Dalibhunga: - University of Toronto Mississauga

Dalibhunga:
The Historical Studies Bulletin
Nelson Mandela, Historical Studies, the Past and the Future
- Message from the Chair
What’s Inside:
NEW FACULTY
page 3
TEACHING &
INNOVATION
page 6
COMMUNITY
page 9
KNOWLEDGE SHARING
& SCHOLARSHIP
page 12
HIGHLIGHTS
PAGE 14
STUDENT AWARDS
PAGE 17
ALUMNI UPDATE
PAGE 18
No one is born hating another person
because of the color of his skin, or his
background, or his religion. People must
learn to hate, and if they can learn to
hate, they can be taught to love, for love
comes more naturally to the human heart
than its opposite.
- Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
A
s a prisoner on Robben Island, furtively penning the first pages of what was
later to become his autobiography, Nelson
Mandela could scarcely have imagined
that decades later he would be regarded as one of the most eminent moral
and political icons of our world. After a
lifetime fighting against the injustices of
brutal racial segregation in his homeland
of South Africa, when he became president, he magnanimously declared, “The
time for the healing of the wounds has
come. The moment to bridge the chasms
that divide us has come. The time to build
is upon us.”
I write this Message from the Chair on
July 18, a historic day, to welcome readers
to the inaugural issue of Dalibhunga: The
Historical Studies Bulletin. This day has
been declared Nelson Mandela Day by
the United Nations. It is the 95th birthday
of Mandela, affectionately known as Tata,
isiXhosa for “Father,” who had the audacity to rewrite the history of his own people
and to inspire so many others to take the
pen of destiny in their own hands. It is certainly a fitting day to reflect on the past,
as well as the future, of the Department
of Historical Studies, to celebrate our
achievements, and to chart our forward
path.
Back in 2003, a Department of History
and Classics was officially launched at
UTM, and when the program in Religion
was transferred from the Department of
Anthropology the following year, we were
renamed the Department of Historical
Studies. Our nascent Department further
expanded in 2006 with the addition of
the interdisciplinary Women and Gender
Studies program, and again in 2007, we
added the Diaspora and Transnational
Studies Program. Today, with over sev-
enty full- and part-time faculty members and three (soon
to be four) full-time staff serving over 3700 students every
year (a remarkable 30% of the undergraduate student population at UTM!), along with our community of friends and
supporters, and countless alumni around the world, our
young department is one of the largest and most dynamic
at the University of Toronto. Our mission statement commits us to fostering critical and global engagement with
the humanities through a trans-disciplinary approach to
our teaching and research, while drawing on the unique
strengths of our constituent disciplines.
The website www.mandeladay.com tells us that the
objective of Mandela Day “is to inspire individuals to take
action to help change the world for the better, and in doing
so build a global movement for good.” Throughout the
pages of this Bulletin, there are many inspiring examples of
just that. From the new books published this year by our
faculty, which convey significant research findings about
such matters as the environment, women in history, and
death, life, and religious change, to the generous donation
of her personal library by Professor Emerita Ursula Franklin,
a founding member of “Voice of Women for Peace;” from
the publication of Prandium: The Journal of Historical
Studies, which honors outstanding undergraduate writing,
to the activities of the Historical Studies Society at the
Royal Ontario Museum; from announcements of successfully completed faculty searches that attracted applications
from some of the world’s finest scholars in Ancient Greek
History, Women and Gender Studies, South Asian Religious
Literatures and Latin American History, to a Historical
Studies alumna telling the tale of her exciting post-graduation adventures with Oxford University Press and the
Charter for Compassion in Pakistan, the life of Historical
Studies breathes the values that Nelson Mandela Day
seeks to promote. It is perhaps particularly appropriate
that just this week, we officially began our search for a
new tenure-stream colleague in African Studies, a position
that garnered universal support from all members of the
Department when we drafted our academic plan.
When Nelson Mandela was born, his father named
him Rolihlahla, which literally means “pulling the branch
of a tree,” but colloquially (and perhaps prophetically!)
means “troublemaker.” At the age of sixteen, however, after he had gone through the traditional Xhosa rite
of passage that marked his maturity, he was renamed
Dalibhunga, “convenor of dialogue.” Dalibhunga is a
wonderfully appropriate name for The Historical Studies
Bulletin, as our Department is a place where thoughtful,
meaningful and productive dialogue takes place, and
results in action. As we drew upon inspiration from Latin
in naming our lunchtime seminar series and undergraduate research journal Prandium, which derives from the
Latin word for the midday meal, a convivial gathering
where people would come together to share news and
explore ideas with one another, on this historic day it
is appropriate to be inspired by another of the cultures
that has contributed to the richness of human civilization.
We are truly a Department that seeks to understand our
entire globe and its peoples. The importance of this mission is as important today as it has always been, and we
have yet much work to do. It would be appropriate to end
with paraphrasing Mandela’s words in his autobiography,
“We dare not linger, for our long walk is not yet ended.”
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These new faculty members bring research and teaching excellence,
vitality, and energy to the community of faculty, staff and
students in the Department of Historical Studies.
Ancient Greek History
Boris Chrubasik
History and Religion
Francisco José Luis
Shafique N. Virani, Chair
About the Department of Historical Studies
The Department of Historical Studies at the University of
Toronto Mississauga is transdisciplinary in its approach to
learning and research. Established by the merging of Classics, Religion and History in January 2005, this department
provides students with a globally-framed historical education that encompasses programs in Classical Civilization,
Diaspora and Transnational Studies, History, History of
Religions and the Study of Women and Gender. Students
completing these programs will attain a deep and critical
historical comprehension of the interplay of classical civilization, world religions and historical societies.
We encourage our undergraduates to challenge
themselves by investigating a variety of chronological
and topographical areas of study. Given the broad range
of courses available, the department offers something
New
Faculty
About half of all continuing University of Toronto humanities hires
last year took place in the Department of Historical Studies. The
Department welcomes four new faculty members in Ancient Greek
History, Religious Studies, South Asian Religious Literatures, and
Women and Gender Studies. The new faculty members join last
year’s appointee in Latin American History.
for everyone. Whether you are interested in the political structure of Classical Greek government or exploring
Islamic aesthetic traditions, there are courses available to
broaden your knowledge base. Our department provides
a diverse and global curriculum, with faculty offering a
range of specialized expertise on a wide variety of subjects. The department encourages students to choose new
and exciting academic experiences from the approximately 165 historical studies courses offered.
We concentrate on providing students with transferable critical thinking and communication skills required to
excel in a number of professions. We hope that you will
become part of our growing historical studies family!
Dr. Boris Chrubasik is an ancient
historian with a particular interest in the history of the eastern Mediterranean from the
Achaemenid to the late Hellenistic
periods. Currently, Chrubasik is
writing a book on ideas of kingship
and power in the Seleukid empire,
the largest of the successor states
of Alexander the Great. Based on
ancient literary texts, texts on stones
and ancient coins, the project investigates how other individuals within
the empire could make themselves
king, and how they could persuade
groups within the state that they
were a better alternative to the
ruling monarch, thus revealing the
structure and nature of this particular empire.
Chrubasik’s excitement for ancient
documentary evidence, such as
inscriptions, as well as numismatic
and archaeological material also
translates directly into his teaching. He offers introductory courses
to Greek history from the Archaic
period to the coming of Rome, and
advanced seminars on topics of the
ancient eastern Mediterranean, such
as ancient Greek political culture,
Achaemenid history, Greek and nonGreek exchange, and cultural histories of the Hellenistic world.
Originally from Germany, Chrubasik,
moved to Oxford where he completed a Masters and a Doctorate
in Greek history. Upon finishing his
studies he taught at Oxford and
spent a year at the University of
Exeter as a Research Fellow before
coming to the University of Toronto.
His experiences in these institutions
and different societies inspired his
interest in social and political structures that is visible in both his teaching and research.
Dr. Francisco José Luis was born
and brought up in the Grand Duchy
of Luxembourg in a working class
Portuguese immigrant family. After
completing his secondary studies
he moved to Paris where he completed two separate licenses (B.A.)
and two separate maîtrises (M.A.)
in the fields of French/Comparative
Literature and South Asian studies
at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris III).
His maîtrise in French/Comparative
Literature dealt with the biographies of Sri Ramakrishna by Romain
Rolland and Christopher Isherwood
while his maîtrise in South Asian
studies explored the present state
of Sikh studies and the new avenues
for researchers in this field. He then
moved to London to do his Ph.D. at
the School of Oriental and African
Studies under the supervision of
Professor Christopher Shackle on
pre-reformist Sikhism, an almost
unexplored field for which he spent
several years living in immersion
among traditionalist Sikhs. His work
challenges received perceptions
of Sikhism both in academic and
reformist circles and looks closely
at the radical differences in discourse between the two types of
Sikhism. While completing his Ph.D.
Dr. Luis taught Indian religions and
Panjabi at the School of Oriental
Studies, taught French literature
in Luxembourg, wrote articles on
Shi’ah mysticism in the Iranian press
as a reporter for a magazine in Iran,
and taught several seminars at the
French Institute of Tehran. His present research focuses on the relations between Iran and the Indian
subcontinent, notably the intellectual and religious exchanges between
both cultures from the Safavid/
Mughal period to the present.
3
Religious Studies
Ken Derry
The vitality of the History of
Religions program resulted in the
permanent addition of lecturer Dr.
Ken Derry, a Ph.D. graduate of the
University of Toronto’s Centre for
the Study of Religion.
Derry began teaching at the
University of Toronto’s St. George
campus in 1996 and moved to the
University of Toronto Mississauga in
2010 as a contract instructor where
he taught Introduction to Religious
Studies, as well as courses in religion and film, religion and violence,
and method and theory. Derry will
soon add new courses derived from
his primary research interests in
North American Indigenous literature and religion, which, along with
an upcoming course in Sikhism, will
contribute to the unique array of
religious traditions that students
may study in depth.
South Asian Religious Literatures
Ayesha Irani
Dr. Ayesha Irani fills a newly
created position in South Asian
Religious Literatures in the
Department of Historical Studies.
Irani completed her Ph.D.,
with distinction, in 2011 at the
University of Pennsylvania. Prior
to joining Historical Studies, Irani
was a Visiting Scholar in the
Institute of Islamic Studies at
McGill University and taught at
both Concordia University and
McGill.
Irani, a cultural and literary histo-
rian of Islamic traditions of South
Asia, particularly Bengal, is interested in understanding processes
of Islamization in South Asia and
the potential role that vernacular
translations of Islamic sacred literature played in conversion. Irani’s
research makes her ideally suited
to be part of the team working
with the University of Toronto’s
new interdisciplinary Centre for
South Asian Civilizations, which
was launched in July 2013.
The Three
Tenures
Hinduism and South Asian
Religions
Ajay Rao
Dr. Ajay Rao completed his Master’s
degree at the University of Michigan. He
also received a Master’s in Chicago, where
Women and Gender Studies
Victoria Tahmasebi-Birgani
Latin American History
Kevin Coleman
he later completed his Ph.D. Dr. Rao is
interested in the academic study of South
Asian religions; Sanskrit intellectual history;
Sanskrit literature and poetics; and religion
and aesthetics. He is currently working on
a project about the “theologization of the
Ramayana” in South India.
Women and Gender Studies is one
of the fastest growing programs
in the Department of Historical
Studies, and after an
intensive search that attracted
over one hundred applications,
the program welcomed Dr. Victoria
Tahmasebi-Birgani.
Tahmasebi-Birgani holds an Honours
B.A. in Sociology and Women’s
Studies from the University of
Toronto, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in
Social and Political Thought from
York University.
4
As an interdisciplinary scholar, her
areas of specialization encompass
contemporary history of social and
political thought; feminist theories
in relation to continental and transnational contexts; critical theories of
women’s movements; gender and
ethics of non-violence.
Along with her research and
teaching skills, her graduate
appointment to the Women and
Gender Studies Program opens new
opportunities for collaboration.
Dr. Kevin Coleman completed his
Ph.D. in 2012 at Indiana University. An historian of modern Latin
America, Coleman specializes in
the history of U.S.-Latin American
encounters and visual culture. Currently, he is working on a history of
photography and political culture in a
banana-company town on the Caribbean Coast of Central America. Coleman offers surveys of Latin American
history and advanced undergraduate
seminars organized around a variety
of themes. His graduate offerings examine the role that photography and
other visual technologies have played
in shaping understandings of self,
nation, and race in several national
and transnational contexts.
Coleman’s research and teaching
interests continue to derive in part
from the years he spent working
alongside people trying to get “some
good things done” in their communities. Before pursuing graduate
studies, he taught introductory
philosophy classes at Navajo Community College in New Mexico. He then
served as a Peace Corps volunteer in
southern Honduras.
IT’S A FACT...
50 per cent of all
humanities hires
across U of T last
year were in the
Department of
Historical Studies
The Department of Historical Studies
congratulates faculty members Drs. Enrico
Raffaelli, Christoph Emmrich and Ajay Rao on
their recent tenure appointments.
Buddhist Studies
Christoph Emmrich
Dr. Christoph Emmrich holds a Ph.D.
in Classical Indology from Heidelberg
University for a dissertation on time in premodern Theravada Buddhist literature. In
his latest, forthcoming monograph, entitled
Buddhist Rituals for Newar Girls. Mimesis
and Memory in the Kathmandu Valley, he
confronts the personal and ethnographic
remembrance of singular ritual events
involving girl children with the history of
their local and academic exegesis, contextualizing both through a philological study
of Buddhist and Brahmanical ritual manuals
from Nepal from the 17th century to the
present.
Supported by a SSHRC grant for the project, “Once the Buddha Was a Girl: Girl
Children and Young Women as Religious
Agents between Burma and Nepal,” he
currently explores parallel developments
in 19th-21st-century Burma. More broadly,
he is interested in questions of childhood
and gender, travel and translation, time and
biography, the mnemonic and the mimetic,
as well as the poetics, normativity and historiography of ritual.
Zoroastrian Studies
Enrico Raffaelli
Dr. Enrico Giuseppe Raffaelli
conducted his Ph.D. studies on
Zoroastrianiasm between 1991
and 2004 in collaboration with the
University of Naples “L’Orientale”
and the École Pratique des Hautes
Études Section in Religious
Sciences of Paris. He authored
the book “The Horoscope of the
World” (2001) which deals with
pre-Islamic Iranian astrology, its
relation with Mesopotamian,
Classical and Indian astrology, and
its influence on Islamic astrology.
At the University of Toronto,
Raffaelli offers graduate and
undergraduate courses on the history, the rituals and the literature
of the Zoroastrian religion. His
present areas of interest include
the history of pre-Islamic Iranian
literature with a particular focus on
Avestan literature and its exegeses
in Middle Persian, and Zoroastrian
Apocalyptic texts.
5
Teaching &
Innovation
Growth in Undergraduate Enrollments in History of Religions
‘Heads Up’ initiave enhances student writing
The Department of Historical Studies developed the
‘Heads Up’ program to expand upon the most relevant
writing lessons taught in the early, foundational courses of
the department’s programs. With support from the Dean’s
Writing Initiative at the University of Toronto Mississauga,
the Department trains graduate teaching assistants how
to offer second year students advance feedback on essay
plans.
Historical Studies encompasses disciplines that
emphasize student analytical essays. To perform well in
History, History of Religions, Classics, Women and Gender
Studies, and Diaspora and Transnational Studies, students
must master grammar, punctuation, structure and other
writing skills to present their analysis in a competent and
effective manner.
In the first-year course ‘Introduction to Historical
Studies,’ Dr. Mairi Cowan, chair of the Student Experience
Committee, coordinates her team of teaching assistants
and experts from the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills
Centre. The team supplements the course content with
short assignments that focus on different aspects of writing like research strategies, outlines, revising and editing.
However, the Historical Studies faculty observed in
some upper-year students a loss of confidence and natural voice in longer, formal assignments. They noticed
that, sometimes, writing skills mastered in first year were
forgotten.
Dr. Jan Noel, coordinator of Second Year Writing
Initiatives, collaborated with doctoral candidate and head
writing teaching assistant, Laura Smith. Together, they
researched the problem—and offered a solution.
Noel and Smith, with assistance from Cleo Boyd, education developer in the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills
Centre, developed three 15-minute writing modules. The
modules are available to all instructors, but especially to
second-year instructors. It is in the 200-level courses that
many students write long papers for the first time.
Teaching assistants incorporate the three modules
on Research, Grammar and Structure into their tutorials
before a major essay is due. Students submit a plan of
their essay that includes their introduction, outline and
bibliography to the teaching assistants for review and
feedback.
“Nearly two thousand students benefit each year
from these first and second year writing initiatives in
Historical Studies,” said Noel. Informal instructor and
teaching assistant feedback Noel receives confirms an
improvement in student writing.
The Department plans to introduce a parallel program
in ‘Introduction to the History of Religions’ next year.
Interested instructors are welcome to contact jan.noel@
utoronto.ca for more information.
Women and Gender Studies meets interest with new courses
The dramatic growth experienced by the Women and
Gender Studies program presented the opportunity for
a curriculum review by the Women and Gender Studies
Advisory Board. The Board recommended program
changes to initiate a new course ‘WGS101H Introduction
to Women and Gender Studies’ and to change WGS200Y
from an introductory course to ‘Theories of Women and
Gender Studies’.
The new introductory course accommodates both
students who take the course for general interest and
those who need the course to meet WGS program
6
it’s a fact:
requirements. Now a theoretical and intensive course,
the full-year WGS200Y makes better use of teaching
assistanance and tutorial resources and attracts students
who want to delve deeper into the subject. The new
‘Introduction to Women and Gender Studies’ and the rigorous ‘Theories of Women and Gender Studies’ allow the
program to meet both sets of needs—general interest
and those of students who want to explore gender studies in depth.
O U R D E PA R T M E N T R E C E I V E S T H E L A R G E S T E N R O L L M E N T S
FOR STUDENTS COMPLETING THEIR HUMANITIES CREDITS
The Department of Historical Studies has experienced
phenomenal enrollment growth in History of Religions.
Beyond the increase in student interest in History of
Religions programs of study, large numbers of curious students from across the spectrum of programs at UTM are
taking an extra course or two in Religion, simply for the
pleasure of learning.
“Now, with a wide array of religious traditions represented by outstanding full-time faculty,” said Department
of Historical Studies chair Dr. Shafique Virani, “in our next
phase, we anticipate significant enrollment increases in
the specialist, major and minor programs.”
To have a robust program for students who want to
continue to graduate school, Historical Studies ensures
its students are well versed in the primary sources of religious traditions by working closely with its partner departments. In South Asian traditions, for example, Historical
Studies is partnering with the Department of Language
Studies to establish a program in Hindi-Urdu and other
languages, said Virani.
Historical Studies collaborates with sister departments
at the Mississauga, St. George and Scarborough campuses to complement one another’s program strengths. St.
George’s Department for the Study of Religion, for example, is exploring ways for its students to attend courses
offered only at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
“We are one of only two universities in the Englishspeaking world with a permanent faculty member in
Zoroastrianism,” said Virani.
Virani sees a bright future for the History of Religions
program at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
“I think we will see continued close integration with
our partners across the University of Toronto campuses.
We are also becoming a leader in online education and see
the Department of Historical Studies becoming one of the
‘go to’ places for studying religion in Canada.”
Interns Document History on Film
For the first time in the eight years of ‘HIS498Y Internship
in History,’ student interns worked with film to record the
subjects of their historical research and produced a documentary film for their final projects.
‘Internship in History’ matched fourth-year students
Fatima Altaf and Peter Waheeb, two of four student
interns, with the Multicultural History Society of Ontario
(MHSO). Altaf researched Pakistani women who immigrated to Canada within the last five decades.
After the students conducted background research, the
MHSO provided the interns with resources and training in
oral history to learn best practices, ethical considerations
and debates in the field. Then, the interns worked with
an MHSO supervisor to develop interview questions.
“I didn’t know I wanted to make a documentary until
I started filming my subjects,” said Altaf, who, at the
time, was in the final year of her undergraduate studies.
Oral histories are usually recorded, then transcribed.
Altaf added the element of the camera. She used filming, audio-recording and lighting techniques she learned
through a documentary film-making workshop she took
in 2012.
Through her contacts in the Pakistani community,
Altaf connected with four subjects. She focused on their
expectations and perceptions before coming to Ontario,
integration challenges in Ontario, and successes. Altaf
found that each woman, although similar in her Pakistani
heritage and Muslim religion, experienced a unique
immigration experience. And, over the 8-month internship, Altaf also refined her filmmaking skills.
The MHSO posted Altaf’s documentary, “A New Land, A
New Life” to YouTube and made it available through their
Professor Jan Noel, Fatima Altaf.
Photo credit: Ken Derry
Facebook page.
“The films our History interns produced bring the
past to life with an immediacy that historical writings
seldom match,” said internship supervisor Jan Noel.
“They’ve produced valuable records with their interviews
and the Multicultural Historical Society of Ontario is
delighted with their work.”
Both Altaf and Waheeb presented their findings to
the Department of Historical Studies where they were
recognized for excellence in this and other courses.
Now that she has graduated, Altaf, who runs her own
production company with a partner, plans to spend a
year creating promotional videos for non-profit organizations before applying to graduate school.
7
Community
Islam Online
Department of Historical Studies chair Dr. Shafique Virani
created and teaches the University of Toronto’s first
online course in history or religion: ‘Search and Research:
A Journey in Muslim Civilizations’.
Students in a variety of disciplines, and at the 200,
300 and 400 levels, enroll in the full-year course through
their home ‘Research Opportunity Program’. The program gives undergraduates the chance to participate in
research. In the summer and in the fall/winter, Virani, a
University of Toronto Distinguished Professor of Islamic
Studies, delivers the entire course online and students
attend from as far away as China, Iran, the Arab world,
India, Pakistan and the United States.
“I am researching the delivery of education and how
we might use modern technologies to give people access
to experiences they might not otherwise have had,” said
Virani, who works with non-governmental organizations
in Africa and other parts of the developing world.
Another aspect of Virani’s research is to make the
findings of the Research Opportunity Program projects
accessible to the broadest audience through digital
media, art, cartography, music and drama.
After he first offered the course solely through
Blackboard, Virani did much research and liaised with
experts from the Centre for Teaching Support and
Innovation, the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre
and the UTM Library. Together, they incorporated another platform into the course to increase interactivity.
Through Google+ communities, Virani interacts with the
students and the students interact with one other. He
hosts Google Hangouts where he, students, and sometimes guests like librarians can converse in real time and
online.
Virani guides the Research Opportunity Program students on an intellectual journey he calls ‘Navigating your
Travels’. Students acquire information literacy skills, and
learn to navigate their way through research using the
powerful means of searching through the library system
and through online database systems.
Every week, students record their intellectual journeys in their research travelogues or Safarnamas and are
met with a challenge to demonstrate what they learned.
They post and solve problems in The Cairo Café on
Blackboard and attend thought-provoking lectures from
Arts and Culture at South Asia Day
Dr. Shafique Virani and students
some of the world’s greatest thinkers at the Delhi Darbar.
The format has captured the imagination of students.
Virani reads colourful and descriptive student travelogue entries such as, “Today, I voyaged into dangerous
waters…”
“I think they enjoy writing it and I enjoy reading it,”
said Virani. Virani has found that in this virtual classroom,
where students collaborate on projects in small groups,
they develop very close-knit relationships. They develop
a dedication to the project and to each other. The ‘Search
and Research’ students created their own alumni association that they call the “Virani Research Dream Team”
and hold an annual alumni reunion in Toronto. Dozens of
students, even those from other cities, attend.
Students tell Virani that the research, technological and
problem-solving skills learned in this course have helped
them throughout their university careers.
From advance planning to giving feedback to students, online delivery of the course means a tremendous investment of Virani’s time—more so than for a
traditional course—but Virani enjoys the passion of the
Research Opportunity Program students, and the course
combines, for him, both his enthusiasm for teaching and
for research.
South Asia Day offered University of Toronto Mississauga
community members the opportunity to experience
South Asian culture and traditions through activities,
displays and stage performances. Students interested in
South Asia came together from across campus to showcase their learning and get a glimpse into the work of
their peers.
The March 2013 event drew attention to the variety
of courses from across the disciplines on campus that
explore aspects of South Asia. South Asia Day promoted the new Centre for South Asian Civilizations and the
South Asian Studies program.
The Centre for South Asian Civilizations opened in
summer 2013 and will be a hub of interdisciplinary activity at the University of Toronto Mississauga for researchers, students and community members interested in
South Asia and the South Asian diaspora.
The South Asian Studies minor, launched in 2013,
allows students who take courses with South Asian content to develop those courses into a program of study.
“It was a really lively, bustling event,” said
one of the organizers and former History of Religions lecturer Sailaja Krishnamurti.
Work-study student Wajahat Syed reached out to
undergraduate students and various student groups to
assemble a team of volunteers and participants to assist
with the presentation of South Asia Day.
The organizers set up tables in the atrium of the CCT
Building with various displays and artwork while photographs, contributed by students, played on a digital
display. Visitors stopped at stations where they tried on
saris and had their hands decorated with mehendi—
henna art.
The daylong activities culminated in a stage show in
the MiST Theatre, orchestrated by Language Studies sessional lecturer Dr. Hansa Deep. Students performed skits,
gave musical demonstrations and delivered short readings from religious texts. The well-attended event ended
with a reception that featured a selection of South Asian
foods.
“South Asia Day was meant to showcase the new
Centre for South Asian Civilizations and the South Asian
Studies program,” said Krishnamurti, “and to give students a chance to learn what other students at UTM
are doing when it comes to thinking and learning about
South Asia.”
Volunteers decorate visitors’ hands with henna art.
Photo credit: Wajahat Syed
8
9
Historical Studies Society at the ROM
Historical Studies students toured the Greek and
Roman collections at the Royal Ontario Museum for the
Historical Studies Society’s year-end event.
“I only planned to run one tour,” said Historical
Studies lecturer Dr. Lisa Trentin who specializes in GrecoRoman Visual and Material Culture. However, interest
was so great that Trentin had to run two.
Before she became the President of the Ontario
Classical Association—the provincial network association
for classicists—Trentin ran their Outreach Program. She
organized and led popular and successful tours for high
school teachers and students, and felt the tours would
be something worthwhile to offer to Historical Studies
undergraduates.
In teaching, instructors frequently use primary
source material—usually literature. “I wanted students
to understand that you can use visual culture in addition
to literary sources to think about the ancient world,” said
Trentin.
The Historical Studies Society executive knew they
wanted to host a tour for their year-end event so when
Trentin offered to guide the tours, they jumped at the
chance.
Exam Jam strikes chord with students
“We had such a small executive this year that it was
a challenge to plan such a large scale event,” said Sarah
Hleyhel, third year history major and Historical Studies
Society secretary. The Society’s executive usually consists
of eight members but three positions remained vacant
this year. “Due to the support of Dr. Trentin, we were
able to plan and carry out an event of this scale,” said
Hleyhel.
The Society’s lean executive created and hung posters, and promoted the event on their Blackboard and
Facebook pages. They shepherded attendees onto UTM
shuttle buses to St. George and escorted them to the
Royal Ontario Museum. The Society even covered the
cost of all the students’ entry fees.
The tours were external to any courses and participation was entirely voluntary. Trentin plans to offer her
services as tour guide to the Society’s new executive next
year.
This year’s executive members handed over their
responsibilities to a new team of executives who will
hold elections in fall 2013. Election details and Historical
Studies Society events can be found on their Facebook
page.
Summer abroad - Hong Kong
Through the University of Toronto’s Summer Abroad
program, students complete one full year credit in
three to six weeks through an educational and international experience. Typically, over 300 University
of Toronto students take courses based out of the
University of Hong Kong. The courses include history,
business, politics, culture, film, and world religions.
For four weeks in summer 2012, as part of ‘RLG290Y
Religion in Hong Kong’, 28 students and History
of Religions lecturer Dr. Ken Derry enthusiastically
endured the heat and humidity of Hong Kong as they
explored the city’s religious diversity through visits to
mosques, temples, churches, shrines and synagogues.
The students stayed in residence and attended
Derry’s lectures held in classrooms at the University
of Hong Kong.
“One of the objectives of the course was to reflect
on how religious practices are affected by their local
environment”,” said Derry.
For two of the four lecture days per week, Derry
delivered a conventional classroom lecture—the general history, main ideas and practices—on a particular
tradition. Then he led the class on site visits. “I would
talk about Islam,” said Derry, “then we would go to a
mosque.”
This approach allowed students to see not only
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how some of these general ideas were applied but
also how the tradition was practiced in a way particular to Hong Kong. One Catholic church housed a
gong, while another had pillars carved with dragons.
“Things you wouldn’t see in a Catholic church in
Italy,” said Derry.
On the group’s first excursion to the Po Lin
Monastery on Lantau Island, Derry saw a saffron-robed monk buying coffee in a Starbucks. The
group visited a fishing village where they saw white
dolphins leaping in the sea and they ventured into
the small local Kwan Tai Taoist temple. They also visited popular sites in Hong Kong like Victoria Peak, seafood restaurants, Ocean Park, outdoor markets and a
karaoke bar.
Derry plans to offer the course again in Summer
2014 and welcomes interested students to contact
him directly by email: ken.derry@utoronto.ca.
Dr. Ken Derry and Summer Abroad Students.
History of Religions lecturer Dr. Ken Derry and his
dedicated team of faculty and staff on the Teaching
Excellence Committee introduced Exam Jam to Historical
Studies students in December and April of this past year.
Historical Studies staff and student volunteers
received support from event partners like the Office
of the Dean, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre,
Student Affairs & Services, Student Life and utmONE.
Twelve instructors offered review sessions in 24 courses
to almost 600 students.
“Part of Exam Jam also includes community building,
a sense of play, and strategies for studying,” said Derry.
“These sorts of things already go on at UTM in different
contexts. Our partners brought them together at Exam
Jam.”
In addition to the academic sessions, the event
encouraged students to take a holistic approach to their
studies where they also focused on their physical, emotional, psychological and intellectual wellbeing.
In the atrium of the Instructional Centre, students
participated in stress-reducing activities like puzzle
solving, writing on a graffiti board, and speaking in
an Indigenous Talking Circle. They even played Giant
Jenga—a life-sized version of the game that tests mental skill by stacking, then loosening and removing, and
restacking wooden blocks.
Throughout the review sessions and activities, participants snacked on healthful fruits, vegetables and dips
and enjoyed music provided by UTM alumni and student
band, “Northern Souls”.
The Historical Studies Exam Jam was such a success,
that it will expand to include all Departments in a campus-wide event in 2013-14.
Exam Jam 2012 Organizers. Top row, L to R: Samantha Mendonca
(Student Life Program Assistant), Nicole Pieczyrak (Peer Health
Educator), Garth Ngo (Peer Academic Leader), Amanda Ramanah
(Healthy Campus Crew)
Bottom row, L to R: Chad Jankowski (Health & Counselling
Centre), Jenna Menzies (Student Life), Jackie Goodman (Office
of the Dean), Dr. Ken Derry (Historical Studies).
Photo credit: Jackie Goodman
Exam Jam 2012.
Photo credit: Jackie Goodman
Hiking the Forks of the Credit
In fall 2012, a group of enthusiasts participated in the
Department of Historical Studies’ first hiking trip to
explore the Forks of the Credit. Located 57 kilometres
northwest of the University of Toronto Mississauga,
between the tiny towns of Brimstone and Cataract,
the scenic Forks of the Credit forms part of the historic Bruce Trail.
For a few hours, faculty trekked the deep gorge,
explored the river valley, crossed the Credit River and
passed the Cataract Falls.
“We temporarily lost Irvin Rubincam,” said hike
organizer and associate professor of history Jan Noel,
“but his wife seemed unconcerned, so no one worried.” A photographer, Rubincam dropped back to
capture spectacular autumn visuals in the woods.
At the end of the day, the missing hiker turned up
in the parking lot in time to rejoin the group for the
ride home.
“Everyone was so happy to be outside in a beautiful place,” said Classics associate professor emerita
Catherine Rubincam, “on such a wonderful, golden,
fall afternoon.”
L to R: Mary Lehto,
Catherine Rubincam,
Sarianna Metso, Jan Noel,
Mareille Haase, Andreas
Bendlin, Wynton Semple.
Photo Credit:
Irvin Rubincam.
11
Knowledge Sharing
& Scholarship
National Archaeology Day and the Classics
The Ontario Classical Association hosted its fall 2012
annual meeting as part of the events sponsored
by the Archaeological Institute of America’s (AIA)
National Archaeology Day.
The Ontario Classical Association brings together
teachers and professors from across the province to
discuss initiatives, strategies and ideas for the promotion and advancement of the Classics—the study
of languages, literature, art, archaeology, history and
philosophy of the ancient Mediterranean world, primarily Greece and Rome, from roughly 3000 BC to
600 CE—in Ontario.
Dr. Lisa Trentin, Historical Studies lecturer and
current President of the Ontario Classical Association,
organized the meeting. “This year we focused on fostering collaboration between the different education
levels—high school and university—and between different organizations, specifically the Ontario Classical
Association and the AIA, as well as the Royal Ontario
Museum and the Consulate of Greece, to encourage the promotion of Archaeology and Classics in
Canada,” said Trentin.
Trentin worked closely with the AIA Toronto
Society to tailor the meeting so members could drop
into National Archaeology Day events at the Royal
Ontario Museum during breaks, lunch and after the
meeting.
AIA Toronto Society President, Professor Dimitri
Nakassis from the Department of Classics at the
University of Toronto, delivered a talk to Ontario
Classical Association members about the AIA and how
teachers could make use of its resources. Despina
Hatzidiakos, Education Director for the Consulate of
Greece, also spoke about how the government of
Greece continues to support the study of its Classical
heritage in Canada despite its current economic challenges.
High school teachers, professors and graduate
students from across Ontario attended the event.
The next Ontario Classical Association meeting will
focus on pedagogy as the Ministry of Education rolls
out new high school curriculum documents in Fall
2013.
Emmanuel College’s ‘Canadian Certificate in Muslim Studies’
The Historical Studies Department has partnered with
a unique academic and community-building initiative
spearheaded by Emmanuel College in downtown
Toronto: a Muslim Studies Track. Established in 1928,
Emmanuel College is the leading theological college
for the United Church, Canada’s largest Protestant
denomination. Emmanuel is a constituent college of
Victoria University, one of the federated universities
affiliated with the University of Toronto. As part of
its interfaith vision and effort to establish relations
with the Canadian Muslim community, Emmanuel
launched the Muslim Studies track program in 2012
as part of its Master of Pastoral Studies. This program is the first of its kind in Canada and educates
Muslim chaplains for public Canadian contexts (prisons, hospitals, military) and community leaders to
enable them to meet the changing needs of the
Canadian Muslim community.
The UTM Historical Studies department is partnering in this distinctive initiative through its Chair,
Dr. Shafique Virani, who sits on Emmanuel’s Muslim
Studies Advisory Committee. In May, the department
hosted a course (Spiritual Care in Individual/Family
contexts) in Emmanuel’s Canadian Certificate in
Muslim Studies, a continuing education component in
this distinctive interfaith initiative.
The certificate is a non-degree continuing education program for adults, so it has no prerequisites for
enrollment. The certificate is composed of four core
and four elective courses. The course hosted at UTM
was taught by Dr. Nighat Gilani and Doris El Harchali.
Katherine Bullock, PhD
Coordinator, Emmanuel Canadian Certificate in
Muslim Studies
katherine.bullock@utoronto.ca
Selected Publications
Along a River: The First FrenchCanadian Women
by Jan Noel
University of Toronto Press
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Nighat Gilani has a PhD in Psychology from University
of Sussex, England, has completed post-doctorial
work at York University, Toronto, and currently operates a private psychotherapy practice in Mississauga.
Doris El Harchali is currently on the faculty of Seneca
College, and has worked for over twenty years in
the social services sector in Toronto. The course
covered Foundations for Counseling: Listening and
Communications Skills, Developmental Stages within Children & Youth, and Professional Responses to
Violence & Abuse.
Participating students are excited about these two
new developments for Muslim studies in the GTA;
indeed the program is so unique it is attracting interest from overseas. Khaiam Dar, a student enrolled in
the Masters of Pastoral Studies is enthusiastic about
his experiences: “Emmanuel isn’t just challenging me
to be a good student, it’s challenging me to be a good
human.”
UTM’s Historical Studies department is proud to
be a partner of Emmanuel’s new interfaith educational initiative. Alumni may be particularly interested
in next spring’s certificate course at UTM. For more
information see Emmanuel’s website: http://www.
emmanuel.utoronto.ca/coned/muslimstudies.htm
An Environmental History of Canada
by Laurel Sefton MacDowell
University of British Columbia Press
Death, life, and religious change
in Scottish towns c. 1350-1560
by Mairi Cowan
Manchester University Press
13
Ursula Franklin Book Donation
In recognition of the work of the Women and Gender
Studies program, professor emerita Ursula Franklin
bequeathed her collection of books to the UTM Library
through the program.
Under the supervision of program coordinator Dr.
Joan Simalchik, two work-study students and an alumna
of the Women and Gender Studies program catalogued
the material and transcribed Franklin’s recorded introductions to selected books.
“The UTM Library recognized the potential of Dr.
Franklin’s collection for scholarly research,” said Elaine
Goettler, liaison librarian for Historical Studies, “and
welcomes the opportunity to make these resources available to UTM students.” Digital Research and Scholarly
Communication librarian Pam King, will review the documents when they arrive to assess them for digitization,
which will increase access to these valuable resources,
said Goettler.
The dates of the collection range from the 1960s up
to 2012. The collection includes videos—for example,
Canadian feminist Kay Macpherson’s memorial—reports
and documents. It also includes an original draft treatise
by Jane Jacobs, urbanist and community leader of citizen
participation movements. Many of the texts are on the
subject of women, science and technology, while others
are on peace and environmental justice. “This forms a
good reprise of Professor Franklin’s biography as scientist, feminist and pacifist,” said Simalchik.
Dr. Franklin, as a founding member of “Voice of
Women for Peace,” conducted a study of baby teeth
collected from across Canada. She found that they contained strontium-90, a radioactive isotope present in the
nuclear fallout from atmosphere bomb testing. These
test results contributed to the decision by member states
of the United Nations to ban atmospheric testing.
“I was incredibly honoured,” said alumna Haneen
Aboshawish of the opportunity to work with Dr. Franklin,
whose influence Aboshawish often saw in many of her
courses.
14
Highlights
Prandium podcasts
Photo Credit: Lisa Trentin
The Prandium Seminar Series gathers staff, students and
faculty around a meal to listen to a graduate student’s
presentation on current research. New this year, the
lunchtime seminar series introduced undergraduate and
faculty respondents (volunteers who read the presentations in advance and comment on them at the forum)
and podcasts.
The series provides an opportunity for graduate students to receive constructive feedback in preparation for
public presentations. Graduate students apply for one of
six seminar opportunities. A committee reviews the submissions and makes selections. The selections represent,
as broadly as possible, the different disciplines associated
with Historical Studies. At the seminars, undergraduate
students and faculty respondents offer suggestions to
encourage engagement between the speaker and the
audience.
“But the biggest initiative this year,” said Dr. Lisa
Trentin, coordinator of the seminar series, “was the
introduction of the podcasts.”
All six seminars were recorded and posted on-line
and the podcasts are available through Prandium: The
Journal of Historical Studies.
The introduction of respondents encourages participation and attendance by undergraduate students
and faculty but the podcasts extend the series beyond
just a local community event and make the seminars
part of the permanent record of research output for the
Department.
The podcasts can be listened to any time and anywhere. “And,” said Trentin, “they will hopefully spur
Photo Credit: Alejandro Mejia
In fourth year, as a work-study student, Aboshawish
met Franklin at her office in Massey College on the St.
George campus. Over several days, Aboshawish made
audio recordings of their time together as they organized,
itemized and packed the collection. “As we packed,” said
Aboshawish, “Professor Franklin gave background on the
topics she wanted students to get from the books.”
Aboshawish lives in Mississauga and is currently pursuing her master’s degree through Yorkville
University. Located in Fredericton, New Brunswick,
Yorkville University specializes in online university degree
programs. This allowed Aboshawish to return to the
University of Toronto Mississauga over the summer, fall
and winter this past year as a volunteer. With work-study
students Sarah Hleyhal and Navjot Dhami, Aboshawish
transcribed the introductions and catalogued the collection.
“By means of her carefully-prepared historical and
theoretical introduction to each text, these volumes provide a very substantial and unique pedagogical tool that
will eventually be accessible to the entire UTM learning
community,” said Simalchik. “We are most appreciative
that, among the many possible groups and programs, she
chose us.”
15
Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies
The Intellectual Community committee brainstormed
ideas for building the scholarly community of the department. Inspired by his own good experience in publishing
his academic work from his master’s research, department supervisor Duncan Hill suggested a journal for
undergraduate publications. Dr. Jan Noel, the chair of the
Intellectual Community committee, and the committee’s
faculty members, strongly endorsed the idea.
Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies, first published in June 2012, showcases student work and what
the department teaches in the classroom. It offers the
department’s very best undergraduates the chance to
add a publication to their CVs—a rare opportunity that
usually first occurs in graduate school.
For the premiere issue, Prandium’s editorial board of
Hill, Noel, doctoral student Laura Smith and UTM liaison
librarian, Elaine Goettler, invited every student enrolled
in Historical Studies courses to make submissions.
“We got over 30 submissions,” said Hill. “I would
have been happy with a dozen.” While the main thrust of
the journal is the publication of undergraduate academic
papers, the editorial board considers creative pieces that
are part of a student’s coursework, too. Emily Bennett,
a third year double major in Art and Art History and
Women and Gender Studies, submitted a self-portrait
that made the cover of the journal’s second issue. Faculty
contributors also submit smaller articles and commentary for publication. The article, “Self-Forging in Imperial
Contact Zones” by assistant professor of history, Kevin
Coleman, included photographs from his research on
Latin American workers.
Smith, as co-editor-in-chief, collected the submissions
and distributed them for review to two members of a
group of volunteers. The volunteers, including Smith,
faculty, staff and librarians, ranked the submissions. The
editorial board met, and based on the quality of the
paper, interest of the topic and balance among Historical
Studies’ disciplines, selected the papers to publish. Dr.
Victoria Tahmasebi-Birgani joined Smith as co-editor for
the second issue of Prandium. Tahmasebi-Birgani worked
to boost the number of faculty submissions to the journal and, through her efforts, significantly increased student submissions even further.
The editorial committee worked with Digital Research
and Scholarly Communication librarian Pam King and
Digital Assets Management technician Mary Atkinson to
publish the journal through the Open Journal System.
An online journal management and publishing system developed by the Public Knowledge Project, Open
Journal System expands and improves access to research.
The University of Toronto Libraries runs the system out of
the Central Library and UTM Library facilitates access to
it.
Prandium is unique in that it is a combination of faculty and student work, in particular, undergraduate student work,” said King. Usually, researchers produce peer
reviewed journals, or journals are student-led. “Prandium
is a mix of both things—a hybrid.”
The library’s support of the Open Journal System provides a strong environment that protects and maintains
Prandium. The library catalogues the journal for searches
in the library system and the journal benefits from indexing by Google.
“The potential is there for a lot of attention from
anywhere in the world as a result of open access,” said
King.
Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies also publishes the abstracts from the Prandium Seminar Series
and hosts links to the seminars’ podcasts. Accessible
through the department’s website, the journal is published annually every summer—although the Intellectual
Community committee would one day like to see it
become a biannual publication.
“This has really been good for the department. A lot
of people are involved,” said Hill. “It’s a great, concrete
project around which to build our intellectual community.”
Student Awards
Women and Gender Studies ‘Dynamic Duo’ of the Year
Every year, the Women and Gender Studies program recognizes one program major who performs well beyond
the curriculum and who captures the activist component
of Women and Gender Studies. This year, the 2012-13
Women and Gender Studies Student of the Year Award
honoured two graduating students, Sandra Danial and
Harsimer Kaur Singh.
“We were a dynamic duo,” said Danial. “Our goal was
to make the UTM Women’s Centre known, to get more
people involved and to have more people’s voices heard.”
As events coordinator for the UTM Women’s Centre,
Singh brought the “It’s a girl” campaign to the University
of Toronto Mississauga. The campaign named the UTM
Women’s Centre the Canadian ambassadors for the campaign to end female infanticide.
In the new role of social and community outreach
coordinator, Danial launched Black History Month. She
coordinated events, invited inspirational speakers and
facilitated networking between professionals and aspiring
entrepreneurs and academics.
The team organized and hosted many other events
L to R: Professor Jan Noel, Harsimer Singh, Sandra Danial.
Photo Credit: Ken Derry
Awards and Recipients
The Desmond Morton Book Prize:
Awarded to a meritorious student enrolled at the
University of Toronto Mississauga in a Canadian History
course
Sukanya Mahalingam
ory of his parents who placed the highest value on education, and who sacrificed much so that their children would
be well educated. Awarded to a student registered in a
humanities major or specialist program
Maria Iqbal
The Hans-Georg Neumann Scholarship:
Awarded based on academic merit in the History program
Specialist: Peter Nash Stavros
Major: Evan Lund
The McNab Scholarship in Religious Studies:
Awarded to the third year student, either full-time or parttime, who obtains the highest overall average in all courses
taken for the Religious Studies major or specialist program
Vivian Agnes MacNeil
History Emeriti Award:
Awarded to an outstanding University of Toronto
Mississauga student registered in a History program
Nicholas Peter Overgaard
Self-portrait by Emily Margaret Bennett
Hugh Smith Scholarship in Canadian History:
Awarded to an outstanding student in a Canadian History
course
Fatima Altaf
Ida and Sam Aster Memorial Award in the Humanities:
Established by Sidney Aster, professor emeritus, in mem-
16
through the year—from a make-over of the Women’s
Centre’s space, to a ‘thank you’ initiative that recognized
caretaking staff, to collaborating with other groups, both
on and off campus, for International Women’s Week.
“It was impossible to separate the work of Harsimer
and Sandra,” said Dr. Joan Simalchik, coordinator of the
Women and Gender Studies program. “They are indeed
the Dynamic Duo.”
Sharing Rich Traditions Award:
Awarded to a student of high academic standing who is
engaged in the promotion of the understanding of South
Asian traditions and inclusiveness in Canada
Noor Rehman
Women and Gender Studies Student of the Year:
Awarded to an academically distinguished Women and
Gender Studies program major with a significant record of
volunteer service
Sandra Danial and Harsimer Kaur Singh
17
Alumni Update
Please support the Department of Historical Studies
Life After Graduation
It has been three
years since I graduated from the University
of Toronto Mississauga
and I still recall the
daunting feeling every
time I thought of life
after graduation. With
a double major in
History and English, I
was aware of my
interests—reading, writing, researching, analysing
information—but unsure about the application of these
skills. I did not have a plan as most people do, nor did
I make one. Apart from the time I spent making notes
during lectures or falling asleep in one of the study carrels in the library, I involved myself in different academic
societies and volunteer activities at the university.
I also enrolled in two Research Opportunity Program
courses where I worked as a research assistant for
Religious Pluralism in Islam and as an editorial assistant
for Editing Modernism in Canada.
Shortly after graduation, I worked as a research cataloguer. Subsequently, I moved to Pakistan to work with
Charter for Compassion, a local non-governmental organization. Charter for Compassion strives to engage young
children to build a more compassionate society. To create
awareness and involvement, I developed educational
materials through which students could understand the
concept of compassion, its importance, and its application in their society. Charter for Compassion uses these
materials in their partner schools in Pakistan.
Later, I joined Oxford University Press Pakistan as
an editor. This position offered the perfect amalgamation of my subjects of study. The long hours I had spent
researching materials, writing essays, and perusing
books meant that I was able to discern the quality of the
research and the writing submitted for publication. I was
able to improve the quality of the work, and facilitate
the process of publishing new materials. I did not know
where I would go once university ended but I find myself
doing something I love and enjoy.
The following quote still inspires me:
“The future is not some place we are going, but one we
are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made.
And the activity of making them changes both the
maker and the destination.” ― John H. Schaar
Rida Fatima Iqbal, Class of 2010
Junior Editor, Higher Education,
Academic and Trade Books
Oxford University Press Pakistan
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