<synthesis> The Witch Institute: Call for Proposals

[Gabriel Menotti]

apologies for cross-posting!

Best!
Menotti
































* The Witch Institute: CALL FOR PROPOSALS August 16-22, 2021; Virtual
Event  Queen’s University* Katarokwi/Kingston, Canada *Queen’s University
is situated on Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territories What is the Witch
Institute? In the last few years, the witch has re-emerged as a powerful
political symbol. Across cinemas and television, in books and podcasts, and
via hashtag activism, the proliferation of the witch in media signals a
critique of the existing world order and its reliance on the subjugation of
marginalized peoples. In order to better understand the meaning and impact
of current media representations of the witch, we will hold an expanded
conversation between activists, artists, filmmakers, curators, historians,
scholars, witches, feminists, healers, and more. The Witch Institute is a
collaborative meeting space for those who are interested in responding to
contemporary imaginings of the witch in popular and visual culture. It is a
place to share diverse understandings of witches and witchcraft, and to
complicate, reframe, and remediate media representations that often
continue to perpetuate colonial, misogynistic, and Eurocentric stereotypes
of the archetypal figure.  The Witch Institute will present a keynote
lecture by Dr. Silvia Federici, along with a series of talks, panel
discussions, film screenings, art exhibitions, performances, and workshops
occurring over August 16 to 22, 2021. All events will be free, open to the
public, and accessible online. Registration opens January 25, 2021. Call
for Proposals: We are seeking round table participants and workshop
leaders. We invite proposals from artists, researchers, and practitioners.
We encourage a diversity of voices as part of this exchange, and highly
encourage submissions from members of marginalized communities, including
BIPOC and 2SLBGTQ participants. Round Tables. We are looking for
participants who wish to discuss their research with a group. Each session
will include 3-4 artists, researchers, or practitioners. Attendees will
read short texts (maximum 5-pages in length) or review documentation of
panelists’ work in advance. The sessions will be devoted to 75-minute
moderated discussions.  Workshops. We are seeking proposals for 60-minute
interactive virtual sessions.  We invite proposals that contribute to
topics including, but not limited to, the following: 1. Witchcraft and
Colonization: colonial denigration and erasure of Black or Indigenous
spiritual knowledges and practices; reclamation of Black or Indigenous
spiritual knowledges, practices, and more-than-human relationalities as
anti-colonial resistance or as decolonial projects; cultural evolutions,
exchanges, and appropriations among historical and contemporary witch
practices.  1. Witch Hunts and the State: on-going witch hunts and their
interconnected histories of colonization and globalization; witch-hunting
as state-sanctioned violence; enforcement of anti-witchcraft legislation in
colonial, postcolonial, and settler-colonial nation-states.  1. Technology
and Magic: traditions of magic, alternative healing practices, and/or
spirituality as technology; visual effects, illusions, and magic on screen
and stage; technological mediation and the supernatural; technology and the
senses; the body and other mediums for spiritual messages. 1. Witchcraft as
Ritual, Practice, and Pedagogy: ritual as a form of learning-by-doing; oral
traditions and decolonial practices of knowledge transmission; pedagogical
uses of the witch, witchcraft, and/or ritual practices; the perspectives of
contemporary practitioners; religious lineages of Wicca and Paganism;
intergenerational exchange, kinship, more-than-human relations, and covens;
the relationship between witchcraft and feminism. 1. The Witch as
Text: representations of the witch, witchcraft, and spiritual practices in
literature, film, music, fashion, art, and popular culture; the
commodification of the witch; texts as restoring, or healing the
denigration of colonization; shifting perceptions, receptions, and
circulations of witchcraft in the context of colonization and
globalization. Submissions: Those interested in participating in the round
table or organizing a workshop, please submit: - a 250 word abstract of
your research or description of your workshop  - which of the above
topic(s) you see your work fitting into (if applicable) - for roundtable
submissions: 2 or 3 questions you would like to discuss with a group who
will read your paper/look at your artwork in advance; - a 150 word bio.
Submissions should be sent to witch.institute at queensu.ca
<witch.institute at queensu.ca> by January 25, 2021. The Witch Institute is
committed to accessibility in all phases of the project. If you have any
questions or needs concerning this call, please feel free to send Emily
Pelstring (she/her) an email at emily.pelstring at queensu.ca
<emily.pelstring at queensu.ca>. This project has received SSHRC funding. *
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