professor Gina Luria Walker (New York School) delivered our second keynote lecture, outlining the New Historia initiative which redresses the ignorance of earlier female figures and the erasure of female historians through the creation of new biographies of female historians. She began this project with the British historian Mary Hays, whose own work Female Biography: or Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women of All Ages and Countries set the course for Gina’s efforts to put women back into the histories from which they have long been erased, overlooked or underplayed.

This theme continued through the day as speakers examined the ways in which women’s roles and experiences are ripe for re-evaluation. Valentina Limina (Università di Pisa) shone new light on the shifting reception of Arria from Roman times to the Renaissance, while Pablo Varona Rubio (Università degli Studi di Perugia) re-examined the roles of women in small Roman communities through a case study of Varia Gestiana Urvinum Hortense.

Staff and associates of the AAIA were well-represented at the conference. Beatrice McLoughlin delivered a paper on the Women’s Works and Days project which incorporates ethnoarchaeological research to rediscover the agency of female potters in Cyprus. Andrew Hazewinkel challenged perceptions of masculinity and femininity through the myth of Herakles enslavement by the Lydian queen Omphale and their switching of conventional gender roles. For my own research, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to share research into perceptions of female power and influence through reception of the British queens Boudicca and Cartimandua during the Roman conquest of Britain.

The conference concluded its second day with a publication session during which speakers were put in direct contact with the editors of the book series Women in Ancient Cultures at University of Liverpool Press. Led by Commissioning Editor, Claire Litt, the team outlined the entire process from proposal through to finished publication, answering many questions from our speakers.

It was a true joy to be able to host such an expanisve conference and I am incredibly thankful to Dr Louise Pryke, Dr Emma Barlow and Candace Richards for their dilligent hard work, patience and support in our endeavours to bring the conference to life.

A final word goes to our speakers who offered their gratitude in numerous emails of thanks in the days following the event:

All AWAWS members are invited to our Anniversary Panel discussion celebrating the first 10 years of AWAWS. Members of the panel will include the founders of AWAWS and long-term members of the Executive Committee, including the Foundation President. The panellists will discuss the genesis of AWAWS, the challenges over the past 10 years, chart the highlights and discuss what the future might hold for the association. Discussion will be opened to the membership at the end. The panel will coincide with our annual AGM. The new committee, the winner of the annual research grant and this year's virtual bouquets will be announced afterwards.