Dr. Pernilla Myrne

Biography

Pernilla Myrne is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Gothenburg, where she has been since January 2015. She completed her PhD in 2008 with a focus on early Arabic-Islamic biographies of women. Myrne has extensive experience teaching and researching topics related to the representation of women in pre-modern Arabic literature, attitudes towards sexuality in the medieval Islamic world, and the role of women as creative agents. Her postdoctoral fellowship allowed her to study at New York University from 2011 to 2012, where she examined gender and pleasure within premodern Arabic erotic literature. Her research interests span several key areas including Islamic manuscript culture and the mapping of manuscript traditions in Arabic sex advice manuals. Notably, her projects have investigated the history of sexuality in the Arabic-Islamic world, attitudes towards erotic love and women's sexuality, and the representation of women in early Arabic literature. Myrne has authored a monograph, "Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World," published in 2020 and has contributed to various scholarly journals and encyclopedias. Her work has addressed critical issues such as same-sex desire and extramarital affairs in pre-modern literature, contributing significantly to the field of Islamic Studies.

Research Interests

Experience