2024
- May 16 – Daniel Boyarin, the Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, and member of the WOMARD advisory board, will visit Fribourg to give an invited talk “The Ambivalence of the Historian: Josephus caught between Peace and Andreia,” 17:00, Uni Fribourg, Salle Laure Dupraz (Miséricorde 11). All welcome, reserve your complimentary ticket here.
- May 24-25 – Considering the use, or non-use, of masks or face veils in the portrayal of holy figures and spiritual encounters, Prof. Elisabeth Dutton and Dr Lucy Deacon present the paper ‘Unmasking the Trans-Historical: The Medieval Mysteries and Iranian Taʿziyeh Compared’, at the conference Affiliations: Towards a Theory of Cross-Temporal Comparison, University of Oxford.
- July 3 – Comparing the dramatic presentation of Esther, deliverer of the Jewish people, with that of Zainab bint ‘Ali, revered within Shi’ism for her fearless resistance, and leadership through crisis, Dutton and Deacon present the paper ‘Esther and Zainab: Religious Heroines in Civic ‘Space’’ at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds.
- September 24 – We will hold a one-day WOMARD launch event at the University of Fribourg, to include a guest lecture from advisory board member Babak Rahimi, Associate Professor of Communication, Culture and Religion, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, University of California, San Diego. Further details coming soon.
2025
- July 18-23 The University of Fribourg will host the 18th triennial colloquium of SITM, the Société Internationale pour l’étude du Théâtre Médiéval. The program will include a WOMARD panel and a various performances connected to the project’s themes.
2027
- WOMARD will convene a conference on the depiction, through performance, of Abraham’s Binding of Isaac (Judaism, Christianity) or Isma’el (Shi’i Islam) – an event that has very different interpretations in the three traditions. Comparing the portrayal of the matriarchs Sarah and Hajar in these narratives provides an important link between the project’s study of female figures and its enquiry into the dramatization of martyrdom and sacrifice.
WOMARD 