Femicide

In almost all historical periods and almost all regions of the world, women were (and are) killed by men because of their sex/gender or associated roles: Femicide is thus a global historical phenomenon. Nevertheless, historical examples of the gender-related killing of women were for a long time not regarded as a phenomenon with a specific functional logic. A systematic comparative and interdisciplinary study of historical cases is thus still pending.

The upcoming CAS Research Group therefore aims at investigating interpersonal constellations, circumstances and contexts of the respective murders, legal sanctions, and social reflections of femicide in the period from about 1200–1700 on an interdisciplinary and global scale. The work of the Research Group is explicitly understood as exploratory, because the topic is being dealt with for the first time in an overarching time frame. With its transcultural and diachronic comparative perspective, it can analyze contemporary gender notions and hierarchies and their reflections by the respective societies. By asking about patterns, time- and context-de-pendent factors, a substantial contribution will be made to international femicide research from a historical perspective.