Institute of Old Testament Studies

Team

CV

Since 09/2020 Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies
Dissertation title: Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Levant and in Biblical Literature: A Gender-Historical Perspective. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Silvia Schroer (University of Bern) and Prof. Dr. Christoph Uehlinger (University of Zürich)
 07/2020 M.A. Protestant Theology
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
09/2017-06/2018 Ecumenical study program “Studies in the Middle East”
Near East School of Theology, Beirut, Lebanon
10/2016-09/2017 Studies in Islamic Theology and Arabic (B.A.)
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
09/2016-10/2016 Summerschool Ibadi Islam in Oman
College of Sharia Science in Maskat, Oman
10/2013-07/2020 Studies in Protestant Theology 
Universities of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Münster, Basel und Tübingen

PhD research

Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Levant and Biblical Literature: A Gender-Historical Perspective

What do we know about the gender and sex of the wearers and users of stamp seals in the Levant? It turns out, very little. Thus, my thesis inquires how knowledge is produced about seals concerning gender, sex, and sexuality by biblical and archaeological scholarship and within ancient literature. Previous research has emphasized the marginality of female seal ownership in Iron Age Judahite society. Thereby it frames women's seals as scarce and exceptional items while relying on largely unprovenanced artifacts. Furthermore, this approach lacks a theoretical grounding in feminist theory and gender studies and projects androcentric biases onto individual finds. Engaging with feminist and gender theory and archaeology, my research reevaluates dominant interpretations within scholarship discourse and transgresses beyond the Iron Age framework of previous studies. Based upon this theoretical foundation, my thesis investigates the relationship between seals and bodies within the material culture and biblical literature. Therefore, I elaborate on how seals and sealing practices are related to ancient bodies, gender, sex, and sexuality. Consequently, I inquire how seals—as material culture and within the literature—are part of the production and distribution of knowledge and power concerning gender and body norms?
 

Research interests

Feminist and Queer Theory and its intersections with archaeology and biblical interpretation

Gender-historical perspectives on the history and archaeology of the Levant

Iconography of the Southern Levant

Postcolonial Theory and Biblical Studies

Sensory Studies and Levantine Material Culture

Awards and scholarships

03/2022 Sean W. Dever Memorial Prize 
W.F Albright Institute for Archaeological Research; Awarded for the best paper presented at a conference which treats a topic in the field of Syro-Palestinian or Biblical Archaeology for ”Seals from the Southern Levant and Gender Archaeology: Theoretical and Practical Considerations” 
08/2021 Student Prize Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
European Association of Biblical Studies; Awarded for the best paper from a Ph.D. student at the conference for ”Wearing a Seal as Conceptual Metaphor and Bodily Experience”
12/2020 Hanna Jursch Young Scientist Award of the Protestant Church of Germany (EKD)
Awarded for the M.A. thesis “Embodied Metaphors. Metaphoric Construction of Gendered Bodies in Between Eroticism, Accusation and Violence in Ezek 23:1–30.” published in 2021 in lectio diffililior as: “Zwischen Feminisierung und Virilität: Körperdiskurse zwischen Imperium und Androzentrik in Ezechiel 23.”
10/2017–07/2020 Scholarship of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg, Germany
09/2017–06/2018 Scholarship of the German National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation

Publications

“Intersecting Stamp Seals and Gendered Bodies. A Case Study of the MB IIB Rishon le-Zion Cemetery.” In: Ido Koch and Stefan Münger (eds.), Studies on Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis), Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen, forthcoming.

“Zwischen Feminisierung und Virilität: Körperdiskurse zwischen Imperium und Androzentrik in Ezechiel 23,“ Lectio difficilior 2021 (2).

Presentations and Workshops

“Queer(y)ing Sexualitäten im Hohenlied.” Public lecure in the series Queer Theology. Eine andere Art von Theologie entdecken!? on the 20.03.2022 at the University of Bern. 

“Relating Seals from the Southern Levant and Gender Archaeology. Theoretical and Practical Considerations.” Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in San Antonio, TX; November 2021.

“Intersecting Stamp Seals and Gendered Bodies.” Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Chicago, IL; November 2021.

“Wearing a Seal as Conceptual Metaphor and Bodily Experience.” Annual Meeting of the European Association of Biblical Studies in Wuppertal; August 2021.

“Wearing a Seal as Conceptual Metaphor. Tracing a Conceptual Metaphor In the Song of Songs and In Its Relation to Bodily Experience.” Graduate Symposium of the European Association of Biblical Studies in Mainz; Mai 2021.

Memberships

American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)

European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS)

German Society for the Exploration of Palestine

Society of Biblical Studies (SBL)

Swiss Society for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (SSANE)