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Nicholas Al-Jeloo
University of Sydney
Occupation
Researcher
Contact

Melbourne
Australia
ABOUT
Dr. Nicholas Al-Jeloo is an Australian-born Iraqi-Assyrian. He holds a PhD in Syriac studies from the University of Sydney, an MA in Eastern Christianity from the University of Leiden and a BA in Semitic Languages from the University of Sydney. He is a native speaker of English and Assyrian/Chaldean (Neo-Aramaic), is fluent in Arabic and Classical Syriac, and has a working knowledge of French, Biblical Hebrew, ancient Aramaic and Akkadian. Dr. Al-Jeloo taught beginners and intermediate Syriac as a Casual Academic at the University of Sydney in 2005, and presented a lecture at a day school held by Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education in 2010. He has also worked as a Casual Research Assistant at the University of Sydney, and as a Casual Researcher for the Peshitta Institute at Leiden University. In addition, he has presented at 19 international conferences between 2000 and 2013 and has conducted numerous field trips amongst Assyrian communities in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey, as well as amongst Iraqi refugee communities in Jordan and Lebanon, between 2002 and 2010. Dr. Al-Jeloo is also an artist and photographer. His exhibition about Assyrian life in the Middle East “Persistence and Existence” has shown at mainstream art galleries and public libraries in both Sydney and Melbourne between 2010 and 2012. Prior to that he had worked in Iraq as a photographer for Christoph Baumer, who included many of his slides in the publication: "The Church of the East: an illustrated history of Assyrian Christianity" (2006). Among his own publications are the "Modern Aramaic (Assyrian/Syriac) Phrasebook and Dictionary" (2007), and "Persistence and Existence" (2010), as well as journal articles, conference papers and chapters in peer-reviewed publications. He is currently Guest Editor-in Chief of a special issue of the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies (JAAS), titled: “The Heritage and Context of the Modern Assyrians, and of Neo-Aramaic: New Approaches to Modern Assyrian Studies,” Vol. 27, No. 2 (Fall 2013).
Discipline
History
Sub Areas
Assyrian Studies
Folklore/Folklife
Minorities
Assyrian
History Of Architecture
History Of Religion
Middle East/Near East Studies
Geographic Areas of Interest
Iran
Iraq
Assyria
Turkey
Ottoman Empire
All Middle East
Syria
Specialties
Assyrian Hist & Cult
Syriac Art & Archit
Syriac Christianity & Assyrian Ident
Languages
Arabic (fluent)
Assyrian (native)
Dutch (elementary)
French (advanced)
Hebrew (intermediate)
Kurdish (elementary)
English (native)
Syriac (fluent)
Aramaic (fluent)
Akkadian (intermediate)
Persian (elementary)
Education
PhD | 2013 | Department of Hebrew,Biblical and Jewish Studies | University of Sydney
MA | 2007 | World Religions | University of Leiden
BA | 2004 | Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies | U of Sydney
Abstracts
Persian Christians: Assyrian Art and Architecture of Urmia as an Example of Regional Cultural Expression The Assyrian Adventure: The Chaldean Catholic Church and Pre-1933 Discourses of Identity Provinces for Minorities: Re-Mapping Iraq's Internal Boundaries A Clean Sweep?: The Attempted Purging of Assyrians from Hakkâri