Our Workshops
The research objectives of this international and interdisciplinary project are structured
primarily through the scholarly and creative outcomes of three, thematic and hands-on workshops.
About Our Workshops
The framing of the term “global” is hardly ever questioned in much of what passes as global history, global literatures, and global humanities. Often, the term is understood as a concept that’s by and large padded by the Anglo-Saxon academic discourse of the 90s. Within this framing of the global, connections, voices from the margins, and autonomous histories are emphasized with a hope that some kind of renewed understanding of global experience can be extracted from these diverse perspectives. All that is very noble and applaudable. Who doesn’t want equity in the way we create our discourses?
However, the problem with this kind of multipolar perspective is that it assumes that conflicting histories can be presented side by side without ever questioning the legitimacy of their larger discursive legacies. Such liberal-pluralist approaches to the global flatten the differences and reduce political projects to mere commodities while making their own politics of framing the discourse invisible. Too often, the structures of so-called global knowledge contribute more to our ignorance of non-western societies and premodern pasts than to a meaningful understanding of their differences.
One can see such a framing of the global in almost any handbook of global history, international law, etcetera, wherein these structures of thought and language remain by and large Eurocentric. Historians continue to frame the experience of time in the temporal markers of European historiography, and literary scholars are rarely able to provide a glimpse into literary imagination of a non-western past without referring to the genres that have come to be theorized from within the western literary tradition.
Our workshops hope to inspire a radical shift in the language through which we come to engage the global pasts. Only through a diversely collaborative thinking project like the Global Past Research Initiative can we hope not just to provincialize Europe, but to think outside of its given epistemologies and to conceptualize the global from the non-western hemisphere of the globe.
Workshop 1: Toronto, Canada
February 4-5, 2023
Collaborative Digital Research Space
Maanjiwe nendamowinan Building | University of Toronto Mississauga
Over a wintery weekend in February, this two-day workshop facilitated an inaugural dialogue among scholars across our four collaborating institutions, including the University of Toronto, the American University in Cairo, the Institut français de Pondychéry, and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Taking full advantage of what we had missed and what we had learned during the pandemic, we gathered in a physical space, sat around a table, and talked while having snacks! At the same time, we were joined virtually by our fellow scholars across the globe, benefitting from the convenience of online collaboration.
What We Did
Centering our core objectives of interdisciplinarity, equity, and the value of personal histories, the workshop featured 3 panel presentations.
Among the many topics covered, Ajay Rao discussed how politics allow for and influence local and national narratives of the past. Maria Hupfield shared how the living archive of Indigenous oral history and cultural memory can be preserved, retrieved, and transmitted. Suleyman Dost revealed how the materiality of historical evidence can fill the gaps in our pictures of the past.
Concluding with a roundtable discussion, we reflected on what we had learned from one another and posed a new set of complex and significant questions: Is a truly global dialogue possible? How can we work together and outside our own fields? How can we meaningfully engage the diversity of the global pasts to inform the teachings of the modern humanities?
We will continue these avenues of inquiry in our next workshop, which is slated to take place in Cairo, Egypt, February 17-24, 2024. In a new city with a deep history and through a novel collaborative framework, we hope to challenge our presumptions, break past habits, and pave a new path for humanities research.
The Panels
Take a closer look at the topics discussed over this generative opening weekend.
DAY 1
DAY 2
8:45 AM – 9:30 AM
Opening Remarks
9:30 – 10:45 AM
SESSION 1:
Bridges into the Past: Genres of Looking Back
“Dangers of the Past: The Politics of Historiographic Epistemology”
Ajay Rao, Department of Historical Studies, U of T
“Mapping the Global through Microhistories: A Preliminary Inquiry”
Heba Mostafa, Department of Art History, U of T
“Saints and their Lives: History, Hagiography, Literature”
Amina Elbendary, Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations, AUC
Discussant
Karen Ruffle, Department of Historical Studies, U of T
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
SESSION 2:
The Order of Time: Archiving the Past
“An Open Archive for Palm-leaf Manuscripts? A Few Reflections Based on Two South Indian Collections”
Hugo David, Indology Department, EFEO
“Finding Time in the History of Art”
SeungJung Kim, Department of Art History, U of T
“A Living Archive”
Maria Hupfield, Department of Visual Studies, U of T
Discussant
Walid Saleh, Department for the Study of Religion, U of T
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM
Closing Remarks
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM
Arrival and Morning Refreshments
9:30 – 10:45 AM
SESSION 3:
Going Global: Philosophy, History & Material Culture
“Writing on the Wall: Reflections on the Uses of Material Culture as Historical Sources”
Sulyeman Dost, Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, U of T
“Shaping the Past of Philosophy While Nurturing its Present: Challenges in South Asian Context”
Mrinal Kaul, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay
“A South Italian Pilgrimage Shrine as Global Hub”
Jill Caskey, Department of Visual Studies, U of T
Discussant
Alexandra Gillespie, Department of English and Drama, U of T
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
SESSION 4:
Futures of our Pasts: Possible New Directions in Humanistic Inquiry
A moderated, roundtable discussion, curated around the following questions:
1. What have we learned from the work of others in this workshop?
2. Is a truly global dialogue possible?
3. How can we meaningfully engage the diversity of the global pasts to inform the teachings of the modern humanities?
Moderators
Jill Caskey and Ajay Rao, Co-Principal Investigators
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM
Closing Remarks
Workshop 2: Cairo, Egypt
Throughout the week, our graduate student participants interviewed one another about their experience. Listen as they reflect on the most memorable moments of the workshop.
February 18-24, 2024
American University in Cairo
Institutional Sponsor | University of Toronto Mississauga
This weeklong international workshop was organized around visits to Coptic, Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk sites and to museums, including the Grand Egyptian Museum and Museum of Islamic Art. Working in small groups, graduate students and scholars across five institutions — including the American University in Cairo, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, the University of Toronto, Cairo University, and Ain Shams University — focused on a particular site, collection, or object and presented their observations in situ to the full group. Presentations drew upon a common list of readings selected to inspire interdisciplinary dialogue and prompt methodological reflection.
In advance of the workshop, select faculty from the University of Toronto met with Dr. Adam Talib, Associate Professor in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations, to explore the potential of establishing doctoral programming in the Humanities at AUC. Roundtable discussions at the end of the workshop provided additional opportunities for group reflection and deliberation, alongside special lectures, optional site visits, and social events held throughout the week.
Day 1
Sunday, Feb 18, 2024
We began with an opening reception, featuring a sumptuous catered lunch at AUC’s Tahrir Campus. Situated amid the vibrant streets of old Cairo, this historic campus exudes charm and cultural significance. In the heart of this bustling city, a single block proudly hosts a synagogue, a mosque, and an Armenian church, epitomizing Cairo’s role as a nexus of Mediterranean religious diversity.
Following the reception, working groups convened in the serene ambiance of AUC’s outdoor courtyard to collaborate in person, after months of virtual dialogue scheduled across our disparate geographies and local time zones. Majestic cats weaved gracefully through our gathering, adding a touch of enchantment to our scholarly discourse.
We ended the day with a Nile Cruise — a legendary evening of entertainment, food, and new friendships.
