Details
May 27, 2024 - June 8, 2024
7:00 am - 2:00 pm
Online
Online only
The Toronto Newar Summer School offers the opportunity to learn to speak the idiom of the Kathmandu Valley, to access the vast Buddhist and Hindu literature preserved in classical Newar, and to delve into the texts of a thriving contemporary literary Himalayan society.
Learners may enroll in any one, in two or in all three classes, depending on whether they want to focus on modern (spoken and written) or on literary (classical and modern) Newar. Participants at all levels are welcome. Beginners receive a first exposure to the language. Intermediate level students have the opportunity to strengthen their skills. Advanced readers will conduct supervised translations from editions and manuscripts.
Four Instructors will lead modules in conversational Newar, classical literary Newar, and modern literary Newar. Academic lectures round off the programme. Srilaxmi Shrestha, M.A., an acclaimed private teacher of Newar and Nepali in Leiden, the Netherlands, will be conducting the conversational Newar course. The modern literary Newar class will be taught by Dr. Bal Gopal Shrestha, one of the leading Nepalese anthropologists of Newar Buddhism, author of The Sacred Town of Sankhu (2012). The tutorials supplementing the conversational Newar course will be offered by Ian Turner, M.A., doctoral student in Buddhist Studies at UofT. UofT professor Dr. Christoph Emmrich, who teaches courses in Newar religion and literature, will be offering the classical Newar class.
Classes will take place online Mondays to Saturdays (Sundays are off) between 7am and 2pm EST (Toronto time), each module within a two-hour slot. The modern spoken Newar module will be supplemented daily by a one-hour tutorial. The final schedule of the summer school will be sent to participants in April.
Teaching materials will be provided online.
Extracurricular events will include lectures on Newar language and literature by scholars in English and in Newar.
Registration closes on March 31, 2024.
Participation is free.
Please send your applications and enquiries to Christoph Emmrich at christoph.emmrich@utoronto.ca.
