Sheffield Biblical Studies MA Student Secures Hossein Farmy Scholarship for PhD on The Bible and Mining Communities
Tiffany Webster, a graduate of Kings College, London, and currently completing her MA in Biblical Studies Research in the Department of Biblical Studies at Sheffield has been awarded the University of Sheffield Hossein Farmy Scholarship for a full time PhD project.
The scholarship is an important confirmation of the quality of the postgraduate community in the department and of the continuing commitment of staff and students to pursuing the very best in interdisciplinary work to engage with the legacy of the bible in contemporary culture and society. Tiffany, herself a fourth generation miner's daughter, will be exploring the changing role and meaning of the Bible to the mining communities of Derbyshire and south Yorkshire and relating these meanings to the history, traditions, culture and everyday practice of mining families. As Tiffany (pictured below) says:
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My research will focus on the interaction between mining communities and the Bible. I have always felt a strong connection to not only the industry but also to the communities that have sprung forth from such a fascinating profession. One method I might use is the theological practice of Contextual Bible Study, but I will want to combine this with the best of contemporary ethnographic thought and practice. I hope that my passion for all things religious and cultural continues to motivate me to explore the very human condition of faith-seeking and how this drive affects society and the discussion that occurs between people of no faith and faith alike'. Sheffield is a great place from which to engage with the PhD project. The Biblical studies department mirrors the cultural diversity that the city exudes, with staff and students coming from a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds, from America and Canada, to Japan and Korea, and even Scotland! This mixture of social and cultural diversity and the various interpretive contexts that arise from their interaction comes into its own in the weekly postgraduate seminars. Sheffield encourages its students to not simply accept what already exists in biblical studies but instead to push the boundaries for new, pioneering and re-worked biblical readings and applications of academic theories. This can be seen in the scholarship that Sheffield has produced especially in the areas of literary criticism, reception history, biblical Hebrew translation and now, in social scientific biblical studies. I am excited to be doing a PhD project amongst such a committed body of staff and along with graduate students from all over the world, all working on a fascinating array of relevant and exciting projects. |
Tiffany will be supervised by Professor David J Chalcraft who has training in both biblical studies and sociology and who is committed to the ethnographic and empirical analysis of the variety of uses of the Bible by a range of social groups in myriad social contexts, whether in Northern Europe or Asia or the South Pacific. Training in the use of anthropology and sociology in biblical studies is now formally available at Sheffield through the new MA, Social Scientific Biblical Studies.
The Hossein Farmy Scholarship was founded by the late Hossein Farmy, a graduate of the University's former Department of Mining. It is available for students pursuing research related to mining, including, but not limited to the geological, engineering, scientific and technological aspects of mining, and the archaeological, economic, historical, legal and social aspects of mining and the mining industry.
For more information on this and other scholarships available for prospective research students, please visit: http://www.shef.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/scholarships