KHK Visiting Research Fellow 2014, Research Fellow, Department of Medieval Studies, Central European Universtiy, Budapest, Hungary

Eszter Spät holds a M.A. degree in Classical Philology and English Literature and Language from Eötvös University, Budapest (1996 and 1999). Next to this, she holds a M.A. degree in Medieval Studies from Central European University, Budapest (1999), from which she also earned her Ph.D. in medieval studies in 2009. Since 1999, she has received numerous research and travel grants from the Kurdish Institute of Paris, the DAAD Germany, the Gerda Henkel foundation and the CEU that enabled her to conduct research in France, Germany and the Kurdish Region of Iraq. Among others, she was also invited as a visiting scholar to the University of Heidelberg within the “Ritual Dynamics” (SFB 619). Since 2011, she has held a grant from the Postdoctoral Research Grant of the Hungarian Scientific and Research Fund (OTKA).

Eszter Spät specialized in the Yezidi religion and its role for the Kurdish national movement as well as the impact of Kurdish nationalism on the construction of Yezidi identity. She already published two books on the Yezidi Religion: Late Antique Motifs in Yezidi Oral Tradition (2010) and The Yezidis (2005). During her fellowship with us, she will be working on a project entitled Re-creating Religious Tradition in Northern Iraq: The Scripturalization of Yezidi Religion.

Education

• Ph.D., Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 2009
• M.A., Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 1999
• M.A., English Language and Literature, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary, 1999
• M.A., Classical Philology, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary, 1996

KHK Fellowship

Duration: October 2014 to September 2015
Project:Re-creating Religious Tradition in Northern Iraq: The Scripturalization of Yezidi Religion

Central European University