University of Virginia
Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures
 
News & Events
  News & Events
 

UPCOMING MESALC EVENTS

Contemporary Israeli and Palestinian Poetry
In English Translation

Peter Cole, Award Winning Poet and Translator

Reading from Recent Works

When: Tuesday, November 5, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Location: “Minor Hall room 125,” University of Virginia

Free and open to the public

* R e f r e s h m e n t s w i l l b e p r o v i d e d *

For More Information

For Event Flyer

Peter Cole (b. 1957, Paterson, NJ) is the author of three books of poems, most recently Things on Which I've Stumbled (New Directions, 2008). His many volumes of translations from Hebrew and Arabic include The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492 (Princeton), Aharon Shabtai's J'accuse (New Directions), Taha Muhammad Ali's So What: New & Selected Poems 1973-2005 (Copper Canyon), and Hebrew Writers on Writing (Trinity). Cole who lives in Jerusalem and co-edits Ibis Editions, has taught at Yale University, Wesleyan University, and Middlebury College.

Cole has received numerous honors for his work, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, as well as the National Jewish Book Award for Poetry, the Association of American Publishers' Hawkins Award for Book of the Year, the PEN Translation Award for Poetry, the MLA Scaglione Translation Award, and a TLS Translation Prize. In 2007, he was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Link to Peter Cole's Website.

CURRENT NEWS

MESALC Speaker Series

MESALC Film Series

April 2009:

On Wednesday, April 2nd, the class of ARAB 102-1 was held in the language lab and the Video Conference room during the regular time of the class from 11:00 to 11:50. During that time the students were connected to through web cameras to another Arabic class at Washington University at San Louis. Students carried on a live conversation in Arabic with their counterparts talking about their study, daily life routine and other issues that pertain to the lessons they covered during their first year of Arabic. This activity was initiated and organized by Mr. Abdulkareem Ramadan, the Arabic Program Coordinator at UVA and Mr. Younasse Tarbouni from Washington University. Matthew Dickerson from ASCIT undertook the technical assistance preparation part. The students had an enjoyable time using Arabic in a real life situation where they had to communicate for a purpose and at the end of the hour they didn’t want to leave the language lab and asked for more session. Mr.Tarbouni had the same observation about his students from Wash U. I believe this technology is of great educational benefits in general and in for language learning in particular especially in a foreign language setting where the students typically lack opportunities to communicate with native speakers of the learnt language. It also provides a great potential of cross-culture communication through contacting native speakers in the native culture i.e, conversing in Arabic with students in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, or any other Arab country. - Omima El Araby

 

 

March 2009:

Arabesque Fest
"Reflections on War, Prison, and Androgynous Writing”
A round-table discussion celebrating the Arab world’s leading novelists and major critics.
March 9th, 2009 from 4:00 - 6:00PM in the Harrison Institute Auditorium.
For more information, including a list of round-table participants, please click here.

February 2009:

MESALC Movie Series Presents: Iklimler ("Climates") on Wednesday, Feb. 25th from 3:30 to 6:00PM in Shea House Room 211. Click here for more information.

January 2009:

Professor Farsaneh Milani's translation of poet's Simin Behbehan's poem "Homage to Being" appears in the article "Despite Odds, Women's Movement Persists in Iran" by Jacki Lyden and Davar Iran Ardalan. This NPR story can be read here.

Professor Mohammed Sawaie participated in University of Richmond's Arabian Nights, sponsored by the Arabic Language Program. Professor Sawaie read works by poet Mahmoud Darwish. For more information, please click here.

Professor Mehr Farooqi is interviewd by The Hindu: Magazine/Column of Continuity and Change on her new Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature. Read the interview here.

Professor Roberta Micallef spoke to students and faculty about Turkish author Halide Edib's book Inside India.


Photo collage courtesy of Phil McEldowney

 

2008 News & Events:

New Faculty Come to MESALC

We are also pleased to welcome two new faculty who will join the South Asian Languages and Literatures Program for Fall 08: Rina Williams and Geeta Patel.

AMELC Department Splits

This Summer the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (AMELC) split up into two smaller, geographically, linguistically, historically, and culturally more unified departments: The Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures (MESALC) and the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (DEALLC).


Updates on Our Recent Graduates

Click on the link below to find out what our recent graduates have been up to since finishing their degrees in Middle East Studies...

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