PIMSPontifical Institute
of
Mediaeval Studies

Dr Sharmain van Blommestein is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Communications, SUNY Potsdam and Visiting Scholar of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 2016–2017. She specializes in Medieval and Renaissance literature, Feminist Theory, and Women’s and Gender Studies. She recently published “Medieval Redemptive Suffering: Female Mystical Expressions of Pain and Pleasure and Medieval Society’s Influence on Mystical Spirituality,” The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society 4.2 (2014): 39–53. While at the Institute Dr van Blommestein will conduct research and work on her book, Writing on the Skin: The Language of Pain and the Body as a Battleground of Religious and Personal Empowerment.