Miriam Groen-Vallinga (RICH) has been awarded an NWO SSH-XS grant. his grant, worth up to € 50,000 enables researchers to set up a short-term project within the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines. With her project It’s a Kind of Magic: Recognition of the enslaved population in Roman cursetablets, Groen-Vallinga is investigating how enslaved people are depicted in Roman cursetablets and what role they play in them.
In It’s a Kind of Magic: Recognition of the enslaved population in Roman cursetablets, Groen-Vallinga examines the representation and agency of enslaved people in Roman cursetablets. In doing so, she investigates the various ways in which enslaved people are depicted in these tablets: as curser or cursed, as part of the family or as property of the intended victim, or in curses aimed towards an unknown perpetrator. In addition, she applies the method of critical fabulation to better understand the experiences of enslaved people.
Enslaved people in Roman society were not free to ask a magistrate for help in case of, for instance, theft. We see that they instead used cursetablets to ask the Gods for help, taking matters into their own hands. This research maps out this aspect of the agency available to enslaved people. – Miriam Groen-Vallinga
The SSH-XS grant is intended for small-scale, innovative research projects with a maximum duration of two years. The scheme presents researchers with the possibility to explore new ideas, establish new collaborations or test innovative methods within the Social Sciences and Humanities.
We warmly congratulate Miriam Groen-Vallinga on receiving this grant.