Jasper Serenity Myers '24 and Professor Lynn R. Huber presented at the annual Queer and Trans Studies in Religion Conference at the University of California, Riverside.
Jasper Serenity Myers ’24, who is majoring in religious studies and classical studies, and Lynn R. Huber, Maude Sharpe Powell Professor of Religious Studies, both presented research at the annual Queer and Trans Studies in Religion Conference at the University of California, Riverside. The hybrid conference was held Feb. 16-18.
Myers’ paper,聽鈥溾極nce as Maid he Vowed鈥: Gender Nonconformity, Female Same-Sex Erotic Encounters, and Divine Intervention in Ovid鈥檚 Metamorphoses,鈥 was based upon research conducted as part of the Multifaith Scholars Program.聽Myers is co-mentored by Huber and Professor Kristina Meinking.
Guided and informed by Saidiya Hartman鈥檚 framework of critical fabulation and Terri Givens鈥 ethos of radical empathy, Myers’ paper focused on the story of Iphis and Ianthe in Ovid鈥檚 Metamorphoses. The story follows a young Cretan youth, Iphis, who is assigned female at birth, raised as a boy, and, transformed into a male by the deity Isis so they can marry Ianthe. Read with other ancient accounts of same-gender-loving women, the story raises questions about how ancient Romans understood gender and sexuality and how ancient figures relate to modern conceptions of sexuality.
Huber presented “Queer Biblical Interpretation: A Glance Back” as part of a panel focused on the field of LGBTQ+ Biblical Studies. Specifically, Huber offered categories for understanding the various ways that LGBTQ+ interpreters engage biblical texts.