E-Newsletter - May 2017

Jays Care Community Clubhouse

NMC students at a Blue Jays game

On Monday, May 8th, NMC-CESI was invited to the Rogers Centre, to watch the Toronto Blue Jays take on the Cleveland Indians from the Jays Care Community Clubhouse. This event was made possible through Jays Care Foundation.

The group of 44 included both student volunteers and Syrian newcomers, all of whom received a free ticket, Jays cap, and enjoyed the view of the game from their own private box, complete with catering and even a visit from the Toronto Blue Jays mascot at the end of the 5th inning!

NMC-CESI would like to thank Jays Care Foundation and the Toronto Blue Jays for this amazing opportunity and wonderful experience!

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Dr. Walid Saleh has been promoted to (Full) Professor

Walid Saleh

Dr. Walid Saleh has been promoted to (Full) Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, effective July 1.

Please warmly congratulate Walid on this important milestone in his academic career.


Dr. Clemens Reichel has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure

Dr. Clemens Reichel has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure, effective July 1, 2017.

NMC welcomes everyone to congratulate Dr. Reichel on his promotion, which is very good news for him, for the Department, and for the Royal Ontario Museum where he holds a joint appointment.


Coptic Studies in the Digital World

“Preserving the heritage and advancing global knowledge of Coptic Studies,” is the theme of the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts Endowment Campaign for Coptic Studies which launched the 31st of March 2017.

Greetings and endorsement of the campaign were expressed last month by Professor Stephen Emmel, Secretary, International Society for Coptic Studies, H. G. Bishop Makar, President, Board of Directors St. Mark’ s Coptic Orthodox Church, Scarborough, Ontario, and Professor John Magee, Vice-Dean Humanities, University of Toronto Faculty of Arts, with keynote speaker Dr. Frank Feder, Project Director and Senior Researcher, Digital Edition and Translation of Coptic Sahidic Old Testament, Göttingen University, Germany.

Dr. Feder presented The Digital Coptic Old Testament and steps taken towards the virtual reconstruction of the unique linguistic, literary, and religious monument and how its manuscripts are dispersed in museums, libraries, and monasteries around the world.

In most cases the manuscripts have survived in fragments only, and, for over 100 years scholars have struggled to reconstruct the Coptic Old Testament.

In order to accomplish this gigantic task (likened to a jig-saw puzzle!), the Göttingen project will make full use of the technical advancements of the digital age. Its research focuses on developing a web platform and building a comprehensive database of the Coptic Biblical manuscript.

In the future, anyone interested will be able to browse the manuscript that has been virtually reassembled as codices (books), the text will be available in German, English, and Arabic translations.


Turkey referendum follows global shift to the right: U of T historian compares the Erdoğan win to Trump and Brexit

Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ’ s referendumn, members of Turkey’ s political opposition were arrested in dawn raids.

Jens Hanssen, an associate professor of Arab Civilization at the University of Toronto Mississauga and modern Middle Eastern and Mediterranean history at UofT’ s downtown Toronto campus, says the narrow win is ″reminiscent″ of the Brexit referendum and the American elections last year.

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Ali Shari’ati and the Global Nietzsche

Jens Hanssen, recently participated in a seminar “The Global Nietzsche” in New York, Columbia University.

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Dante, Wīrāz, and the Contrapasso:   Considerations on Modi′s Dante Papers

Enrico Raffaelli, recently presented a paper, ″Dante, Wīrāz, and the Contrapasso: Considerations on Modi’ s Dante Papers, ″at an international conference that was organized by the Department of Italian Studies, including the similarities between the punishments of the sinners in Dante′s Hell and the punishments in Hell according to a pre-Islamic Iranian text.