Ruth Mohrmann, born in Ilsede, Germany, in 1945. Ph.D. from Universität zu Kiel. Professor of Ethnology and Director of the Institute of European Ethnology at the Westfälische Wilhems-Universität Münster.
Guest of the Rector (Winter 2006)
SYMBOLS, RITUALS AND GESTURES IN EARLY MODERN CONFLICTS AND EVERYDAY ACTING
I worked on two seminars and four articles (including the discussion of a variety of questions with the wonderful team of fellows). My seminar at NIAS on “Anniversaries and jubilees – changing celebratory customs in Modern Europe” was discussed at length after my presentation (I am grateful to all the discussants and would like to thank them for their fruitful contributions) and will be published in a revised edition in the peer-reviewed journal “Folklore” (London) at the end of the year. My lecture in the hall of the Landtag of Lower Saxony in Hanover, to which I was invited by the president of the Landtag on “Kulinarische Markenzeichen Niedersachsens”, will be published in 2008 in a well-known series. To give a lecture in the plenary hall of the Landtag to an audience of about 500 people was a special privilege.
I also progressed with my work on the projects “Symbols, rituals and gestures in early modern conflicts and everyday acting” (within the Sonderforschungsbereich 496 Symbolische Kommunikation und gesellschaftliche Wertesysteme vom Mittelalter bis zur Französischen Revolution). This autumn I will present a paper at the conference on “Alterskulturen des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit” in Krems/Austria, which will be part of this project.