The Department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University
in Collaboration with
The Intellectual and Cultural Representations Research Laboratory
Organize
The Symbolic of Women in The Algerian Cultural Heritage
National Study Day
23 Décembre 2021
The controversy over the image of woman is something that goes back to the ancient times as it was reflected in the oral performances (songs, dances, and rituals). The Algerian Folklore is stuffed with the power relations and stereotypes that manifest in gender. Women are represented both as passive and subservient, relegated to supporting the male protagonist or caricatured as the threatening and evil witch archetype. In written literary texts, either during the colonial and post-colonial periods, it appears that women characters are usually caught in the maze of the masculine codes, a psychological mind-set based upon anti-feminist stereotyping. Although the women characters did not cease to resist and defy the stereotypical images, they are not yet considered heroines in their own while their attempt at autonomy is a chimera.
The present study day studies the ways common archetypes in literary texts and cultural mythology influence women’s social roles. It examines the aspects of the Algerian oral and written legacies with regard to the symbolic of the woman as an ambivalent figure. It also opens to comparisons, which combines description of Algerian African folklore and those of other cultures to find common themes and symbols. This scientific event explores feminine archetypes and mythological figures in Algerian, African and Western traditions with an underlying goal of describing the foundations of social status for women. It provides a rich corpus of the correlation between mythology and literature to illustrate aspects of female and mother-daughter relationships. It analyzes the symbolic aspects of maternity and femininity, describing the social meaning of the matrix and breastfeeding. It delves into a retrospective of female characters in Algerian, African, and world literature with interesting approaches to explore the figures of femininity and maternity in society.
What a woman stands for in Algerian cultural legacy? The study day questions the persistent assumption that the large corpus of texts that discuss the nature of women can be defined in terms of the cliché discourses of misogynism and defense of women, arguing instead that the problem of gender identity is vital to them all. The texts, some well-known, others which have received scant critical attention, are to be placed in their specific contexts and in relation to the ostensible reasons for their composition, such as a political, literary, religious, or didactic ‘agenda’. They are also related to the literary traditions in which they are written (misogynistic denunciation, satire, humor, defense, narrative debate, among others), and the particular theoretical problems arising from them are be questioned. Their full meaning lies at the less immediately accessible level at which they address this very problem of definition, one which arises directly from the self-perpetuating contradictions of authoritative wisdom on the nature of women.
Call for Papers
Possible topics could include, but are not limited to:
- The articulation of women identities, collective memories and group imaginaries.
- The impact of The sexist myths
- Masculine accounts of women
- History of women in folktales
- The fluid and constructed images appear as natural and fixed
- Women and Other Deviants under colonialism
- Images of women in postcolonial texts
- Women texts resisting or subverting patriarchal control, manipulation, exclusion and the oppression.
Papers can be dealt with from different perspectives: Post-colonial Studies, Cultural Studies, Feminism and Feminist Literature, Anthropology theories, and Comparative literary studies.. Prospective presenters are thereby called to submit an abstract of no more than 300 words by
15 of September, 2021.
Deadline for submissions: November, 15, 2021
All queries and submissions should be sent to the. Women in the Algerian Cultural Heritage2022@gmail.com. Please attach a word document to your email that includes your abstract, name, institution, email address, and a brief bio of 100 to 120 words. Accepted proposals will be notified by December, 13th, 2021.
Study Day Chair: Dr. GADA/NAAR Nadia, department of English, MouloudMammeri University of TiziOuzou.
Organizing Team:
Chergui Khedidja, Mouloud Mammeri University/L’Ecole Normale Supérieure de Bouzareah.
Hadj Bachir Sabeha, Dept of English , Mouloud Mammeri University.
Seddiki Sadia, Dept of English , Mouloud Mammeri University.
Rezik Mohand Akli, University Mhamed Bouguera Boumerdes.
Haddouche Nassima, University Mhamed Bouguera Boumerdes.
Tighzer Naima, University Abderahmane Mira, Bejaia.
Terki Nassima, University Mhamed Bouguera Boumerdes.
Scientific Committee:
Pr, Riche Bouteldja, Mouloud Mammeri University, Tizi Ouzou.
Pr Zerar Sabrina, Mouloud Mammeri University, Tizi Ouzou.
Pr Bahous Abbes, University of Mostaghanem.
Dr. Gada Nadia, Mouloud Mammeri University, Tizi Ouzou.
Dr.Rezik Mohand Akli, University Mhamed Bouguer,a Boumerdes.
Dr.Siber Mouloud, Mouloud Mammeri, University, Tizi Ouzou.
Dr.Ferhi Samir, Mouloud Mammeri, University, Tizi Ouzou.
Event Venue:
MouloudMammeri University of TiziOuzou,Algeria. Department of Arabic, Faculty of Letters and Languages, Hassnoua, nouvelle ville, Tizi Ouzou.
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