Ghassan Osmat

Ghassan Osmat is a PhD candidate in Medieval Arabic Literature and Culture at the University of Toronto. He holds two major awards: the Faculty of Arts and Science Top Doctoral Fellowship (2019-2023) and the SSHRC National Doctoral Award (2022-2025). He is currently a Research Assistant for the UofT-based Practices of Commentary research group and has previously worked on research and editorial projects in medieval Hebrew literature at the University of Montreal.

Ghassan studies the Christian Arabic literature of late-Mamluk Syria and Mount Lebanon (1380-1516) through its contact with Mamluk popular culture, medieval Syrian monasticism and rising European missionary activity.
While most studies on the Mamluks have focused on the Sultanate's army and administration, or on the urban culture of Damascus and Cairo, his doctoral research focuses on provincialism and the rise of written culture in Arabic in the Mamluk peripheries.

Education

• MA in Islamic Studies, McGill University (2018)
• Major in Political Science, Université de Montréal (Magna Cum Laude, 2015)
• LLB in Civil Law, Université de Montréal (2013)

Current Supervisor(s)

Jeannie Miller

Dissertation Title

Arabic Literature and Franciscan Vocation in Jibrāyil ibn al-Qilāʿī's Medieval Mount Lebanon

Presentations

• "Garshuni Literature as Arabic Literature? Jibrāyil ibn al-Qilāʿī’s (d. 1516) Epic Song in the Mamlūk Literary Context," in 13th Symposium Syriacum and 11th Congress of Christian Arabic Studies (XIIIe Symposium Syriacum et XIe Congrès d’études arabes, INALCO, Paris, July 7th, 2022).
• "Jewish, Christian and Islamic Attitudes Towards Printing Press Technology in the Ottoman Empire," in L’édition savante (CERIUM, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, March 15, 2019).