Near Eastern Languages & Cultures Calendar - Past Events for this Academic Year

Seminar: "'Re-Orienting' Jewish Modernity: A Genealogical Approach"

Presents

“‘RE-ORIENTING’ JEWISH MODERNITY: A GENEALOGICAL APPROACH”

A Faculty/Student Workshop

By: LITAL LEVY (UC Berkeley)

Monday, November 7, 2005 • 306 Royce Hall • 12 pm

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

Please RSVP to cjs@humnet.ucla.edu

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

Conference: "JEWISH LA--THEN AND NOW"

"JEWISH LA-- THEN AND NOW"

A three-day national conference on the history of Los Angeles Jews.

Day 1: LA JEWISH STORIES -- Saturday, November 12, 6-9PM at the Skirball Cultural Center

Day 2: JEWISH LA INSIDE AND OUT -- Sunday, November 13, 10AM-6PM at the Autry National Center

Day 3: WHAT'S WESTERN ABOUT THE LA JEWISH EXPERIENCE? -- Monday, November 14, 10AM-6PM at the UCLA Faculty Center

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE RSVP TO CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU.

For more information, please visit www.lajh.org.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www.lajh.org

Seminar: "DOV SADAN: A ZIONIST LITERARY THEORY"

Presents

“DOV SADAN: A ZIONIST LITERARY THEORY”

A Seminar on Jewish Culture

By: ARNOLD BAND (UCLA)

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 • 236 Royce Hall • 12 pm

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE RSVP TO CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

Lecture: "THE LAST DAYS OF BUCZACZ: JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE DESTRUCTION OF A MULTI-ETHNIC GALICIAN TOWN"

Presents

“THE LAST DAYS OF BUCZACZ: JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE DESTRUCTION OF A MULTI-ETHNIC GALICIAN TOWN"

The "1939" Club Distinguished Lecture in Holocaust Studies

By: Omer Bartov (Brown University)

Cosponsored by the UCLA Center for European and Eurasian Studies

Sunday, November 20, 2005 Faculty Center • 7:30 pm

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE RSVP TO CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU.

About the Lecture: Buczacz is the hometown of the only Hebrew author who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Shmuel Yosef Agnon; of the great Polish Jewish historian, Emanuel Ringelblum; of Sigmund Freud’s grandparents; of Simon Wiesenthal; and of Bartov’s own mother. It was founded in the 14th century as a private Polish town owned by a noble family. Bartov is particularly interested in the relationships between its Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish residents, whose ethnicity, religion and trades differed.

About the Speaker: Omer Bartov is the John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History at Brown University and considered one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject of genocide. He is the author of six books and the editor of three volumes, including Murder in Our Midst: The Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation (Oxford UP, 1996), which received the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History; Mirrors of Destruction: War, Genocide, and Modern Identity (Oxford UP, 2000), an analysis of the relationship between total war and state-organized genocide and the emergence of modern identity; and The “Jew” in Cinema: From the Golem to Don’t Touch My Holocaust (Indiana UP, 2005). As a Guggenheim Fellow (2003-2004), Professor Bartov researched the history of interethnic relations and violence in the East Galician town of Buczacz. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

Seminar: "THE DEBATE OVER THE EXHIBITION 'CRIMES OF THE WEHRMACHT' AND THE REALITY OF INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS IN EAST GALICIA IN 1941"

Presents

"THE DEBATE OVER THE EXHIBITION ‘CRIMES OF THE WEHRMACHT’ AND THE REALITY OF INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS IN EAST GALICIA IN 1941”

A Faculty/Student Workshop

By: OMER BARTOV (Brown)

Monday, November 21, 2005 12 pm • 314 Royce Hall (please note new room)

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE RSVP TO CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU.

About the Speaker: Omer Bartov is the John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History at Brown University and considered one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject of genocide. He is the author of six books and the editor of three volumes, including Murder in Our Midst: The Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation (Oxford UP, 1996), which received the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History; Mirrors of Destruction: War, Genocide, and Modern Identity (Oxford UP, 2000), an analysis of the relationship between total war and state-organized genocide and the emergence of modern identity; and The “Jew” in Cinema: From the Golem to Don’t Touch My Holocaust (Indiana UP, 2005). As a Guggenheim Fellow (2003-2004), Professor Bartov researched the history of interethnic relations and violence in the East Galician town of Buczacz. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

Christian Life in the Pharaonic City of the Dead: Western Thebes in the 6th - 8th Centuries

presents

Dr. Heike Behlmer of Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

December 5, 4-6pm; 306 Royce Hall

This paper will discuss the reuse of the famous pharaonic cemeteries of ancient Thebes in the early Christian period. To what extent was the landscape reshaped under influence of Christian beliefs and what role did the pharaonic temples and tombs play in the minds of the early ascetics? The pharaonic city of the dead challenges us to rethink issues of contested space in Late Antiquity.

Dr. Heike Behlmer is currently lecturer in Coptic Studies at Macquarie University, Australia, which position is partly funded by the local Coptic community. She directs the new and unique MA program in Coptic Studies, which can be completed entirely on-line and is open for enrollment to students world-wide. She obtained her dissertation at the University of Göttingen, Germany, with an edition of, and commentary on, an important sermon of St Shenoute, a foremost Coptic author and church leader (348-466 AD), which is preserved on a papyrus manuscript of the 7th century. Among her many interests Egyptian monasticism from the 4th to the 8th centuries counts as her main research topic. Before taking up her position at Macquarie University she was Assistant Professor of Egyptology and Coptic Studies at the University of Göttingen and visiting Professor of Coptic Studies at the University of Munich, Germany.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact dieleman@humnet.ucla.edu

Lecture: "AZARIAH DE' ROSSI (1511-1577): AN EXCEPTIONAL ITALIAN JEW OF THE RENAISSANCE"

The Viterbi Program in Italian Jewish Studies and The UCLA Center for Jewish Studies present

"AZARIAH DE' ROSSI (1511-1577): AN EXCEPTIONAL ITALIAN JEW OF THE RENAISSANCE"

By: JOANNA WEINBERG (Oxford)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005 • Fowler Auditorium • 7:30 PM

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE EMAIL CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU TO RSVP.

This new program has been made possible by the generous support of the Viterbi Family Foundation.

******************************************* ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Joanna Weinberg is the James Mew Lecturer in Rabbinical Hebrew and Catherine Fellow in Rabbinics at Oxford. Professor Weinberg is the author of The Light of the Eyes of Azariah de’ Rossi (Yale UP, 2001), which reveals her mastery of rabbinic texts, Greek and Roman literature, and Italian writers. Her research interests include Jewish historiography, Jews in the Renaissance, and Midrash.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

Lecture: "AZARIAH DE' ROSSI (1511-1577): AN EXCEPTIONAL ITALIAN JEW OF THE RENAISSANCE"

The Viterbi Program in Italian Jewish Studies and The UCLA Center for Jewish Studies present

"AZARIAH DE' ROSSI (1511-1577): AN EXCEPTIONAL ITALIAN JEW OF THE RENAISSANCE"

By: JOANNA WEINBERG (Oxford)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005 • Fowler Auditorium • 7:30 PM

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE EMAIL CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU TO RSVP.

This new program has been made possible by the generous support of the Viterbi Family Foundation.

*******************************************

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Joanna Weinberg is the James Mew Lecturer in Rabbinical Hebrew and Catherine Fellow in Rabbinics at Oxford. Professor Weinberg is the author of The Light of the Eyes of Azariah de’ Rossi (Yale UP, 2001), which reveals her mastery of rabbinic texts, Greek and Roman literature, and Italian writers. Her research interests include Jewish historiography, Jews in the Renaissance, and Midrash.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

Lecture: "AZARIAH DE' ROSSI (1511-1577): AN EXCEPTIONAL ITALIAN JEW OF THE RENAISSANCE"

**PLEASE NOTE VENUE CHANGED TO FOWLER AUDITORIUM**

The Viterbi Program in Italian Jewish Studies and The UCLA Center for Jewish Studies present

"AZARIAH DE' ROSSI (1511-1577): AN EXCEPTIONAL ITALIAN JEW OF THE RENAISSANCE"

By: JOANNA WEINBERG (Oxford)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005 • Fowler Auditorium • 7:30 PM

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE EMAIL CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU TO RSVP.

This new program has been made possible by the generous support of the Viterbi Family Foundation.

*******************************************

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Joanna Weinberg is the James Mew Lecturer in Rabbinical Hebrew and Catherine Fellow in Rabbinics at Oxford. Professor Weinberg is the author of The Light of the Eyes of Azariah de’ Rossi (Yale UP, 2001), which reveals her mastery of rabbinic texts, Greek and Roman literature, and Italian writers. Her research interests include Jewish historiography, Jews in the Renaissance, and Midrash.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

"In the Fear of Mimesis is the Beginning of Theory. And Now?" - a lecture by Haun Saussy

the Third Lecture in their Lecture Series "What is Comparative Literature?"

HAUN SAUSSY (Yale University)

“In the Fear of Mimesis is the Beginning of Theory. And Now?”

The lecture will take place on January 19, 2006 at 4:00 pm in the Faculty Center Downstairs Lounge.

Haun Saussy is Professor of Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages and Literature at Yale University. He is tthe author of "The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic" (Stanford UP, 1993) and "Great Walls of Discourse and Other Adventures in Cultural China" (Harvard University Asia Center, 2001). He has also edited the American Comparative Literature Association's 2004 report on the state of the discipline. His articles published in journals and collections address topics such as the imaginary universal languages of Athanasius Kircher, Chinese musicology, the great Qing-dynasty novel Honglou meng, the current situation and theoretical perplexities of comparative literature, the history of the idea of oral literature, Haitian literature, health care for the global poor, and contemporary art. He is currently working on a book about the concept of rhythm in psychology, linguistics, literature and folklore.

-- submitted by Benay Furtivo (furtivo@humanities.ucla.edu)

CJS SEMINAR: "Faithful Renderings: Jewish Difference and the Practice of Translation"

"Faithful Renderings: Jewish Difference and the Practice of Translation"

A Faculty/Student Workshop

By NAOMI SEIDMAN (Graduate Theological Union)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 • 306 Royce Hall • 12 pm

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE RSVP TO CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

CJS SEMINAR: "Western Jewish Agricultural Colonies and Why They Failed"

“Western Jewish Agricultural Colonies and Why They Failed”

A Seminar on Jewish Culture

By ELEANOR KAUFMAN (UCLA)

Thursday, January 26, 2006 • 306 Royce Hall • 12 pm

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE RSVP TO CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

CJS SEMINAR: "Modern Jewries and the Imperial Imagination"

“Modern Jewries and the Imperial Imagination”

Seminar on Jewish Culture

By SARAH STEIN (Washington University)

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 • 306 Royce Hall • 12 pm

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE RSVP TO CJS@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

CDH Roundtable Meeting-Qumran VR Project

Please join us for a discussion with Professor William Schniedewind (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures). Prof Schniedewind will discuss the Qumran Virtual Reality Project, which is the first academic Virtual Reality project for the ancient site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

-- submitted by Kathy Forero (kforero@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www.nelc.ucla.edu/Faculty/Schniedewind.htm

Fourth annual, international Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies at UCLA on March 3rd, 2006

Studies from multiple fields will be presented, including history, psychology, linguistics, literature, theology and art history.  Topics to be presented are grouped within the following sessions:  A Comparative Look at 19th and 20th Century Armenian Drama, Social and Religious Issues:  Cultural Concerns among Armenian Communities, Revisiting the Past and Theorizing the Present:  Topic is Armenian Art, and Questions of Memory and Identity in Modern Armenian Literature and Film.  Presenters are graduate students coming from universities and countries all around the world, including UCLA, Oxford University (England), Haigazian University (Lebanon), Central European University (Hungary), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) and multiple institutes within the Republic of Armenia.

The Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies is yet another step in the development of the rich tradition of Armenian Studies at UCLA.  Organized by graduate students, for graduate students, it provides an opportunity for students to actively and significantly contribute to the academic environment on campus.

The event is free of charge and open to the public.

--------

Schedule viewable/download-able at:

http:// www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/agsa/ documents/030306gscias-schedule.pdf

-- submitted by Ara Soghomonian (ara@humnet.ucla.edu@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact agsaucla@ucla.edu

CDH Roundtable Meeting-Qumran VR Project

-- submitted by Kathy Forero (kforero@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www.nelc.ucla.edu/Faculty/Schniedewind.htm

CDH Roundtable Meeting-Qumran VR Project

Please join us for a discussion with Professor William Schniedewind (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures). Prof Schniedewind will discuss the Qumran Virtual Reality Project, which is the first academic Virtual Reality project for the ancient site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

-- submitted by Kathy Forero (kforero@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www.nelc.ucla.edu/Faculty/Schniedewind.htm

Treasures from a village in Roman Egypt

Treasures from a village in Roman Egypt

Sandra Lippert and Maren Schentuleit

The small Egyptian town of Soknopaiou Nesos at the northern shore of the Fayum lake has yielded a large number of papyri from the Ptolemaic and, in particular, the Roman period. The Greek texts from this site are well published, but Egyptologists have only recently begun to turn their attention to the many texts in Demotic left unpublished. This is an exciting new trend, which promises to fill wide gaps in our understanding of life in Roman Egypt. Even though it will take several years before the material will be available to scholars, important discoveries with respect to native priestly life in Roman Egypt have already been made. The presentation will discuss new insights into the daily dealings and concerns of village communities in Roman Egypt gained by the German research project “Documentary Texts from Soknopaiou Nesos”. We will also present an overview of the still largely unpublished literary and religious texts in Demotic and include a presentation of the prosopographical and topographical database currently under construction. The talk intends to demonstrate that Soknopaiou Nesos will provide the scholarly community with new and exciting material for many years to come.

Sandra Lippert is currently the curator of the Demotic papyri at the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri, The Bancroft Library, of the University of California, Berkeley. In 2002 she completed her dissertation on a legal manual in Demotic at Würzburg University, Germany, which was published in 2004 under the title Ein demotisches juristisches Lehrbuch : Untersuchungen zu Papyrus Berlin P 23757 rto.

Maren Schentuleit teaches Egyptology at the University of Göttingen since 2004. In that same year she finished her dissertation on an account book of the famous Horus temple in Edfu (Würzburg University). Her edition of this lengthy and important document is hot off the press: Aus der Buchhaltung des Weinmagazins im Edfu-Tempel. Kommentierte Textedition des demotischen P.Carlsberg 409.(2006).

From 2000 to 2004 they collaborated in the DFG project “Documentary Texts from Soknopaiou Nesos” under the directorship of Kart-Th. Zauzich, Würzburg University, Germany. The results of this project are under way of publication.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact dieleman@humnet.ucla.edu

CJS Seminar: "Religion After Secularization: The Liturgical Lives of Generation X Jews in LA"

Presents

“Religion After Secularization: The Liturgical Lives of Generation X Jews in LA”

Seminar on the LA Jewish Experience

By: J. Shawn Landres (Synagogue 3000)

Tuesday, April 4, 2006 • 306 Royce Hall • 12 pm

Pre-Registration is required. Please RSVP to cjs@humnet.ucla.edu

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

UDHIG meeting

-- submitted by Zoe Borovsky, PhD (zoe@humanities.ucla.edu)

CJS Seminar: "Torah Vs. Toyrah: The Linguistic Construction of Orthodox Identity"

The UCLA Center for Jewish Studies

Presents

“Torah Vs. Toyrah: The Linguistic Construction of Orthodox Identity”

Seminar on Jewish Culture

By: Sarah Bunin Benor (Hebrew Union College)

Monday, April 10, 2006 • 306 Royce Hall • 12 pm

Pre-Registration is required. Please RSVP to cjs@humnet.ucla.edu

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

The Newly Discovered Gospel of Judas

Marvin Meyer

Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies, Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, Chapman University; and Member of the Advisory Board of National Geographic Society Judas Codex Project

will speak about the Gospel of Judas contained in the fourth century AD Codex Tchacos, which was acquired by the Swiss Maecenas Foundation only a number of years ago. Considered to have been lost for ever, the Gospel of Judas will now be published in due course as the result of a concerted effort of scholars to conserve and translate the codex. Marvin Meyer is a member of this distinguished team of international scholars and will relate the discovery of the manuscript, the painstaking work of conservation, and the Gospel of Judas' significance for the study of early Christianity.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/

"THE JEWISH PRESENCE IN LATIN AMERICA: THEN AND NOW"

Present

"THE JEWISH PRESENCE IN LATIN AMERICA: THEN AND NOW"

By: Marcos Aguinis (Author; Former Secretary of Culture, Argentina)

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 • 306 Royce Hall • 4 PM

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

"THE SATIRICAL WORLD OF SHIMEN DZIGAN"

Presents

"THE SATIRICAL WORLD OF SHIMEN DZIGAN"

Seminar in Yiddish Studies

By: John Efron (UC Berkeley)

Thursday, October 19, 2006 • 306 Royce Hall • 12 PM

Pre-registration is required. Please email cjs@humnet.ucla.edu to RSVP.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

"HISTORY’S TRACES: PERSONAL NARRATIVE, DIASPORA, AND THE ARAB-JEWISH EXPERIENCE"

Presents

“HISTORY’S TRACES: PERSONAL NARRATIVE, DIASPORA, AND THE ARAB-JEWISH EXPERIENCE”

Faculty/Student Workshop

Kyla Tompkins (Pomona College

Pre-registration is required. • Please email cjs@humnet.ucla.edu to RSVP.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (vdios@humanities.ucla.edu)

'The Greek and Coptic Lives of Saint Antony' by Dr Malcolm Choat, Macquarie University, Sydney

Dr Malcolm Choat is Associate Lecturer in Ancient History at Macquarie University in Sydney, from where he gained his PhD in 2000. Since then he has worked on the papyrus evidence for eary Christianity in Egypt, the rise of monasticism, especially as seen in the papyri, and the development of the Coptic epistolary tradition. His recently published book, Belief and Cult in Fourth century papyri, deals with the evidence for religion in papyrus documents, and he is currently preparing a re-edition of the papyrus archive of Apa Johannes.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

Current Coptic Initiatives for Educational, Cultural, Social, and Constitutional Reforms in Egypt

Mr. Youssef Sidhom Editor-in-Chief of Egyptian weekly Watani

Abstract: The promotion of Coptic culture in the media and educational systems in Egypt can have a powerful positive impact on the promotion of democracy, education, civil society, and nation building. Since the late 18th century Coptic politicians and intellectuals have been involved in the process of nation building of the modern republic of Egypt, even though their presence and input may not always be acknowledged in the public media and history text books. The talk will address the Coptic contribution from a variety of angles, such as its cultural, social, political, historical, and religious aspects, and reflect upon the possibilities and challenges of today. The ongoing project to amend the Egyptian constitution presents an opportunity for Coptic initiatives once again; are we seeing positive signs and is there a cause for optimism?

Biography: Mr. Youssef Sidhom is Editor-in-Chief of Watani, which is a major weekly Egyptian newspaper founded in 1958. Watani (www.wataninet.com) is the only newspaper in the Arab world that contains sections in Arabic, English and French. Watani’s mission includes providing a forum for democracy, citizenship rights, liberalism (by Egyptian standards), and women and minority issues. Watani is deeply dedicated to offer its readers high quality, extensive, credible press coverage, with special focus on Coptic issues, culture, heritage, and contribution to Egyptian society.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact dieleman@humnet.ucla.edu

"Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai, A Symposium"

Related lectures are planned with Anthony Cutler on Thursday, January 25 ( see calendar entry above) and Bissera Pentcheva on Sunday, January 28, at 3:00 pm in University Hall at Loyola Marymount University. Prof. Pentcheva (Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, Stanford University) will discuss “The Performative Icon.” For more information about the conference, please contact Michelle Keller at 310-440-7034 or write mkeller@getty.edu.

-- submitted by Brett Landenberger (cmrs@humanities.ucla.edu)

"Making Sense of the Chinese Rites Debate: Rome 1735, Los Angeles 2007"

-- submitted by Brett Landenberger (cmrs@humanities.ucla.edu)

‘They have forgotten their language and speak the language of the hijra’ Reconsidering the fate of Coptic after the Arab conquest

Arietta Papaconstantinou (Dumbarton Oaks)

‘They have forgotten their language and speak the language of the hijra’ - Reconsidering the fate of Coptic after the Arab conquest

Abstract: When the Arab general ‘Amr ibn al-As conquered Egypt in 642CE, he subjugated a Christian country where proficiency in the native tongue – called Coptic – and in Greek was the norm. Despite the gradual introduction of Arabic in Egyptian society the subsequent first two centuries of Arab rule were among the most productive in terms of original Coptic literature, and the form and content of those texts have much to say about the self-definition of the Egyptian Christian communities during that period. However, even though ecclesiastical authors in Egypt did not start using Arabic until the tenth century, when they did start they almost completely abandoned Coptic as a writing language. Over the following two centuries, Egyptian gradually disappeared as a spoken language as well, so that by the thirteenth century, Coptic was only used in formal ritual contexts, primarily the liturgy. Although Arabicization was widespread among the Christian communities of the Middle East, only Coptic was eventually fully supplanted by Arabic, thus bringing a longstanding tradition of multilingualism within the country to an end. It is remarkable how few attempts have been made to explain this language shift and those few suggestions mostly focus on linguistic and religious aspects, or rest on biased premises. However, recent work on the sources of the period is opening up an avenue for a renewed approach, which involves examining more closely the stages of this development and taking into consideration the broader historical context within which this extraordinary language shift took place.

Short bio: Arietta Papaconstantinou has currently a leave of absence from the Collège de France in Paris and works as a fellow in Byzantine Studies at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington DC on a project entitled “The Rise and Fall of Coptic: a Cultural History of the Language and its Speakers”. She is a specialist in Coptic and Byzantine studies, both as a philologist and cultural historian, as exemplified by her book Le culte des saints en Égypte des Byzantins aux Abbassides. L’apport des inscriptions et des papyrus grecs et coptes, collection "Le monde byzantin", CNRS Éditions, Paris 2001.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact dieleman@humnet.ucla.edu

Disappearing Speech Acts? Wing- and Heart-shaped Magical Words on Greco-Roman Amulets

Christopher A. Faraone,

Frank C. and Gertrude M. Springer Professor of Classics and Humanities at the University of Chicago

Disappearing Speech Acts? Wing- and Heart-shaped Magical Words on Greco-Roman Amulets

Faraone is a renowned specialist on ancient magic and has written numerous articles and books on the subject. He is co-editor (with D. Dodd) of Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives (2003) and (with L. McClure) of Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World (2005), and author of Talismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual (1992) and Ancient Greek Love Magic (1999). His The Stanzaic Structure of Ancient Greek Elegiac Poetry will appear in 2007 with Oxford University Press.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

Conference: HISTORY AS REFLECTED IN ISRAELI LITERATURE

“HISTORY AS REFLECTED IN ISRAELI LITERATURE" An International Conference March 11-13, 2007

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. TO REGISTER, PLEASE EMAIL CJSRSVP@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE: One of the signal achievements of Israeli culture since its very beginning has been the production of a rich and varied literature. This conference is dedicated to the examination of Israeli literature in its intersection with Israeli history. That is, we are interested in the way in which literature integrates, confronts, or ignores historical events of significance to the formation of Israeli (and Jewish) culture. Accordingly, we have invited to UCLA a distinguished and diverse group of writers, literary scholars, historians to reflect on the intersection of literature and history. At the heart of our deliberations stand a set of overlapping question: Can one write Israeli history today without paying careful attention to Israel's rich literary tradition? And can one write literature in Israel without feeling the heavy weight of history? Ultimately, we seek to explore in this conference the subtle relationships among literary creations, historical memory, and the society they reflect or mold.

FOR A COMPLETE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE, PLEASE VISIT: http://www.cjs.ucla.edu/Events/Flyers/IsraelConf.pdf

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. TO REGISTER, PLEASE EMAIL CJSRSVP@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (cjs@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www.cjs.ucla.edu/Events/Flyers/IsraelConf.pdf

"POWER WITHOUT LAND? JEWS AND WARFARE IN MODERN EUROPE"

"POWER WITHOUT LAND? JEWS AND WARFARE IN MODERN EUROPE" Faculty/Student Workshop

Derek Penslar (University of Toronto)

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 306 Royce Hall 12:30pm

Pre-registration is required. To RSVP please email cjsrsvp@humnet.ucla.edu or call (310)267-5327.

-- submitted by Vivian Holenbeck (cjs@humanities.ucla.edu)

The Ninth St. Shenouda Conference of Coptic Studies

You are cordially invited to attend

The Ninth St. Shenouda Conference of Coptic Studies at UCLA.

Friday-Saturday, 13-14 July 2007

Royce Hall, Room 314,

For full program and directions, see www.stshenouda.com.

You may register at www.stshenouda.com. Walk-ins are most welcome.

Scholars from 14 institutions will present 19 papers in all things Coptic: monasticism, history, sociopolitical development, language, early Christian literature, Gnosticism, art, music, ecumenism, library resources, and education.

The conference is organized by St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society and co-sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (NELC) of UCLA and the Collegiate Coptic Orthodox Christian Club at UCLA.

Nineteen will be presented by scholars such as:

- Professor James Robinson of Claremont Graduate University,

- Professor Marvin Meyer of Chapman University,

- Professor Boulos Ayad Ayad of University of Colorado,

- Dr. Jacco Dieleman of UCLA,

- Professor Mark Swanson of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago,

- Dr. Tim Vivian of California State University Bakersfield,

- Dr. Monica Bontty of the University of Louisiana in Monroe,

- Mr. Hany Takla of St. Shenouda Society,

- Dr. Maged (Severus) Mikhail of California State University Fullerton,

- Dr. Rene Marquedant of Claremont Graduate University,

- Michelle Youssef-Forgione of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles,

- Dr. Youhanna Youssef of Australian Catholic University in Melbourne,

- Dr. Saad Michael Saad, Senior Editor, Watani International.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

CJS SEMINAR: Fighting for the Honor of Israel: Jews and Professional Wrestling in Warsaw before WWII

Presents

Fighting for the Honor of Israel: Jews and Professional Wrestling in Warsaw before WWII, a Seminar in Yiddish Studies.

By Edward Portnoy (Jewish Theoloigcal Seminary)

Thursday, November 15, 2007 12:00PM

Pre-registration is required. Please RSVP at (310) 267- 5327 or at cjsrsvp@humnet.ucla.edu

For more information about the event or the speaker, please visit our website.

-- submitted by Bora Kim (cjs2@humanities.ucla.edu)

Egypt and Israel –The ways of cultural contact in the Late Bronze and Iron Age

Bernd U. Schipper (Associate Professor for Biblical and Religious Studies, University of Bremen)

Egypt and Israel –The ways of cultural contact in the Late Bronze and Iron Age

Abstract: The debate on the form and significance of cultural contact between Israel and Ancient Egypt is one of the most salient issues of religious history in the Ancient Near East. Besides the so-called 'Egyptian-tradition' with such famous texts as the Joseph Story or the book Exodus, a few more literary traditions are represented in the Old Testament that show similarities with Egyptian literature. For example, the book of Proverbs includes passages which are influenced by Egyptian wisdom instruction of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550 – 1070 BCE). If these Biblical texts are taken as evidence for Egyptian influence on the Old Testament, a pertinent question poses itself to the scholarly community: how to imagine and reconstruct the ways of cultural contact? And when could Egyptian literary texts such as the Instruction of Amenemope have had an influence on literary production in Ancient Israel? The lecture will put forward an answer to this question by examining all relevant sources that shine light on the ways of cultural contact between Egypt and Israel in the Late Bronze and Iron Age.

Bernd U. Schipper studied Theology, Egyptology and Archaeology at the Universities of Mainz and Bonn. In 1999 he obtained a PhD in Theology (University of Bonn) and in 2004 a PhD in Egyptology (University of Hamburg: Prof. Hartwig Altenmueller). Since 2002 he has been Associate Professor for Biblical and Religious Studies at the Department for the Study of Religions at the University of Bremen. During the summer term 2007 he was Visiting Professor at the University of Heidelberg. He is co-editor of the Journal "Die Welt des Orients" (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Press) and has published and edited books about the history of Apocalypticism, the cultural contacts between Egypt and Israel in biblical times, the history of Egyptology and the religious literature of Pharaonic Egypt. More: http://www.religion.uni-bremen.de/schipper

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact Dieleman@humnet.ucla.edu

CJS SEMINAR: The 'Jewish Question' Among the German-Speaking Exiles in Los Angeles

Presents

"The 'Jewish Question' Among the German-Speaking Exiles in Los Angeles"

Seminar on the LA Jewish Experince

By Ehrhard Bahr (UCLA)

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 4:00PM

Pre-registration is required. Please RSVP at (310) 267- 5327 or at cjsrsvp@humnet.ucla.edu

For more information about the event or the speaker, please visit our website.

-- submitted by Bora Kim (cjs2@humanities.ucla.edu)

Locating the Copts in Ottoman History: New Approaches & Findings

presents

Febe Armanios

Assistant Professor of History Middlebury College

Abstract The history of Copts in the “early modern” Ottoman era (1517-1798 CE) has been scarcely studied in the academic literature. But the question of how to begin writing the history of non-Muslims in the Middle East has been framed within this narrow construct: were these communities “tolerated” or “persecuted” by the broader Islamic society? This paradigm fails to produce the complex, nuanced answers demanded by varying historical situations. In essence, and for the Coptic case, it tells us little about what it meant to be a practicing Coptic Christian in Ottoman Egypt. As such, I discuss how we can go about uncovering new sources and how to raise different questions so that we can transcend these restrictive paradigms and learn more about the varied nature of Coptic life. In my talk, I present “snapshots” of the Coptic religious experience in an effort to grasp how Coptic believers actually constructed and, at times, contested their religious identity. I look to a body of sources that has been mostly neglected in the scholarly literature and analyze Coptic-Arabic manuscripts—martyrologies, hagiographies, miracle narratives and sermons—collected from archives in Egypt, Europe and the United States. I also supplement my work with Ottoman-era Arabic chronicles and European travel accounts. In the end, I argue that maintenance of and participation in popular religious life became crucial for a Coptic minority which resisted full cultural assimilation by seeking to articulate and preserve its religious distinctiveness in Ottoman Egypt.

Biography Febe Armanios is an Assistant Professor of History at Middlebury College in Vermont, where she specializes in Islamic and Middle Eastern History. Her research interests the history of popular religious practices among Egypt’s Copts, Muslim-Christian relations, and women and gender in the Muslim World. Her publications include “Patriarchs, Archons and the Eighteenth-Century Resurgence of the Coptic Community,” in William Lyster, ed., The Cave Church at the Monastery of St. Paul the First Hermit (Yale University Press, forthcoming 2008); “A Christian Martyr under Mamluk Justice: The Trials of Salib (d. 1512) according to Muslim and Coptic Sources,” co-authored with Boğaç Ergene, in Muslim World (2006); and “‘The Virtuous Woman’: Images of Gender in Modern Coptic Society,” in Middle Eastern Studies (2002). She is currently preparing a monograph on Coptic religious life in the Ottoman period, titled Beyond Persecution and Tolerance: Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt.

-- submitted by Jacco Dieleman (dieleman@humanities.ucla.edu)

Between Conception and Perception--Egyptology Lecture

Constructing Community--Egyptology Lecture

Between Conception and Perception

Egyptology lecture--Kara Cooney

Egyptology Lecture--Elizabeth Waraksa

CJS Seminar: 'Apocolypse Then: Eschatology and Violence in Jewish Antiquity'