CFP: “Women Advancing Knowledge Equity“
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
Women Challenging Dominant Religious Practices and Expectations through Women-centered
Traditions and Spiritualities (Working Title).
WikiProject Women in Religion: Who We Are
The WikiProject Women in Religion is an initiative to create, update, and improve Wikimedia content
pertaining to the lives of cisgender and transgender women who are notable as scholars, activists and
practitioners of the world’s religious, spiritual and wisdom traditions. Its purpose is to address the
gender gap on the Wikipedia platform. As of January 2024, the project has created or improved more
than 300 Wikipedia articles and biographies.
WikiProject Women in Religion also works to increase content about women in the general scholarship.
The goal is to provide secondary sources for Wikipedia editors and contributors to use to increase the
content about women in religion on Wikipedia. To that end, we have supported the publication of three
volumes of monographs, published by Atla Open Press and the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Please visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Religion/Women in Religion series
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Religion/Women_in_Religion_series )
for more information and for lists of the women featured in this series. Volume three of the series,
Women Advancing Knowledge Equity: The Parliament of the World’s Religions,
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_Advancing_Knowledge_Equity_(2023).pdf ) is a
collection of biographies about women who are noteworthy leaders and participants in the Parliament
of the World’s Religions but whose significance is obscured by their geographical location, economic
status or occupational attentions.
Volume 4: Description and Call requirements
Like the preceding volumes in the series, Volume 4 will include one to three theoretical chapters
followed by eight to ten biographical chapters. This volume focuses on the particular difficulties and
opportunities characteristic of the work of women, within the Parliament and generally, who do not
claim status or membership within one of the world’s major religions. As a practical effort to increase
access to secondary sources about women involved with goddess, divine feminine, and earth-centered
spiritualities and to address the gender bias on platforms like Wikipedia, we are seeking biographies
about women who (1) figure prominently as founders, leaders, practitioners, activists and scholars of
goddess, women and divine feminine-centered spiritualities, and indigenous traditions that honor and
center feminine deities, spirits and powers; (2) reflect the global, diverse nature of such participants and
the traditions they represent; (3) do not have a biographical entry on Wikipedia. Original research
including attention to primary sources such as interviews of living subjects, transcriptions of existing
recordings and historical documents is encouraged. We are looking for original analysis that makes a
strong case for the subject’s notability in her local, regional or global area of religious influence. The use
of a theoretical lens including colonial critiques, queer theory and deconstructive approaches to the
concept of divinity are encouraged. Since its reconvening in 1993, the Parliament of the World’s
Religions has been at the forefront of a movement to bring women-centered traditions into
conversation with mainstream religions. This volume seeks to highlight and extend that work.
Biographies should include a theoretical focus on at least one of the following:
• Ways in which the life and work of the subject illustrates strategies for increasing biographical
coverage and combating misrepresentation and disinformation on media platforms like
Wikipedia and in the media generally.
• Ways in which the life, work, and religious or spiritual practices of the subject challenge
normative or patriarchal religious narratives.
• Ways in which the life and work of the subject serves as a model for addressing issues of
marginalization, misrepresentation, discrimination, and violence against women who participate
in women-centered spiritualities in cultures across the world. For example, the discrimination
against women who self-identify as witches as well as the tactic of identifying women as witches
as a means of discrimination against them will be addressed in this volume.
Monograph Submission are due for consideration on September 15, 2024
Submit a draft (2,500 word minimum, 8,000 word maximum), 12 font Times New Roman, double space,
one-inch margins, proper CMOS intext citations, CMOS Works Cited page, with the following file name:
Your Name, Paper Title, Women in Religion Series Monograph 4, submission. Submissions are sent to
[email protected] . Upon acceptance, completed chapters will be due on January 31,
2025 must be 5 – 8,000 words in length. Article acceptance takes place September 30, 2024.
List of potential subjects for Volume 4
This is not an all-inclusive list but rather a tool to stimulate thought. All submissions meeting call
requirements will be considered.
1. Rev. Angela (Angie) Buchanan – First Pagan Trustee for the PoWR; founder of Gaia’s Womb;
https://parliamentofreligions.org/speakers/rev-angie-buchanan/.
2. Patricia Fero – author and activist, Goddess spirituality movement;
https://parliamentofreligions.org/speakers/patricia-fero/;
https://www.patriciafero.com/events/.
3. Grandmother Flor de Mayo – Mayan Indigenous environmental activist;
https://parliamentofreligions.org/speakers/grandmother-flordemayo/.
4. Alisa Starkweather – founder and activist with the Red Tent. She created the first Women’s
Sacred Space for the 2015 PoWR and again for the 2018 PoWR;
https://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/contributors/2016/7/22/alisa-starkweather.
5. Deirdre Arthen – Pagan, EarthSpirit Community, attended most PoWR convenings; organized her
community’s presence and performances by their community choir;
http://www.earthspirit.com/board-of-directors.
6. Grove Harris – Reclaiming Tradition (Paganism); hired as Program Director for the PoWR 2009,
Melbourne, interfaith activist; https://parliamentofreligions.org/speakers/grove-harris/;
https://hwpi.harvard.edu/pluralismarchive/people/grove-harris.
7. Vivianne Crowely (stub on Wikipedia) – Jungian psychologist; British Wiccan priestess;
https://cherryhillseminary.academia.edu/VivianneCrowley;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivianne_Crowley.
8. Lydia Ruyles – creator of the Goddess Banners project which traveled the world including
https://www.theherstorymovie.com/about.3
9. Grandmother Mary Lyons – Ojibwe elder; founder of the Minnesota Coalition on Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome; an Indian Child Welfare Act Expert Witness; Native American Family and Child
Advocate. She was a speaker at the 2023 Parliament in Chicago at the women’s opening event
and has spoken at several prior convenings; https://parliamentofreligions.org/speakers/grandmother-
mary-lyons/; https://minnesotanativenews.org/mary-lyons/; https://verve.place/blog-1/2021/3/29/mary-
lyons-water-protector; https://birchbarkbooks.com/products/wisdom-lessons.
10. Calixta Gabriel Xiquin – a poet and activist from Guatemala; she is a Kaqchikel Maya spiritual guide;
her works address the role of women in Mayan culture. Project MUSE – Grandmothers, Earth, and
Corn: The Maya Woman in the Work of Calixta Gabriel Xiquín; Picturing Calixta | ReVista;
https://religionnews.com/2023/08/03/surviving-persecution-and-a-civil-war-maya-spirituality-finds-new-
footing/; https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/fsr.2009.25.2.25?seq=1.
11. Pauline Tangiora – Maori Elder and activist from New Zealand;
https://www.seedsofwisdom.earth/elder/pauline-tangiora/; Pauline Tangiora (New Zealand) |
WikiPeaceWomen – English; Pauline Tangiora – World Future Council;
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/fsr.2009.25.2.25?seq=1.
12. Dr. Rita Sherma – Hindu theologian; founding Director of Graduate Theological Union’s Center for
Dharma Studies; served as Vice President of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies; Founding Vice
President of the Dharma Academy of North America https://www.gtu.edu/gtu-voices/2024-
distinguished-faculty-lecturer-dr-rita-d-sherma.
13. Anandmurti Gurumaa – prominent Indian spiritual leader; provides residential workshops in her ashram
in the northwest of India; https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Anandmurti_Gurumaa;
https://vedicfeed.com/female-spiritual-gurus/.
14. Kathleen Erndl, Ph.D. – South Asian religious scholar; Associate Professor at Florida State University;
Her work dealt with gender issues and the politics of South Asian Goddesses;
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/kathleen-erndl-obituary?id=7318988;
https://fda.fsu.edu/person/dr-kathleen-m-erndl.
15. Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati: a renowned female spiritual leader in India; she is Secretary-
General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, launched by UNICEF;
https://www.uri.org/accelerate-peace/Sadhvi.
16. Mildren Otieno; African traditional and spiritual healer, Kenya; holds corporate talks and
teachings for various organizations such as the Kisima workshop in Kilifi and the Global
Resilience Fund https://www.tuko.co.ke/people/452968-back-roots-meet-kenyan-woman-
reviving-traditional-religion-spiritualism/.
17. Iyalorisa Omitonade Ifawemimo – Orisa priestess and medium;
https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/voice-of-yemoja-meet-omitonade-ifawemimo-the-
ifaorisa-priestess-on-social-media/pfrtzdy; https://medium.com/@kehindeolateju212/the-
%C3%B2r%C3%ACs%C3%A0-priestess-6ca486875117; https://www.zikoko.com/money/hustle/a-
week-in-the-life-of-an-orisa-priestess-trying-to-guide-people-to-their-destiny/;
https://humansofafrica.net/the-millennial-priestess-omitonade-ifawemimo/;
https://brittlepaper.com/2016/04/kola-ifa-interview/.
18. Amanda Gcabashe – a sangoma in African Indigenous Religion;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXZlmM-
cXZM&list=PLsRNoUx8w3rOIV4YSoobBHNkuD1oXEoQX; https://ubuadvisory.com/amanda-
gcabashe/; https://www.news24.com/news24/opinions/columnists/landisa/landisa-traditional-
healer-amanda-gcabashe-on-our-treatment-of-nature-concrete-and-asphalt-are-not-life-
20220625.
19. Aruna Gnanadason – Director of the global program on Women in Church and Society of the
World Council of Churches (WWC). A prominent characteristic of her theology is her
combination of indigenous practice with Christian Theology;
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/923598/summary (pg. 13).4
20. Phyllis Currott, JD, H.Ps., — First Wiccan/Witch Trustee for the Parliament of the World’s
Religions; authority on and widely published author on Wiccan;
https://parliamentofreligions.org/womens-dignity/womens-task-force/.
21. Selena Fox – is senior minister and high priestess of Circle Sanctuary and Nature Spirituality
church Pagan resource center, and nature preserve with a worldwide Ecospirituality ministry;
https://www.circlesanctuary.org/about-us/About-Selena-Fox; she has participated in every
PoWR convening since 1993; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Fox.
22. Mother Maya Tiwari – Good Earth Foundation, Hindu, women’s and Mother Earth activist,
dropped her robes to protest the (mis)treatment of women within her faith;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Tiwari.
