Jessica A . Albrecht
Blog, more Information and links to popular writing: JessicaAlbrecht.com
Current position: Research / Teaching Assistant (University of Bonn)
Previous:
PhD Religious Studies (University of Heidelberg)
M.A. South Asian Literature and Languages (University of Heidelberg)
MSc Gender History (University of Glasgow)
B.A. Study of Religion (University of Heidelberg)
Research interests: History of feminism and religion in the British Empire, History of Religion in Sri Lanka, esotericism and gender/feminism in the 19th and 20th century.
Mentor at Fem4Scholar.
Editor interdisciplinary and international journal En-Gender! (www.engenderacademia.com)
--
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Adrian Hermann and Prof. Dr. Michael Bergunder
Current position: Research / Teaching Assistant (University of Bonn)
Previous:
PhD Religious Studies (University of Heidelberg)
M.A. South Asian Literature and Languages (University of Heidelberg)
MSc Gender History (University of Glasgow)
B.A. Study of Religion (University of Heidelberg)
Research interests: History of feminism and religion in the British Empire, History of Religion in Sri Lanka, esotericism and gender/feminism in the 19th and 20th century.
Mentor at Fem4Scholar.
Editor interdisciplinary and international journal En-Gender! (www.engenderacademia.com)
--
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Adrian Hermann and Prof. Dr. Michael Bergunder
less
Related Authors
InterestsView All (14)
Uploads
Papers by Jessica A . Albrecht
of gender-specific education, the 1930s saw a homogenisation of teachings in these schools through the impact of Mary Rutnam’s health manuals. Rutnam was a Canadian doctor who had been living in Sri Lanka for most of her adult life and was seen as a local. She was also active in establishing women’s and girls’ organisations and political groups. Especially the Lanka Mahila Samiti (LMS) was greatly influential and still is today. The LMS specifically aims at educating
the rural women in maternal health and other forms
of hygiene with the goal to increase their political and cultural agency. This article examines the relationship between Rutnam’s handbooks for girls’ schools and the globality of the discourse of motherhood, on the one hand, and the hierarchical divide between the urban middle-class woman and the rural woman, on the other hand. I will argue that by applying the classist discourse of eugenics and hygiene, the teaching of maternal health was transformed in Sri Lanka to create a notion of motherhood that was detached from religion, as it previously was so often framed by it but was highly racialised and classist. This notion of motherhood continues to exist and informs the teaching of sexuality in contemporary Sri Lankan middle-class girls’ schools.
the Theosophical Society can be seen as remarkable women of their time. Not only as religious
leaders, they transgressed the gender roles of their time and – in different degrees – engaged with
their contemporary feminist discourses. However, as this article shows, biographies on both have
yet failed a greater analysis of gendered aspects as well as situating them in the feminist contexts of
their time. Instead, their biographies including any obscure aspects of gender are explained by
situating them in relation to the Theosophical Society only. However, one such analysis of gender
is useful for biographies, in particular in these case studies. Consequently, as we illustrate in these
examples, we maintain that gender has to be an integral part of biographies.
Thesis Chapters by Jessica A . Albrecht
Therefore, this dissertation uses a biographical approach to analyse Swiney’s individual and gendered agency in the feminist and religious discourses of her time. It applies theories on the subject and its relation to its surrounding discourse to examine the possibilities and boundaries of Swiney’s agency, and, therefore, her impact on esotericism as well as British feminism.
It concludes that Swiney’s feminism was not only strongly shaped by Theosophy; in addition, her interpretations of Theosophy were highly influenced by the contemporary imperial discourses on motherhood, reproduction, and race, which affected Britain’s First Wave Feminism. This dissertation will illustrate how these contexts made Swiney’s individual agency possible, but, at the same time, restricted her impact on either Theosophy or feminism. It argues that the influence alternative religious, or esoteric movements, such as the Theosophical Society had on contexts like British feminism cannot be understood without analysing the specific historical context which produced the theosophical feminist individual.
This bachelor thesis deals with the question of how contemporary fashion in India affects Hindu nationalist identity formation. For this, representations, identity formation, and the construction of meaning are examined. The processes around the emergence of collective, cultural identities are traced, which should make it possible to critically question (religious) self-conceptions. Thus, the work is based on an understanding of religious studies as cultural studies. This thesis uses historical methods as well as poststructuralist and postcolonial theories.
The question of how the recent fashion discourse in India contributes to the formation of a Hindu nationalist identity will be addressed as follows. The first chapter will clarify the most important theoretical presuppositions regarding the underlying understanding of identity formation. After that, after a brief discussion of Hindu nationalism, the focus will be on two aspects of Indian fashion discourse that have emerged in neoliberalism since the 1980s: the Indian middle classes and high fashion.
The thesis of the present work is that continuous delimitations are essential for the establishment of social practices. These are then declared in retrospect as traditions, which solidifies their self-evident and identities are constructed and maintained.
of gender-specific education, the 1930s saw a homogenisation of teachings in these schools through the impact of Mary Rutnam’s health manuals. Rutnam was a Canadian doctor who had been living in Sri Lanka for most of her adult life and was seen as a local. She was also active in establishing women’s and girls’ organisations and political groups. Especially the Lanka Mahila Samiti (LMS) was greatly influential and still is today. The LMS specifically aims at educating
the rural women in maternal health and other forms
of hygiene with the goal to increase their political and cultural agency. This article examines the relationship between Rutnam’s handbooks for girls’ schools and the globality of the discourse of motherhood, on the one hand, and the hierarchical divide between the urban middle-class woman and the rural woman, on the other hand. I will argue that by applying the classist discourse of eugenics and hygiene, the teaching of maternal health was transformed in Sri Lanka to create a notion of motherhood that was detached from religion, as it previously was so often framed by it but was highly racialised and classist. This notion of motherhood continues to exist and informs the teaching of sexuality in contemporary Sri Lankan middle-class girls’ schools.
the Theosophical Society can be seen as remarkable women of their time. Not only as religious
leaders, they transgressed the gender roles of their time and – in different degrees – engaged with
their contemporary feminist discourses. However, as this article shows, biographies on both have
yet failed a greater analysis of gendered aspects as well as situating them in the feminist contexts of
their time. Instead, their biographies including any obscure aspects of gender are explained by
situating them in relation to the Theosophical Society only. However, one such analysis of gender
is useful for biographies, in particular in these case studies. Consequently, as we illustrate in these
examples, we maintain that gender has to be an integral part of biographies.
Therefore, this dissertation uses a biographical approach to analyse Swiney’s individual and gendered agency in the feminist and religious discourses of her time. It applies theories on the subject and its relation to its surrounding discourse to examine the possibilities and boundaries of Swiney’s agency, and, therefore, her impact on esotericism as well as British feminism.
It concludes that Swiney’s feminism was not only strongly shaped by Theosophy; in addition, her interpretations of Theosophy were highly influenced by the contemporary imperial discourses on motherhood, reproduction, and race, which affected Britain’s First Wave Feminism. This dissertation will illustrate how these contexts made Swiney’s individual agency possible, but, at the same time, restricted her impact on either Theosophy or feminism. It argues that the influence alternative religious, or esoteric movements, such as the Theosophical Society had on contexts like British feminism cannot be understood without analysing the specific historical context which produced the theosophical feminist individual.
This bachelor thesis deals with the question of how contemporary fashion in India affects Hindu nationalist identity formation. For this, representations, identity formation, and the construction of meaning are examined. The processes around the emergence of collective, cultural identities are traced, which should make it possible to critically question (religious) self-conceptions. Thus, the work is based on an understanding of religious studies as cultural studies. This thesis uses historical methods as well as poststructuralist and postcolonial theories.
The question of how the recent fashion discourse in India contributes to the formation of a Hindu nationalist identity will be addressed as follows. The first chapter will clarify the most important theoretical presuppositions regarding the underlying understanding of identity formation. After that, after a brief discussion of Hindu nationalism, the focus will be on two aspects of Indian fashion discourse that have emerged in neoliberalism since the 1980s: the Indian middle classes and high fashion.
The thesis of the present work is that continuous delimitations are essential for the establishment of social practices. These are then declared in retrospect as traditions, which solidifies their self-evident and identities are constructed and maintained.
More information and the full book here:
https://engenderacademia.com/edited-volume-en-gender-2021/
urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-323422