Conference 'Myth and reality of Anabaptist/Mennonite Women Ca 1525-1900 in Continental Europe', August 31 and September 1 2007

今年の夏にVrije Universiteit Amsterdam (アムステルダム自由大学)で、Imagology に基づく再洗礼派女性に関する国際シンポジウムが開かれるそうです。凄く面白そうだけど、オランダは遠いですね。何とか行けないものか。

Doopsgezinde Historische Kring も参照のこと。

International conferences

Conference 'Myth and reality of Anabaptist/Mennonite Women Ca 1525-1900 in Continental Europe', August 31 and September 1 2007

Call for Papers (German version below)

The research on women and religious dissent so far has been focussing upon questions like: why were women attracted to religious dissent? What positions were allowed to women in religious movements like Anabaptism, Calvinism and Lutheranism? What about equality and patriarchalism in these new communities?

The goal of our conference is to offer an other focus, by using a comparative, contextual, critical and multidisciplinary scope. We propose a new approach: ‘imagology’. Imagology has recently emerged within cultural studies. It concerns the study of representations, stereotypes and traditions of self image. Imagologists question the objective information value of "images", study the structural and biased presuppositions behind these images and stereotypes and show the consequences of these beliefs in history and historiography. Our main theme will be:

Myth and reality of Anabaptist/Mennonite Women

During this conference our focus will be on the images and stereotypes of Anabaptist/Mennonite women in documents and in historiography, on the development of these images and stereotypes, on the differences between these various images and stereotypes, and how to interpret them in the proper cultural, intellectual, social and/or church historical settings.

Within this context several questions could be raised, such as:

How were female martyrs described, both in court records and martyorologies; which role was ascribed to them; what does comparison reflect in this respect with other martyrology genres and/or traditions?
What roles were played by Anabaptist/Mennonite women within their communities and/or congregations; which role was ascribed to them? Did they play an exceptional role (as has often been assumed) or was their role comparable with the role of women in other revolutionary movements?
Anabaptist/Mennonite marital practices were sometimes criticised both by outsiders and insiders. Was the position of Anabaptist/Mennonite women different from those in Protestant and Catholic circles?
How did the perfect Anabaptist/Mennonite women behave in Mennonite theory and theology? How was dealt with ‘exceptions to the rule’?
What were the differences between, for example, the dress-codes of urban and rural Mennonite women? What image shifts occurred when ‘worldly fashions’ were embraced in the course of time?
Sobriety, chastity and hypocrisy of Mennonite/Anabaptist women were sometimes ridiculed by outsiders, but some insiders seem to have used comparable stereotypes. How do these stereotypes fit with reality? What is the difference between the images created by outsiders and those created by insiders?

This conference will take place at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam August 31 and September 1 2007. Papers delivered at this conference will be published in a special volume.

Please send / email paper proposals of a maximum of 200 words before February 15, 2007 to:
Dr. Mirjam van Veen , Theologische Faculteit, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV AMSTERDAM
The Netherlands.

The conference is co-organized by:
PD. Dr. Marion Kobelt-Groch (Mennonitische Geschichtsverein e.V. & Universität Hamburg)
Dr. Els M. Kloek (Universiteit Utrecht & Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis, Den Haag & Digitaal vrouwenlexicon),
Prof. Dr. Piet Visser (Doopsgezinde Historische Kring, Doopsgezind Seminarium & Vrije Universiteit, Faculteit Theologie, Amsterdam)
Dr. Mirjam van Veen (Vrije Universiteit, Faculteit Theologie, Amsterdam)