Women, Gender and Motherhood through the Ages

Friday November 6th 2026 RSSS Building, Lectorial Room 1.21 ● School of History, Australian National University Registration is essential: please RSVP by 12 midday, Monday November 2. 9.20-9.30 Welcome Meaghan McEvoy and Maria Nugent (ANU) Session 1 – Chair: Karen Fox 9.30-10.00 Simona Martorana (ANU): Parta ultio est: Metaphor, Embodiment, and Motherhood in Seneca’s Medea 10.00-10.30 Esther Klein (ANU): Exemplary Mothers in Ancient China: Move House, Scold the King, Save the Country 10.30-10.55 – Morning tea break Session 2 – Chair: Alexandra Kujanpaa 10.55 – 11.50 – Keynote 1: Sarah Gador-Whyte (ACU): The Ascetic Matrona: Ideal Womanhood in Christian Late Antiquity 11.50-12.20 – Meaghan McEvoy (ANU): Maternal Manipulation: Imperial mothers and their children in Late Antiquity 12.20-1.00 – Lunch Session 3 – Chair: Caillan Davenport 1.00-1.55 – Keynote 2: Matthew Firth (Flinders): Cultural Memory and Patterns of Queenship in the Life of Gunnhildr ‘the Mother of Kings’ 1.55-2.25 – David Romney Smith (ANU): Saints and Mothers: Travel and the Family in the Mediterranean 2.25-2.50 – Afternoon Tea Session 4 – Chair: Karen Downing 2.50-3.20 – Tania Colwell (ANU): Motherhood and its Paradoxes in Late Medieval France 3.20-3.50 – Julie Hotchin (ANU): “Is Mother Superior?”: Reflections on Female Abbatial Authority in late medieval Germany’ 3.50-4.20 – Kate Flaherty (ANU): Fame, Scandal, and Distance: Nellie Melba and Ellen Terry in Conversation Conclusion This event is supported by the ANU School of History and the ANU Centre for Classical Studies For any questions, please contact Dr Meaghan McEvoy - [email protected] If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor Personal Emergency Evacuation plan, please contact the event organiser ([email protected])