Abstract
This article explores the intersection of gender, violence and religion from a comparative perspective while providing a reflexive and critical assessment of this particular research design. While the article opens with comments on a recent and highly mediated case of gendered violence in India, the main case studies are drawn from a variety of literary sources from ancient Greece and early-modern India. The comparison is both intracontextual and cross-cultural and focuses on the representations in mythical, hagiographical, and historiographical narratives of feminine figures confronted with human assaulters. It examines a range of possible reactions – beyond the popular motto “fight, flight, or freeze” – some of which involve interventions attributed to gods or goddesses. The comparative study of examples drawn from different religious contexts complicates the dichotomy according to which religion either increases or prevents violence against women or – in representations – feminine figures. The comparative process also creates or refines research lines that may, in turn, yield more precise research questions applicable on other cases as well.
Zusammenfassung
Der Aufsatz untersucht die Schnittmenge von Gender, Gewalt und Religion aus einer vergleichenden Perspektive und bietet gleichzeitig eine reflexive und kritische Bewertung dieses speziellen Forschungsdesigns. Der Aufsatz beginnt mit Bemerkungen zu einem aktuellen und stark medienpräsenten Fall von durch Gender geprägten Gewalt in Indien; die meisten der folgenden Fallbeispiele stammen aus verschiedenen literarischen Quellen des Antiken Griechenland und des frühneuzeitlichen Indien. Die Gegenüberstellung wird sowohl innerhalb des Kontextes als auch über die Kulturen hinaus vorgenommen und legt den Schwerpunkt auf die Darstellungen in mythischen, hagiographischen und historiographischen Erzählungen über weibliche Figuren, die sich menschlichen Angreifern gegenüber sehen. Der Artikel beleuchtet zahlreiche mögliche Reaktionen – jenseits dem bekannten Motto “Kampf, Flucht oder Erstarren” –, von denen einige Interventionen beinhalten, die Göttern oder Göttinnen zugeschrieben werden. Die vergleichende Analyse von Beispielen, die aus verschiedenen religiösen Kontexten stammen, verkompliziert die Dichotomie, laut der Religion Gewalt gegen Frauen oder – in Darstellungen – gegen weibliche Figuren verstärkt oder verhindert. Die vergleichende Bearbeitung ermöglicht es zudem, Forschungslinien zu entwerfen oder zu verfeinern, die wiederum präzisere Fragestellungen ergeben können, welche dann auch auf andere Fälle anwendbar sind.
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