The aim of my PhD is to investigate the phenomenon of 'miraculous' fasting by (young) women, so-called Miraculous Maids/Fasting Girls in 19th century (Western) Europe and North America. These women reported eating and drinking very little or nothing over a period of several months to several years. They received regional, national, and sometimes even international attention from journalists, newspaper readers and visitors, as well as from doctors, clergy, and lawyers in particular.
The veracity of the Fasting Women's statements was verified by watches, during which local men of honour or medical personnel observed the women in their homes continuously for several days or weeks. In the process, some women were exposed as impostors, while others were subsequently considered to be recognised as miracles - albeit rather involuntarily confirmed by medical experts who could not detect any fraud. Supposedly hundreds of visitors wanted to convince themselves of the miraculous impossibility of eating, therefore I understand the phenomena of Fasting Women as entertaining spectacles and the Fasting Woman as a kind of celebrity.
The previous one-sided focus of research on fasting women either in the context of the emergence of disease patterns (anorexia nervosa) or as forms of female spirituality is to be abandoned in this doctorate, as the topic touches on other areas of modern historiography in addition to the history of science, medicine and religion, including but not limited to: the history of emotions, body history as well as gender history, legal history, celebrity studies and leisure history. The new, unconventional focus of this PhD is therefore on the spectacle and entertainment regime of the fasting women.
Born in Giessen. Bachelor's degree in History, English (and a bit of Business Economics) at the University of Mannheim and the University of Bristol (UK). Thesis on the emergence of science fiction literature in the German Empire. Master's degree in 'European History' at the FU Berlin and King's College London (UK). Graduated with a case study on Sarah Jacob (1857-1869), a Welsh fasting girl. Freelance work in political education on the topics of (anti-)classism, democracy, and civil society.
Our website uses cookies. Some of them are mandatory, while others allow us to improve your user experience on our website. The settings you have made can be edited at any time.
or
Essential
in2cookiemodal-selection
Required to save the user selection of the cookie settings.
3 months
be_lastLoginProvider
Required for the TYPO3 backend login to determine the time of the last login.
3 months
be_typo_user
This cookie tells the website whether a visitor is logged into the TYPO3 backend and has the rights to manage it.
Browser session
ROUTEID
These cookies are set to always direct the user to the same server.
Browser session
fe_typo_user
Enables frontend login.
Browser session
Videos
iframeswitch
Used to show all third-party contents.
3 months
yt-player-bandaid-host
Is used to display YouTube videos.
Persistent
yt-player-bandwidth
Is used to determine the optimal video quality based on the visitor's device and network settings.
Persistent
yt-remote-connected-devices
Saves the settings of the user's video player using embedded YouTube video.
Persistent
yt-remote-device-id
Saves the settings of the user's video player using embedded YouTube video.
Persistent
yt-player-headers-readable
Collects data about visitors' interaction with the site's video content - This data is used to make the site's video content more relevant to the visitor.
Persistent
yt-player-volume
Is used to save volume preferences for YouTube videos.
Persistent
yt-player-quality
Is used to save the quality settings for YouTube videos.
Persistent
yt-remote-session-name
Saves the settings of the user's video player using embedded YouTube video.
Browser session
yt-remote-session-app
Saves the settings of the user's video player using embedded YouTube video.
Browser session
yt-remote-fast-check-period
Saves the settings of the user's video player using embedded YouTube video.
Browser session
yt-remote-cast-installed
Saves the user settings when retrieving a YouTube video integrated on other web pages
Browser session
yt-remote-cast-available
Saves user settings when retrieving integrated YouTube videos.
Browser session
ANID
Used for targeting purposes to profile the interests of website visitors in order to display relevant and personalized Google advertising.
2 years
SNID
Google Maps - Google uses these cookies to store user preferences and information when you view pages with Google Maps.
1 month
SSID
Used to store information about how you use the site and what advertisements you saw before visiting this site, and to customize advertising on Google resources by remembering your recent searches, your previous interactions with an advertiser's ads or search results, and your visits to an advertiser's site.
6 months
1P_JAR
This cookie is used to support Google's advertising services.
1 month
SAPISID
Used for targeting purposes to profile the interests of website visitors in order to display relevant and personalized Google advertising.
2 years
APISID
Used for targeting purposes to profile the interests of website visitors in order to display relevant and personalized Google advertising.
6 months
HSID
Includes encrypted entries of your Google account and last login time to protect against attacks and data theft from form entries.
2 years
SID
Used for security purposes to store digitally signed and encrypted records of a user's Google Account ID and last login time, enabling Google to authenticate users, prevent fraudulent use of login credentials, and protect user data from unauthorized parties. This may also be used for targeting purposes to display relevant and personalized advertising content.
6 months
SIDCC
This cookie stores information about user settings and information for Google Maps.
3 months
NID
The NID cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to store your preferences and other information.
6 months
CONSENT
This cookie tracks how you use a website to show you advertisements that may be of interest to you.
18 years
__Secure-3PAPISID
This cookie is used to support Google's advertising services.
2 years
__Secure-3PSID
This cookie is used to support Google's advertising services.
6 months
__Secure-3PSIDCC
This cookie is used to support Google's advertising services.
6 months