Abstract

This workshop will examine the concept of sacrifice and its relationship to the body from the perspectives of philosophy, theology and film. Historically, sacrifice has been discussed primarily as a metaphysical concept within the realm of ethics. However, feminist scholars in philosophy and theology have increasingly focused on the embodied nature of sacrifice and its concrete impact on the (mainly female) body. The workshop will explore the approaches to sacrifice and the body, highlighting ways in which they differ and overlap. We will seek a nuanced understanding of sacrifice, one that acknowledges the ways in which the body is implicated in sacrificial acting and the differential impact of sacrifice on different bodies. In the broader sense, the workshop will aim for an embodied approach to sacrifice which can offer new insights into the nature of sacrifice itself, as well as its social and cultural significance.

Please, register for the lecture of Prof Sherwood via the IWM website.

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Sarah’s Sacrifice: Body, Soul and Mind under Gendered Oppression

Abstract: This paper explores the phenomenon of Sarah’s sacrifice which is undeniably gendered. It builds upon Julia Kristeva’s psychoanalytical and linguistic explorations which include above all women’s bodies and gestation processes as a basis for the victimisation of women. Furthermore, Kristeva’s theory explains that women who are exposed to long-term oppression tend to respond in two ways: either they self-sacrifice or they overreact and become perpetrators. This paper will focus on the latter. Firstly, I will re-evaluate and challenge the gendered dichotomy between Abraham and Sarah in the Abrahamic stories Gen 12-25. I will challenge the image of the oppressive and patriarchal Abraham, who mostly does what he is told to do either by God (Gen 12:7; 22:2) or by Sarah (Gen 16:2; 21:10). Secondly, I will depict Sarah as the illustration of Kristeva’s theory of sacrifice according to which the victim becomes a perpetrator. I will argue that Sarah should not be interpreted as an unconditional victim but as an ambivalent character who collaborates with patriarchy and embraces the roles of both perpetrator (in her oppressive attitude towards Hagar in Gen 16 and 21) and victim (when Abraham prostitutes her to pharaoh in Gen 12, to Abimelech in Gen 20, and when he sets out to sacrifice their son Isaac in Gen 22). This paper aims to put forward the results of gendered sacrifice by (i) depicting its double impact, and (ii) shedding light on the often neglected case in which the victim becomes the oppressor.

During my research stay/visiting fellowship at the Science and Research Center in Koper, Slovenia I had the opportunity to discuss my research on gender aspects of sacrifice with my Slovenian colleagues with the same research focus Prof. Lenart Skof, Dr. Nadja Furlan Stante and Dr. Luka Trebeznik. I acted as a visiting scholar to the Science and Research Center in Koper and was granted the office for my own use.

I have invited members of the research group to the conference on sacrifice and gender with which I want to conclude my project and which I plan to organize in October 2023. During the whole time, I was drafting my article "Sarah's Sacrifice: Gender, Patriarchy and Oppression in the Akedah and the Handmaid's Tale" which I intend to publish in the international peer-review open access journal entitled ESWTR Studies in Religion.

Lectures by David Dusenbury and James Dodd

Abstract: Despite the effort not to repeat the mistakes and atrocities of the previous generations, the twenty-first century continues to be a century of wars and suffering. In these lectures, David Dusenbury and James Dodd will reflect on Patočka’s and Derrida’s phenomenological analysis of self-sacrifice as a form of resistance in extreme situations of oppression (war or repression of authoritarian/totalitarian regimes).

Woman without a Name: On the Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter