2024 September-Present: Visiting faculty, Cultural History, Jewish Theological Seminary and University of Jewish Studies, Budapest.
2022-2023: Guest professor, Elite Master’s Programme Cultural Studies of the Middle East,Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg.
2016-2024: visiting faculty, Cultural Heritage Studies Program, Central European University, Budapest-Vienna.
2015: Visiting faculty, Religious Studies, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Budapest.
2014-2015: Research fellow, Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Dynamics in the History of Religions, Ruhr-University Bochum.
2012: visiting faculty, Institut für Kulturwissenschaft, University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz.
2011-12: Gerda Henkel postdoctoral research grant (in Iraqi Kurdistan and at Heidelberg University; guest member (gästwissenschaftlerin) of the Ritual Dynamics” Collaborative Research Center (SFB 619) at Heidelberg University).
2011- 2014: Postdoctoral research fellow (OTKA), Central European University, Budapest.
2009: PhD in History from Central European University, Budapest.
Eszter Spät has been researching religious minorities and popular religious practices in the Middle East. Her work focuses on the oral religious tradition of the Yezidis and how its ongoing scripturalization affects the content and structure of Yezidi religion, along with traditional religio-social hierarchies and institutions. She has conducted extensive fieldwork among Yezidi communities in Northern Iraq, as well as their Christian and Muslim neighbors. She has published two books and numerous articles and produced the documentary Following the Peacock. In addition to her academic work, she has worked as a journalist, reporting on the 2003 war and various other issues in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Books:
Late Antique Motifs in Yezidi Oral Tradition. Gorgias Press: (NJ) Piscataway, 2010.
The Yezidis. SAQI Books: London, 2005
Selected Journal articles and book chapters:
“From Sacred Earth to Magic Squares: Emerging Literacy and Creating Yezidi Amulets in Iraq.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2014 doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2024.2443922
“Singing the Pain: Yezidi Oral Tradition and Sinjari Laments after ISIS.” In Oral Tradition Among Religious Communities in the Iranian-Speaking World, special issue of Oral Tradition. Special eds. Khanna Omarkhali and Philip Kreyenbroek. Oral Tradition 35.2 (2022), 267-292.
“Displacement, Loss and Transformation: Yezidi Ritual Life in Iraq.” In Yezidism: Between Continuity and Transformation. Ed. Khanna Omarkhali and Philip Kreyenbroek, 107-133. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2021.
“The Book Revealing the Future in a Religion without Books: the Apocalyptic Visions of Yezidi Seers.” International Journal of Divination and Prognostication 2 (2020), 1-28.
“Religious Crossover in Northern Iraq: Interfaith Practices of Beseeching the Supernatural.” In Faith and Doubt. Ed. Éva Pócs and Bea Vidács, 189-215. Budapest: Balassi Publishing House, 2020.
“Gifts from the Sky: Yezidi Sacred Objects and Symbols of Power, Tools of Healing and Seals of Divine Favour.” In Charms and Charming: Studies on Magic in Everyday Life. Ed. Éva Pócs, 213-236. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2019.
“‘Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam’: Changing Perceptions of Islamic Figures in Yezidi Oral Tradition.” Numen 65 (2018), 562-588.
“Yezidi Identity Politics and Political Ambitions in the Wake of the ISIS Attack.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 20.5 (2017), 420-438.
“’Falling into Book.’ Yezidi Seers in Modern Iraq.“ (Hung.) In Spiritual Mediators (Hung.: Spirituális Közvetítők). Karoli Books Series. Ed. M. Vassányi, E. Sepsi, V. Voigt, 108-139. Budapest: L’Harmattan, 2014.
“On Soil and Jinn: Ritual Practices and Syncretism among the Yezidis of Iraq.” In Rituale als Ausdruck von Kulturkontakt: „Synkretismus” zwischen Negation und Neudefinition. Studies in Oriental Religions 67. Ed. A. Pries, L. Martzolff, R. Langer and C. Ambos, 111-130. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (2013).
“Religious Oral Tradition and Literacy among the Yezidis of Iraq.” Anthropos 103.2 (2008), 393-404.
“Late Antique Literary Motifs in Yezidi Oral Tradition: The Yezidi Myth of Adam.” Journal of American Oriental Society 128.4 (2008), 663-79.
Documentary:
Following the Peacock, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Y8CXxJEv4
2024 September-Present: Visiting faculty, Cultural History, Jewish Theological Seminary and University of Jewish Studies, Budapest.
2022-2023: Guest professor, Elite Master’s Programme Cultural Studies of the Middle East,Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg.
2016-2024: visiting faculty, Cultural Heritage Studies Program, Central European University, Budapest-Vienna.
2015: Visiting faculty, Religious Studies, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Budapest.
2014-2015: Research fellow, Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Dynamics in the History of Religions, Ruhr-University Bochum.
2012: visiting faculty, Institut für Kulturwissenschaft, University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz.
2011-12: Gerda Henkel postdoctoral research grant (in Iraqi Kurdistan and at Heidelberg University; guest member (gästwissenschaftlerin) of the Ritual Dynamics” Collaborative Research Center (SFB 619) at Heidelberg University).
2011- 2014: Postdoctoral research fellow (OTKA), Central European University, Budapest.
2009: PhD in History from Central European University, Budapest.
Eszter Spät has been researching religious minorities and popular religious practices in the Middle East. Her work focuses on the oral religious tradition of the Yezidis and how its ongoing scripturalization affects the content and structure of Yezidi religion, along with traditional religio-social hierarchies and institutions. She has conducted extensive fieldwork among Yezidi communities in Northern Iraq, as well as their Christian and Muslim neighbors. She has published two books and numerous articles and produced the documentary Following the Peacock. In addition to her academic work, she has worked as a journalist, reporting on the 2003 war and various other issues in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Books:
Late Antique Motifs in Yezidi Oral Tradition. Gorgias Press: (NJ) Piscataway, 2010.
The Yezidis. SAQI Books: London, 2005
Selected Journal articles and book chapters:
“From Sacred Earth to Magic Squares: Emerging Literacy and Creating Yezidi Amulets in Iraq.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2014 doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2024.2443922
“Singing the Pain: Yezidi Oral Tradition and Sinjari Laments after ISIS.” In Oral Tradition Among Religious Communities in the Iranian-Speaking World, special issue of Oral Tradition. Special eds. Khanna Omarkhali and Philip Kreyenbroek. Oral Tradition 35.2 (2022), 267-292.
“Displacement, Loss and Transformation: Yezidi Ritual Life in Iraq.” In Yezidism: Between Continuity and Transformation. Ed. Khanna Omarkhali and Philip Kreyenbroek, 107-133. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2021.
“The Book Revealing the Future in a Religion without Books: the Apocalyptic Visions of Yezidi Seers.” International Journal of Divination and Prognostication 2 (2020), 1-28.
“Religious Crossover in Northern Iraq: Interfaith Practices of Beseeching the Supernatural.” In Faith and Doubt. Ed. Éva Pócs and Bea Vidács, 189-215. Budapest: Balassi Publishing House, 2020.
“Gifts from the Sky: Yezidi Sacred Objects and Symbols of Power, Tools of Healing and Seals of Divine Favour.” In Charms and Charming: Studies on Magic in Everyday Life. Ed. Éva Pócs, 213-236. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2019.
“‘Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam’: Changing Perceptions of Islamic Figures in Yezidi Oral Tradition.” Numen 65 (2018), 562-588.
“Yezidi Identity Politics and Political Ambitions in the Wake of the ISIS Attack.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 20.5 (2017), 420-438.
“’Falling into Book.’ Yezidi Seers in Modern Iraq.“ (Hung.) In Spiritual Mediators (Hung.: Spirituális Közvetítők). Karoli Books Series. Ed. M. Vassányi, E. Sepsi, V. Voigt, 108-139. Budapest: L’Harmattan, 2014.
“On Soil and Jinn: Ritual Practices and Syncretism among the Yezidis of Iraq.” In Rituale als Ausdruck von Kulturkontakt: „Synkretismus” zwischen Negation und Neudefinition. Studies in Oriental Religions 67. Ed. A. Pries, L. Martzolff, R. Langer and C. Ambos, 111-130. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (2013).
“Religious Oral Tradition and Literacy among the Yezidis of Iraq.” Anthropos 103.2 (2008), 393-404.
“Late Antique Literary Motifs in Yezidi Oral Tradition: The Yezidi Myth of Adam.” Journal of American Oriental Society 128.4 (2008), 663-79.
Documentary:
Following the Peacock, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Y8CXxJEv4
