Elisa Heuser: ‘Marvelous’ Fasting Women in Western Europe and North America in the 19th Century. Performance and Politics of Wonder (Working Title)

Funding: Evangelisches Studienwerk e.V.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Monique Scheer

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.

Short vita

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.