Michael Cooperson’s Lectures
24 Mar 2015 - 15:00 / 24 Mar 2015 - 17:00
The Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts on Humour Play and Games is pleased to present
Michael Cooperson
University of California, Los Angeles
Haunting the Secular: Language, Nation, and Religion on Maltese Television
TUESDAY 24 MARCH – PUBLIC LECTURE, 3-5 PM UTM CCT2150
Since becoming a republic in 1974 and joining the European Union in 2004, the tiny nation of Malta has struggled to assert itself as a Catholic European country whose national language combines Arabic, Sicilian, Italian, and English. This talk will look at how a popular comedy series about a haunted apartment building stages questions of history and identity
Getting it Wrong: Poetry and Narrative in ninth century baghdad
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH, 4-6 PM, JACKMAN HUMANITIES BUILDING ROOM 100
In his verses, Abu Nuwas boasts of his drunken orgies, while his contemporary Abu l-Atahiyah begs his audience to remember death and the afterlife. This talk looks at what happened when each poet tried living out his ideal in the real world.
Arabic Translation Lunch Seminar
THURSDAY 26 MARCH, 1-4 PM, BANCROFT HALL ROOM 200B
For graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and faculty who engage in translation from Arabic to English, this seminar will offer a practical group approach. Participation is by RSVP: Professor Jeannie Miller at jeannie.miller@utoronto.ca by 22 March 2015.
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Michael Cooperson teaches Arabic language and literature at UCLA. He works on the cultural history of the early Abbasid caliphate, time travel as a literary device, and Maltese language and culture. His most recent monograph is Al Maʾmūn, a biography of the caliph. His most recent translation is Ibn al-Jawzī’s Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, for the Library of Arabic Literature.
