Folklore & Women

About

For centuries, feminist writers and thinkers have turned to myths, legends, fairytales, religious stories, and cultural traditions to make sense of women’s experiences. All of these come under the umbrella of ‘folklore’. This talk will explore the enduring relevance of folklore, asking how these stories can be reclaimed and reimagined for the 21st-century feminist.

We will ask why we continually return to ancient stories to tell new ones - does this suggest that we’re out of new stories, or is it a part of a longstanding literary tradition in women’s writing, to look back, to subvert dominant myths, and to challenge the patriarchal ideas embedded in our society?

**Speaker Bio:**

Dr Shelby Judge is a Lecturer in Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Derby, where she researches digital feminist and popular feminist responses to Incels and the Manosphere. She recently completed her PhD in English Literature at the University of Glasgow, producing the thesis Contemporary Feminist Adaptations of Greek Myth.