Jessica ALBRECHT

Jessica ALBRECHT

Visiting Scholar
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Albrecht is a scholar of religion with a focus on South Asia, particularly Sri Lanka. Her research combines theoretical approaches from religious studies with postcolonial theory, queer and disability studies, as well as the histories of colonialism, religion, and gender. She holds a B.A. (2017) in religious studies from the University of Heidelberg, an M.Sc. (2018) in gender history from the University of Glasgow, and an M.A. (2020) in Modern South Asian Languages from the University of Heidelberg. In 2024, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg with a thesis on religion and nationalism in girls’ education in Sri Lanka. She has held research and teaching positions at the Universities of Heidelberg, Bonn, and Erlangen-Nuremberg, and since 2025 has been a Fellow of the Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe “Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective” (CAS-E, Erlangen). Her international research stays have included the University of California Riverside and the University of Colombo. In addition to her academic research, she is actively engaged in public scholarship. Her current projects focus on Buddhist masculinity and the global history of esotericism. During her stay at the Department of Religious Studies in winter semester 2025/26, she will teach a course on "Feminism and Religion(s)".