Sawall, Marina
Dissertation topic: "Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya and Hildegard von Bingen on YouTube and Instagram: Reception and construction of female religious authority in digital discourses."
Contact address at the University of Würzburg:
Chair of Dogmatics
Bibrastraße 14
97070 Würzburg
E-mail to Ms Sawall
First supervisor: Prof. Dr Christine Büchner
Second supervisors:
Class in the Graduate School: "Antiquity, History and Religion"
Doctorate in the Graduate School from SS 2025.
Abstract:
This dissertation project employs a comparative discourse analysis that integrates theological, religious studies, and media studies perspectives to examine how Rabi‘a al-'Adawiyya and Hildegard von Bingen are received and constructed as religious authorities on online platforms.
A key focus of this study is the analysis of hagiographic narratives that present Rabi‘a and Hildegard as timeless figures of identification, thereby enabling their instrumentalization by various religious and social groups. The comparative approach aims to highlight the dynamic negotiation of female religious authority in digital spaces—particularly within the tension between emancipation and normative tradition in Islam and Catholicism.
This project contributes to the understanding of contemporary gender debates concerning the emancipation and authority of women in "gender-traditional" religions (Burke 2012)—especially in pluralistic societies and diaspora contexts—as well as the transformative role of digital media (Hjarvard 2008).
