Shawkat Toorawa
Shawkat M. Toorawa | |
---|---|
Born | 1963 Medieval Arabic Literature; Quranic (Islamic) studies; |
Shawkat M. Toorawa (born 1963) is a
Biography
Toorawa was born in
where his father was transferred.He first became aware of being Muslim in 1966 through his
In 1981 he left Singapore to pursue a
He has written about Classic and Medieval Arabic Literature,
He is a former
The Dr. T Project
The Dr.T Project was an idea that first occurred to Toorawa in 2010 while trying to teach students in his classes by connecting subject material to cultural material. When he found that most students didn’t understand the references he teased his class by saying he should teach a class called “Everything Professor Toorawa Thinks You Should Know but You Don’t.”
Students began emailing him asking if such a class did exist and on August 24, 2010 Carol Grumbach, director of the Carol Tatkon Center at Cornell University offered to run such a program at the center. "Something like 50 or 60 people showed up," Toorawa said. "And we thought, 'This might work.'” Since then the Dr.T Project has been in session once a week during academic semesters (tea and shortbread are served as an additional lure).[4][5] It moved to Willard Straight Hall in 2013 where with the assistance of the Browsing Library Director, Brandon Pierotti, the program garnered much continued success. It is now hosted at Yale.
Publications
Articles and Contributions to Books
- "Prayer". Key Themes for the Study of Islam, ed. Jamal J. Elias (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2010)
- "Azad Bilgrami". Essays in Arabic Literary Biography II: 1350-1850, ed. Joseph E. Lowry and Devin J. Stewart (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008)
- "The Shifa’ al-‘alil of Azad Bilgrami (d. 1200/1786): Introducing an Eighteenth-Century Work on al-Mutanabbi’s Poetry". Middle Eastern Literatures 11/2 (2008), 249–264
- "Referencing the Qur'an: A Proposal, with Illustrative Translations and Discussion". Journal of Qur'anic Studies 9(1) (2007), 134–148
- "Islamic Literatures: Writing in the Shade of the Qur'an". Voices of Islam, vol. 4: Voices of Beauty, Art and Science, ed. Vincent Cornell (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2006), 121–141
- "Defining Adab by (re)defining the Adib: Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur and storytelling". On Fiction and Adab in Medieval Arabic Literature, ed. Philip Kennedy (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005), 285-306
- "Modern Arabic Literature and the Qur'an: Creativity, Inimitability… Incompatibilities?". Religious Perspectives in Modern Muslim and Jewish Literatures, ed. Glenda Abramson and Hilary Kilpatrick (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005), 239-257
- "Travel in the Medieval Islamic World: The Importance of Patronage as Illustrated by `Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi". Eastward Bound: Travel and Travellers, 1050-1550, ed. Rosamund Allen (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), 57-70
- "Ibn Abi Tahir vs. al-Jahiz". Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, Cambridge, 6–10 July 2002, ed. James Montgomery (Leuven: Peeters, 2004), 247-261
- "Proximity, Resemblance, Sidebars and Clusters: Fihrist3.3"]. Oriens 38 (2010), 217-247
- Seeking Refuge from Evil: The Power and Portent of the Closing Chapters of the Qur'an. Journal of Qur'anic Studies 4(2), 2002, pp. 54–60
Translations
- "Dracula", a translation of Salwa Al-Naimi, ‘Drakula’. Poetry 194/1 (April 2009), 62-63
- "Flower of Alchemy" and "Church of Daytime", translations of "Zahrat al-kimiya" and "Kanisat al-nahar" by Adonis. al-‘Arabiyya 40-41 (2007-2008), 145
- "The Fall", translation of Adonis, ‘al-Suqut’. Redivider 5(1) (Fall 2007), 81
- "The New Noah", a translation of Adonis, ‘Nuh al-jadid’. Poetry 190/1 (April 2007), 21-23
- "The Inimitable Rose", being Qur'anic saj‘ from Surat al-Duhâ to Surat al-Nâs (Q. 93–114) in English rhyming prose. Journal of Qur'anic Studies 8.2 (2006), 143–153
- "This Is My Name", a translation of Adonis, "هذا هو اسمي". Journal of Arabic Literature Vol. 24, No. 1 (Mar., 1993).
Awards and Distinctions
Fellowships
- New Directions Fellowship, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2006–09)
- Visiting Fellowship, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (April–August 2007)
Awards
- The James A. PerkinsPrize for Interracial Understanding and Harmony, Cornell University (2006)
- Honorary Member, National Residence Hall Honorary (2008–10)
- Member, Honorary Advisory Board, Abraham’s Vision (2005–)
- Member International Jury, Stonetown, Zanzibar(1999)
- First Prize, Aftaab-e-Islam Mosque Centenary Essay Competition, Mauritius (1996)
- Second Prize, The Ezra Pound Award for Literary Translation, University of Pennsylvania (1989)
- First Prize, AATA Translation Contest (1986)
References
- ^ Shawkat Toorawa, ‘’Meditations of a Multicultural Muslim’’
- ^ "My time at UWCSEA has shaped all my choices since. - Shawkat M Toorawa - UWCSEA". www.uwcsea.edu.sg. Retrieved 2021-11-26.
- ^ VIVO Cornell
- ^ The Chronicle of Higher Education
- ^ Cornell Chronicle