Witchcraft - Yesterday and Today: The Midnight Sun Witchcraft Conference, June 28th - July 1st, 2007, Vardo, Norway

One of the most extensive witch-hunts took place in the 17th
century Vardo, on the shores of the gloomy Arctic Ocean. This summer
(June 28th - July 1st) many well known names of the witchcraft
research gather to Vardo, as the international Midnight Sun Witchcraft
Conference will take place. Conference is organized by several
universities, including the University of Tromso (Norway), the
University of Texas at Austin (USA) and the University of Tampere
(Finland).

The witch-hunts in Europe are not only a piece of history of
witchcraft but, indeed, the history of persecutions. Therefore, the
question about human rights - yesterday and today - is also raised to
the focus. Human rights and torture also combine the present
persecutions with the persecutions in history. Other current issues
are ethnicity, nationality, religion, shamanism and gender. Special
attention is given to the question of the sex of the witch. There were
female as well as male witches. What was the difference?

The conference is not only for the scholars. Popular sessions,
excursions, theatre and movie shows are also organised for the wider
public. Full programme and registration, please, click on
http://www.heksekonferansen.no/.

Keynote speakers: Brian P. Levack, Ronald Hutton, Diane Purkiss,
Juha Pentikainen, Rita Voltmer, Stuart Clark, Randi Ronning Balsvik,
Marianna G. Muravyeva, Charles Zika, and others.

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The conference is organized by:
University of Tromso, Dept. of History, Norway
University of Texas at Austin, USA
University of Tampere, Dept. of History, Finland
University Library of Tromso, Norway
University Library of Trondheim, Norway
University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Dept. of
History and Classical Studies, Norway
University of Oslo, Dept. of Archaeology, Conservation and Historical
Studies, Norway
Norden--The Nordic Culture Fund
Heksekonferansen nuf, Norway
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The President of the Conference Board
Professor Brian P. Levack, Dept. of History, University of Texas at
Austin, USA

The Chairman of the Executive Board
Professor Marko Nenonen, Dept. of History, University of Tampere,
Finland