The Goddess at the Crossing Place
6-8 March 2025, Marshall University
To honor the 150th anniversary of Classics at Marshall University, the Department of Humanities announces a conference that focuses on Goddess traditions. We will explore the concepts evoked by the phrase, “The Goddess at the Crossing Place.”
The goddess at the crossing place refers to spaces where divine power intersects directly with people. A liminal symbol, the crossing suggests a circumstance where human beings can grow and transform. Sanskrit goddesses receive worship at “seats or altars” that embody manifestations of goddesses in the world and at “crossing places” that connect the human and the divine. These sacred places are the intended destinations for actual pilgrims and the imaginary & visionary realms of introspective mystics. Hecate stalks the crossroads and accepts sacrifices there. Persephone is both a maiden of spring and the queen of the dead. The crossing places are fundamental to the Greek Mysteries of these goddesses. Through the evolution of her theology and ritual traditions, Inanna of ancient Sumer, evolves to be the Goddess of the Heavens, the Earth, and the Underworld—the being who crosses all the boundaries. These concepts express a view of human experience that champions growth, change, and transformation, while also accepting destruction, subversion, and mystery.
Since the neolithic, the divine feminine has represented growth, transformation, subversion, and stability. Academics interpret texts and artifacts of goddesses to understand religions and cultures different from our own. Contemporary artists and neo-pagans resurrect and reenact religious and magical traditions whose fundamental metaphors are feminine, polytheistic, and polygendered, in sharp contrast with the masculinity associated with many contemporary religions.
We welcome creative and scholarly submissions that engage the divine feminine and explore how that engagement can empower and inform individuals and communities (past and present). In addition to conventional paper sessions, we invite submissions for a juried art exhibition, poster sessions, and performances from scholars at any point in their career and members of the public. The conference will be free and open to the public.
Subjects and themes could include (but are not limited to):
Representation(s) of the feminine divine
Reconceiving Communities of Practice
Goddesses in pop culture
Reconceiving Patriarchy
Reimagining the Past / Present / Future
Domestic Goddesses vs “Tradwives”
Authenticity vs. Authority
Embodied Practice vs. Belief
Exploitation
Modernity & Goddesses
Fame and Internet Idolatry
Making vs. Manufacturing meaning
Perception vs Lived Experience
Performativity
Poetics of Everyday Life
The Ethics of Care
What does it mean to believe women?
Are Goddesses feminist?
We invite:
Abstracts (scholars at any level): Please provide a 500-word description of your scholarly intervention and bibliography: 20 minutes maximum.
Proposals (students, scholars, members of the public): In 100-200 words, please describe your proposed performance, informal or exploratory presentation, creative work (such as a reading or dance), or workshop. Workshops may tackle academic subjects or offer hands-on activities. Include estimated time.
Posters (undergraduate students only): please submit a 100-200 words description of your research or creative poster. These posters may represent class projects, independent research, or creative ideas. You will have the opportunity to speak with other attendees about your poster.
Art submissions (all are welcome to submit digitally). During events, selected artworks may be displayed digitally or physically.
Abstracts, Proposals and Posters should be emailed to 150th.submissions@marshall.edu.
For Art Submissions to the juried exhibition, please send your name to 150th.Art@marshall.edu, separate instructions will follow. The final submission deadline for Abstracts, Proposals and Art Submissions is January 10th; the final submission deadline for the Undergraduate Poster Session is 15 February. Late abstracts or other submissions will be accepted after the 10 January deadline, but we cannot guarantee a timely review or full consideration for any late submissions.
All things conference will be posted at www.marshall.edu/humanities/150th
Snacks and some meals will be provided for conference attendees. We may be able to provide some financial assistance to graduate student attendees for travel and lodging. Some sessions of the conference will be available in a hybrid format.
Religions Journal will publish papers from our conference proceedings as volume 2 in its Goddesses Special Issue.
Our Keynote speakers are:
- Suzanne Lye, UNC: Chapel Hill. Suzanne will be the Schmidlapp Lecture for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies on Wednesday, 5 March, speaking on divine female anger
- Emily Jay, Ohio Northern University, an artist who works on the navigation from pagan goddesses to Christian saints in Palermo, will be our kick-off speaker on Thursday evening
- Madeline Miller, NYT bestselling author of Circe and Song of Achilles, will do a virtual Q&A Friday afternoon
- Jeffrey S. Lidke, Barry College, will present on South Asian goddesses in the context of sound and music, Saturday
- Sthaneshwar Timalsina, CUNY: Stony Brook will give a talk on Saturday, “Goddess Traditions in India: What they can teach to the Modern World”
- Travis Horseman, author, and Jesse Robinson, artist, will talk about creating their graphic novel series about the priestesses at Delphi, Pythia.
Questions? Concerns about accessibility or affordability? Please contact Classics150th@marshall.edu and we will do our best to accommodate!
