Lindsay Ruth

Email:

lmruth@iu.edu

Education

• Indiana University – Bloomington, IN
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Student, Central Eurasian Studies Department (current)
  • Minor: Gender Studies

• Vanderbilt University – Nashville, TN
  • Master of Arts, Graduate Department of Religion – May 15^th, 2021
  • Master’s Thesis – “‘Skirting’ Society: How Women in Late Antique Persia Used Religious Pluralism to Subvert Gender Boundaries”

• University of Louisville – Louisville, KY
  • Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laud) – May 12^th, 2018
  • Major: History
  • Minor: Political Science
  • Senior Honors Thesis: “Caught in the Crossfires: Changes for Women During the Transition Period in Iran”

Education

• Indiana University – Bloomington, IN
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Student, Central Eurasian Studies Department (current)
  • Minor: Gender Studies 

• Vanderbilt University – Nashville, TN
  • Master of Arts, Graduate Department of Religion – May 15^th, 2021
  • Master’s Thesis – “‘Skirting’ Society: How Women in Late Antique Persia Used Religious Pluralism to Subvert Gender Boundaries”
  • Committee: David Michelson (Advisor), Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman

• University of Louisville – Louisville, KY
  • Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laud) – May 12^th, 2018
  • Major: History; Minor: Political Science
  • Senior Honors Thesis: “Caught in the Crossfires: Changes for Women During the Transition Period in Iran”
  • Committee: Brad Bowman (Advisor), Jennifer Westerfeld, Susan Jarosi

Research Interests

Iran, women, gender, Sassanian Empire, Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, Zoroastrianism, Syriac Christianity, Church of the East, Babylonian Judaism, early Islam, body and soul, sex versus gender, religious texts, gender regulations, inter-religious dialogue, hagiography, Babylonian Talmud, marriage, divorce, social history, legal history, the body and society, historical definition of gender, motherhood, femininity vs. masculinity, agency

Language Skills

• Ancient: Pahlavi, Classical Arabic, Classical Syriac, Classical Persian, Old Turkic-Uyghur, Khwarezmian, Imperial and Biblical Aramaic
• Modern: French, Japanese, Persian, Azerbaijani, German (reading)
• Artificial: TEI XML

Academic Work Experience

• Indiana University
  • Persian Teacher: Bridges Program (Fall 2022-present)

• Vanderbilt University
  • Teaching Assistant: CLAS 1010 Introduction to Mediterranean Studies (Spring 2021)
  • Teaching Assistant: DIV 6700 History of Global Christianities I (Fall 2020)
  • Manuscript Cataloguer: Syriaca.org Digital Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Library (2019-2021)
  • Research Assistant: Dr. David Michelson (2019-2020) 

• University of Louisville: REACH Center (Resources for Academic Achievement)
  • Master Tutor (Spring 2018)
  • Course Tutor: Physics 107 Elementary Astronomy (2017-2018)

Awards

• 2023 Distinguished Pol-IU-Glot, Indiana University
• FLAS Scholarship, The Center for the Study of the Middle East, Indiana University (2023-2024)
• FLAS Scholarship, The Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center, Indiana University (2021-2022, 2022-2023, Summer 2023)
• The Shirley Jean Cox Medieval Studies Conference Travel Fund, Medieval Studies Institute, Indiana University, 2022
• Graduate Student Travel Award, Islamic Studies Program, Indiana University, 2022
• College of Arts and Sciences Travel Award, Indiana University, Spring 2022
• Hamilton Lugar Fellowship, Indiana University (Fall 2021-Spring 2026)
• Mary Katherine Bonsteel Tachau Award for Excellence in History, University of Louisville
• Dean’s Scholar (Fall 2015-Spring 2018), University of Louisville
• Trustee’s Scholarship, University of Louisville

Conferences

“Zoroastrian and Christian Gender Boundaries in Conflict: Christian Martyrdom and Agency”, The 28th Annual Association of Central Eurasian Students Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, February 12^th, 2022. 

“The Virginity (or Not) of the Bride of Christ: Comparisons Between 4th to 6th Century Syriac Writings”, XIII Symposium Syriacum et du XIe Congrès d'études arabes chrétiennes, Paris, France, July 4^th – 9^th, 2022.

“Queen Martyrs: Comparisons Between the Persian Candida and the Georgian-Armenian Shushanik”, Panel: Religious Peripheries in Pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia, Annual Conference of Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS), Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana, October 20^th-23^rd, 2022.

“Spandarmad, Tamar, and Mary: Shared Ideologies on Spiritual Next of Kin Marriages in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity”, Panel: Agency, Subjectivity, and Incest: Central Eurasian Religion across Space and Time, The 29^th Annual Association of Central Eurasian Students Conference, Indiana University, February 25^th, 2023.

Publications

Ruth, Lindsay M. “Dress, Adornment, and the Body in the Hebrew Bible by Laura E. Quick (review).” Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues 40: Fall 5782/2022, pp. 136-140.