Talk:Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer

Notability

Hi user: kudpung, the page should not be deleted as Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer is a Professor and therefore automatically meets the notability criteria. Her research has made a significant contribution to the field of Latin philology and Classical Studies more widely, including gender and women in Classics, but I am yet to find a suitable source to substantiate this in the page.

The rules for notability are WP:PROF. Normally a full professor at Basele would be notable, but the consensus has been that it does not follow just from the position. For people in the humanities, that is usually judged by awards or books, not journal articles or conference papers. I see no awards. As for books, we normally expect authorship (not just editorship) of books by major university presses or well-known academic publishers. Usually, we don't count the thesis, and we don't count editing a work as equivalent to authorship. The only two works of which she is author are her PhD and thesis and Habilitationsschrift. However, the Habilitationsschrift was published by one of the major publishers in the field, and in in several hundred libraries, much more than customary for such publications, and quite respectable in the classics. The other books are as editor or co-editor, and it is difficult without closer examination to determine the significance of her role in them. Some at least of the books are reviewed in the relevant academic journals, as would be expected. Journal articles count less than books in the humanities, but I see about 20. The citation figures in Google Scholar are very low, as is almost universal in this area. She is also the author of a 11 entries in Religion Past and Present a standard reference work of the highest academic level.

Given that this is the special field of classics, where the audience is very small and many publications are in the nature of collected works, it is possible that this body of work is sufficient. I'd say weak keep, because I trust the analysis of her university in appointing her not just to a full professorship. DGG ( talk ) 02:18, 18 January 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments on this page. The rules for notability on English-language Wikipedia are clear: "The person holds or has held a named chair appointment or distinguished professor appointment at a major institution of higher education and research (or an equivalent position in countries where named chairs are uncommon)." Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer is a Professor at the University of Basel and is therefore notable. The framework for judging the value of scholarly contribution here seems arbitrary. This is not judged on publication record or awards. Incidentally, Harich-Schwarzbauer has co-edited four valuable books and her commentary on Hypatia is an important publication. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Srsval (talk • contribs) 10:39, 18 January 2018 (UTC)

no, A professorship by itself is not a named chair. An endowed professorship named after a particular donor or famous person is a named chair. And that is merely one of the possible criteria. The basic one is being an expert in their field. The others are essentially convenient shortcuts, making it obvious. We have always shown importance in the field by publications, because that is the invariable rule in the academic world for researchers. I've argued about 2 or 3 thousand of academic bios over the last 11 years at AfD, and there have been perhaps 5 to 10 exceptions, usually when there is some reason for prejudice against the author or subject. What would help is showing her book important with reviews in reliable sources, not just your assertions. I shall defend this article if challenged, but I will use the rules the way they are accepted here. DGG ( talk ) 04:30, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

In the UK full professorship is essentially recognition of a person's impact within their field. Here for example are job descriptions from the universities of Leicester and Exeter for full professors where "An outstanding record of research achievement in Archaeology, evidenced by an established international reputation and publications in peer reviewed journals and other outlets of international standing" is essential in the former and "Be a leading international authority in the subject" is one of the characteristics of the latter. To my understanding that should immediately satisfy criterion 1 of WP:PROF.

Now I realise Harich-Schwarzbauer is a professor in Switzerland rather than the UK, and while I know a lot less about Swiss academia it appears that full professorship is similarly linked to a person's impact. Even if that wasn't the case, I think there are several converging factors which on their own might not satisfy the notability criteria but collectively would. Aside from professorship Harich-Schwarzbauer was on the editorial board of Museum Helveticum, giving her an influential role within her field. I wouldn't argue that everyone on a journal's editorial board or even all senior editors are notable but it is another aspect of recognition of her impact. Harich-Schwarzbauer was also Professor of Classical philology at Gratz since 1827, which seems quite important.

I don't have any understanding of German, so finding publications has been tricky, but she has published works beyond the doctoral thesis and Habilitationsschrift. There are chapters in Der Fall Roms und seine Wiederauferstehungen in Antike und Mittelalter and Women and War in Antiquity for instance and this search of Bryn Mawr indicates there is more. Her work on Hypatia has been particularly well received, eg the end of this book review (pg 217). Google translate gives the closing remarks as "the solidity of this study should make it the indispensable basis of all subsequent research on the philosopher of Alexandria, but also, more generally , on the prosopography of ancient philosophers and on the history of philosophical schools at the end of Antiquity." All of this paints a picture of someone who is influential in their field and recognised as such. --Richard Nevell (talk) 16:52, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

References