Are you depressed, dear PhD student?

A few weeks ago I was applying for a post-doc position, a one year fellowship, at a university in the US. Differently to Germany, most countries have a catalogue set of questions regarding ethnicity, race, gender and disabilities. In the midst of these boxes to tick, I stumbled upon suggestions of illnesses that an applicant

Role Models II A Manifesto

A while ago, I have been sitting at a conference dinner, eating amazing food, speaking to fantastic people. During that dinner, we started to talk about our „academic crushes“ and, subsequently, about idols and role models. Someone said that it is usually better not to meet one’s idols. At that point, I had to intervene

On friends, imposters and networking as a PhD student

It’s been a week since I have come back from a conference. It was a wonderful conference. After two years of the pandemic, this was the first in-person conference I attended, and as is usually goes: you only know what you have missed when you experience it again! Meeting all those amazing scholars, even in

How to empower – my 2021 with En-Gender

This has originally been published at En-Gender. A few weeks back, we at the En-Gender team had the idea to publish once more end-of-the-year blogposts with our experiences and memories. But why am I only writing this now? This is enigmatic for my 2021: Many ideas, but never enough energy to actually fulfill them.  Throughout

Settling in

Dear readers, this is my 5th day in Sri Lanka and time really flies – even if I do not have much to do. After my one day quarantine I got my test results on Wednesday morning and was allowed to leave the hotel – imagine if that would have been positive! Already on that

Travels, Pandemic, First Day

Dear readers, I cannot believe it – I made it to Sri Lanka! After being stressed out for a couple of days because of my fear of flying, the national emergency proclaimed on Thursday, and the continued lockdown, the journey went surprisingly well and I am currently waiting in the quarantine hotel for the results

Fieldwork during a pandemic – preparations

Dear readers, dear fellow researchers and all those interested, two weeks ago I have asked on twitter whether you would be interested in an online ethnographic diary – and since many liked the post and some even told me that they were looking forward to it, I have decided to actually do it. So from

Why watching The Irregulars was not only the best decision this week …

… but also shows how important new historical research as well as modern adaptions of history in popular culture are. During March I had decided to stop watching series, partly to let my eyes have a good rest after staring at the computer all day, partly because I wanted to listen to more podcasts instead

Masks, the Study of Religion and Digression

Once you have started with feminism, it feels as if you have been put on a pair of glasses through which you see the world in a way that always puts the markers „gender roles,“ „patriarchy,“ or „power“ in front. No, not glasses, you could take them off. Rather, something like a mask that is firmly glued to the face.

Social-Distancing Update from a Masters' and PhD student's living room

deutsch The home office has now reached pretty much everyone where it is possible — some faster and „easier“ than others. Most of the students and many of my colleagues simply had to go to the university library quickly and hope that the bag they were allowed to carry out on the last open day

„Strong Women“: Why I didn’t want them as lecturers

deutsch Today is International Women’s Day. So what fits this better than a blog post about „strong women“? In universities, as in so many other fields, we still lack women not only as lecturers, professors and persons to relate to, but also as representatives who show us: it is possible! So, therefore, every woman in

Role Models

A role model, that’s someone to look up to – isn’t it? But why exactly do I find Butler so great? Why do I travel through almost all of Germany to see her for the third time now? This is a post reflecting of my definition of role models

Florence Farr — a Modern Woman

Hi to all of you! Maybe you already know me through my Instagram Account. I hope you know that I am so happy about all of your lovely comments and likes. However, pictures only tell one specific part of a story, in my case the story of a beautiful actress living a life in the

New page: Best of historical sources

There is nothing better in the world (at least for a historian) than to read historical sources. Not only can the lives of former people enlighten what and how we think about our present, but they can also awaken our sense of humor.  And who is better in awaking people’s minds than the Theosophical Society?

Captain Mar-Vell (ous?)

(No spoilers) Last Friday I told a friend I was going to see Captain Marvel on Monday. She told me she already read reviews and they said it’s not supposed to be such a great movie – only if you were to see it because you have seen all of them. That was my original

Frances Swiney or why history is so important Part I

*english – deutsch* This beautifully dressed woman is Frances Swiney (née Biggs), born in 1847 in Poonah, India, and died 1922 in Cheltenham, England. She is the person who I spent 2018 with. Therefore, long overdue, this will be an homage to Swiney, an early British feminist, Theosophist, and upper-middle class woman with great hats.

Wissenschaftler*innen in die Öffentlichkeit!

Nicht nur die Tatsache, dass ich heute unter anderem Dr. Michael Blume (Hier zum Blog) in einer Podiumsdiskussion sehen und hören durfte, der sich im allgemeinen sehr um die Übersetzung religionswissenschaftlicher Fragestellungen und Problematiken in den gesellschaftlichen Diskurs bemüht; nicht nur der Lesekreis heute Abend, in dem wir uns jeden Mittwoch mit den Denkern (sic!)

An ode to coffee * ein Loblied auf den Kaffee

Wow, der erste Blogpost der Challenge und über was schreibe ich? Über das, was gerade direkt neben mir steht natürlich: mein morgendlicher Kaffee. Denn, desto mehr ich darüber nachdachte, desto mehr fiel mir über ihn ein. Deshalb hier: 10 Geschichten und tolle Dinge über Kaffee: ICH denke ja schon immer, ich komme morgens ohne Kaffee

Blog – Challenge

*German/English* Wuhu, ein halbes Jahr seit dem letzten „quasi“ Post, ein ganzes seit dem letzten richtigen.   Während ich mit Freunden eine neue Kneipe gleich um die Ecke ausprobierte… (der Barkeeper unserer Stammkneipe lief vorbei und uhh.. wenn Blicke töten könnten… aber hey, er selbst war ja wohl gerade auch nicht da 😉 ) …

What’s this new thing? A gallery!

If you keep up to date with this blog (I don’t expect you did in the last months, but now there actually is a reason to again!) you will have seen, that it has a totally new look. And a new page: The Gallery Since I deleted my big instagram page at the end of