Dr. Doris Günther-Kriegel

Short Vita

Since 2018 Research Associate at the seminar for religious studies and intercultural theology at the faculty of theology of the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg

2021-2024 Equal Opportunities Commissioner at the faculty of theology

2013-2017 Project consultant “Parishes – Places of learning about sustainability and future viability” at the church development service of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony

2009-2010 Teacher of Bible studies, global studies and English at the Manow Lutheran Junior Seminary in the Konde Diocese, Tanzania

2008-2010 Studies of Protestant religious education and political science for the teaching profession at grammar schools (intermediate examination)

2006-2011 Scholarship holder at Evangelisches Studienwerk e.V. Villigst (Protestant Scholarship Foundation Villigst)

2004-2011 Studies of Protestant theology, sociology, psychology in Dresden, Halle and Heidelberg, degree Magistra Artium

2004 Abitur (A-levels) in Görlitz

Married, three children

Postdoc Project

Agency in discourses on female genital mutilation/cutting: Gender, Religion, and Culture in Tanzania and Germany

Publications

Docotral Thesis

Fairer Handel, Viktigenisierung und globale Ordnung. Eine Kritik intersektionaler Kategorien in der Entwicklungsarbeit (Fair trade, victigenization and global order: A critique of intersectional categories in development work), transcript, Reihe Rerum Religionum – Arbeiten zur Religionskultur, Bd. 20, 2026.

Articles in Anthologies and Journals

Women Empowerment als Gradmesser von Entwicklung? Grundlegung und Kategorienkritik am Beispiel Fairer Handel. (Women empowerment as a measure of development? Foundations and a critique of categories using fair trade as an example), Theologisch Zeitung 42/1 (2025), S. 215-238.

Spaltungen der Einen Welt. Zur Materialität von Vergeschlechtlichungen in der deutschen evangelischen Entwicklungsarbeit (Divisions within One World: On the Materiality of Genderizations in German Protestant Development Work), in: ZMiss 51/2 (2025), S. 51-72.

Hanna Jursch – ‚Redende Bilder‘ als ost-westkirchliche Berührungspunkte (Hanna Jursch – ‘Speaking Images’ as Touchpoints between Eastern and Western Churches) in: Martin Illert/Andriy Mykhaleyko (Hgg.), Perspektiven der Ostkirchenkunde II. Ausgewählte Ansätze evangelischer und katholischer Ostkirchenkundler, Eastern Church Identities, Bd. 27, Paderborn 2026, S. 36-42.

Mission­ – Religion – Geschlecht. Ein Ausblick (Mission – Religion – Gender. An outlook), in: Klaus Hock/Claudia Jahnel/Klaus-Dieter Kaiser (Hg.), Mission in Literatur und Film. Band 1 Heuristische Annährungen: Kontexte – Akteur:innen – Ambivalenzen, Leipzig 2023, p. 223 -239.

Review

Judith Bachmann, Hexerei in Nigeria zwischen Christentum, Islam und traditionellen Praktiken. Globale Verflechtungen und lokale Positionierungen bei den Yoruba (Witchcraft in Nigeria between Christianity, Islam and traditional practices. Global entanglements and local positioning among the Yoruba), Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2021, ZMiss 49/2 (2023), 235-238.

Forthcoming

Die ‚Viktigene‘ im kulturell-topografischen Abseits – Zur Globalität von Geschlecht und Religion im Fairen Handel (The ‚Viktigene‘ in the cultural-topographical offside – On the globality of gender and religion in fair trade) in: Giovanni Maltese (Hg.), Globale Religionsgeschichte und Geschlecht (accepted and envisaged for LIT in 2023).

Victigenizations in German Protestant Development Work and Global Knowledge: Considering Intersectional Genderings in Research on Religions and Theologies, in: Diana Lunkwitz/Sandra Langhop (Hgg.) New Perspectives for the Study of Intercultural Theologies and Religions, Metzler 2026 (In preparation)

The Motherhood of Represented Fair Trade Producers: Towards the Diversity of Agencies, in: Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (in Preparation 2026).

Gender Equality as a Global Divider: Uncovering Victigenizations as Powerful Representation Practices in German Protestant Development Work, in: Religion & Development (in preparation 2026)

Presentations/Lectures

“Globally divided. How representations of poor women from the Global South shape our understanding of the world", öffentlicher Vortrag auf der Leipziger Buchmesse im Rahmen des Programms des Uni-Bundes Halle-Jena-Leipzig 03/2026

“The categorization of motherhood in the so-called ‘global South’ – A critique of Eurocentric text production in German Protestant development work”, Panel “Motherhood, Religion and Nationalism in a Global Religious History”, IAHR World Congress, Krakòw, 08/2025

“[Theology] MAKES Gender – How fair trade brings Canaan to Europe", presentation as part of the lecture series [Theologie] MACHT Geschlechtinitiated by the Equal Opportunities Team of the faculty of theology at the University of Halle, 10/2022

"Fair trade and gender. On re-mapping colonial topographies in church-spaces", International doctoral and habilitation forum for women’s and gender studies in theology and religious studies, University of Graz, 04/2022

Review of the conference “Mission in film and literature” of the division of intercultural theology and religious studies of the scientific society for theology, Neuendettelsau, 03/2022

“'Poor, black and female': Women Empowerment & Fair Trade", online lecture series Gender and queer studies as an epistemological challenge for religious studies of the Unversities of Hamburg and Heidelberg, 01/2022

"Power & Fair Trade. Gender as a colonial category of knowledge in theologies & churches", Young researcher panel of the German society of missiology, 10/2020

Fields of interest in research

Theologies and religions in East African contexts

Intersectional construction of identities

Gender equality Development discourses

Materialities in the Entanglement of Development and Religion

Courses

Summer semester 2026:

Introductory seminar: An Introduction to the Study of Religion and Intercultural Theology: The Case of Religion and Theology in East Africa

Exercise/Seminar: Sex and Secularism. Gender Equality as Basis for Western Superiorty

Winter semester 2025/26:

Entangled Global Religions or Inter-Religious Encounters. Interactions, Case Studies, Theories (with Harutyun Harutyunyan)

Advanced seminar: Local Diversity - Global Simplicity? Christianity in the Religious Discourse. The Case of the South Caucasus (with Harutyun Harutyunyan)

Summer semester 2025:

Introductory seminar: Introduction to religious studies and intercultural theology - Owerview and Perspectives

Exercises: Global Religious History and/or Religious Comparison? How to approach global entanglements

Summer Academy in Armenia: Historical Narratives and Current Challenges - Culture, Religion and Society of Armenia

Winter semester 2024/25:

Introductory seminar: Contexts and approaches: Introduction to religious studies and intercultural theology

Summer semester 2024:

Introductory seminar: Religious studies and intercultural theology: Introduction to perspectives, theories and methods of the discipline

Seminar: “Magic water“? After-effects of mission and colonialism in former “German East Africa“

Winter semester 2023/24:

Exercises: Postcolonial Global History or Planetary Age? Identity or ‚Lies that bind’? Reading Chakrabarty and Appiah in English, in cooperation with Sophia Schnoor (English Studies)

Summer semester 2023:

Introductory seminar: Not a 'real' double subject? Introduction to religious studies and intercultural theology

Exercises: Witchcraft in Nigeria – And questions on 'cultural appropriation'

Winter semester 2022/23:

Exercises: [*] MACHT Geschlecht (double meaning in German: “[*] POWER Gender”, “[*] MAKES Gender”) Constructions of gender in the history of religion and church, in cooperation with Christiana Steiner (Church history)

Summer semester 2022:

Introductory seminar: Only in doubles? Introduction to religious studies and intercultural theology

Winter semester 2021/22:

Introductory seminar: Introduction to religious studies and intercultural theology as a double…- What? A double subject of “unresolved” matters

Exercises: "The Bible in the Bush": Musa W. Dube – Reading a postcolonial-feminist New Testament scholar from Botswana

Summer semester 2021:

Introductory seminar: Christianity and culture – Introduction to intercultural theology

Exercises: Knowledge on religion – Displaced findings in religious studies and intercultural theology

Winter semester 2020/21:

Exercises: "Mann redet, Frau nackig" - Vom Genderstern zur Queeren G*tt. (“Man talks, woman naked” – From the Gender star to a queer [female] G*d.) Various forays through theological gender studies

Summer semester 2020:

Introductory seminar: Introduction to intercultural theology -Churches and contexts

Exercises: From dependency to post-development: development theories and what theology has to do with them

Summer semester 2019 und Winter semester 2019/20: parental leave

Winter semester 2018/19:

Introductory seminar: Introduction to intercultural theology -Possible changes of perspective?

Exercises: From the periphery to the centre? Perspectives of postcolonial theologies

Summer semester 2018:

Exercises: Theological propaedeutics

Projects and activities

“Transforming the socio-ecological transformation?”, a public workshop as part of the Faculty of Theology’s Theology Day, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

Public themed evening “Silent Witness -30 years later. Impact of rape as a weapon of war demonstrated using the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina“ together with the Equal Opportunities team of the faculty of theology in cooperation with the chair of Slavic cultural studies

Public guest lecture “Racism and its critism within partner-church relations“ of Dr. Emmanuel Kileo, director of the Protestant-Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony

Workshop for university students “Intervention against verbal abuse in everyday life at university“ together with the Equal Opportunities team of the faculty of theology

Workshop „Theologie Macht Geschlechtsidentität (double meaning in German: “[Theology] POWER Gender identity”, “[Theology] MAKES Gender identity”). Images in our heads -practical exercises on questions of identity” together with the Equal Opportunities team of the faculty of theology as part of the Theological Days

Public lecture series: "[Theologie] MACHT Geschlecht" (double meaning in German: “[Theology] POWER Gender”, “[Theology] MAKES Gender”) together with the Equal Opportunities team of the faculty of theology

Public study day “Facing anti-feminism in church and society“ together with the Equal Opportunities team of the faculty of theology in cooperation with the Equal Opportunities Advisory Board of the Protestant Church in Central Germany