Great plans are afoot!
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SAVE THE DATE FOR THIS RESCHEDULED EVENT!
The 2024 Annual DSR Alumni & Friends Lecture: Wednesday, October 9, 2024 • 4:00-6:30 pm
With special guest lecturer Cécile Fromont, Professor in the Department of History of Art & Architecture, Harvard University.
In the first half of the eighteenth century, the Inquisition of Lisbon and the civil authorities of Saint Domingue each arrested and detained an African amulet maker. At the center of the two affairs were the empowered bundles the two men composed, turning mostly European esoteric material into empowered objects of Afro-Atlantic agency in the hopes to gain control over their lived circumstances. This lecture considers how these empowered objects bear witness in their composition, use, and afterlives in the archives to the multivalent connections that the slave trade engendered between Europeans and Africans along the two continents’ coasts, and beyond, in the Americas. They enjoin us to think anew about the spiritual and material histories of the Atlantic world as shared domains between Europeans and Africans, and to consider the entangled trajectories of slave trade, witchcraft, and art.
The lecture will be offered in-person and via Zoom. An invitation with all the details and a registration link will be sent to you by email in late summer 2024. In the meantime, marking your calendar is highly recommended – this is not to be missed. Before the previously scheduled event had to be cancelled, all in-person places were taken and we had a substantial waitlist.
Revitalizing DSR spaces at the Jackman Humanities Building
In our previous newsletter we mentioned that several spaces within the department at 170 St. George will be renovated. Here's the latest update, from department manager Michael Twamley:
Plans continue to move forward with design and costing revisions, and the drafting of utility and construction permit applications is under way. With significant HVAC and structural changes to rooms 317 and 318, together with the much-anticipated development of undergraduate “chill-space” and revitalization of graduate spaces, there are many moving parts and much more to do before construction begins.
The project will be finalized over the summer and we will share renderings of what you can expect once the renovations are complete. Start of construction has been fluid but as we inch closer to settled detail, we anticipate implementation to begin in October 2024. Construction is expected to take 6-8 months – with the big unveiling to coincide with the start of the department’s 50th anniversary celebrations in spring 2025. Stay tuned and keep an eye on religion.utoronto.ca for updates.
We'll be celebrating the DSR's fiftieth birthday(s) in 2025-26
Yes, you read that correctly! We have two founding anniversaries: one for the Centre for the Study of Religion and the other for the Department. We are working on this golden opportunity to celebrate all things DSR! We are putting together a program of special events so keep your eyes open for updates.
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