The session will consist of two papers – by Hanna Tervanotko and Saana Svärd – followed by a shared question round and discussion on the seminar specific theme ‘imagining the ancient world’. The topics of the talks are:
‘Gender and Imagined Authorship of Ancient Jewish Texts’ (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hanna Tervanotko)
In this presentation, I analyze how the authorship of ancient Jewish texts is a scholarly construct that often focuses on male voices and ignores evidence of women’s efforts. By focusing on three case studies: "elitist scribalism," "restricted female intellect," and "salaried vs. non-salaried work," I will highlight the bias in treating women and men as authors. While scholarship on ancient authorship has advanced in the past years, there is still significant uncertainty about how to study the ancient authors. This short presentation aims to raise awareness about the scholars’ methodological inconsistencies concerning gender when analyzing the ancient authors.
‘Imagining Gender in Modern Academia’ (Prof. Dr. Saana Svärd)
Gender is always to some degree an imagined construct – how does the “imagined gender” affect women in academic workplaces? The presentation highlights some of the ways in which gender is relevant in modern academic workplaces and research. The presentation is partially based on a forthcoming article "Gender and Gender Research in a Research Community: CSTT as a Case Study" (Borchardt, Svärd, and Tervanotko) but gender equality in academic workplaces has ethical implications for the CoE ANEE as well. In addition to two centres of excellence, the presentation will discuss gender in the wider fields of biblical studies and Assyriology as well.
All are welcome, so please share the news and join us in person or online!
Time: Thursday 21 September at 16:15-18:00 EEST (UTC+3h).
Live venue: Language centre, 1st floor, room 105 / Kielikeskus, 1.krs., sh. 105 (Fabianinkatu 26)
Virtual venue: Zoom (Meeting ID: 678 8979 2118 / https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/67889792118).
Stay tuned for the fall program, which will be posted to the ANEE news blog shortly.