#WoolfWatch Week Nine

As we are now working or staying at home during this time of isolation and social distancing, we thought it would be nice to share a list of some of our home entertainment recommendations. We are calling this new series #WoolfWatch. Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for more updates in the coming weeks and welcome to Week Nine!

We send our best wishes to you all at this time and hope you enjoy our series.

Video:

What impact is the COVID-19 pandemic having on religious communities outside the UK? How are different faith groups coping across the globe? COVID-19 Chronicles: Beyond the UK is the second part of our COVID-19 Chronicles series. In these videos, Dr Ed Kessler speaks with religious leaders and scholars from around the world about how they and their communities are adapting to the crisis and what this means for the future of religious practice and belief. Follow the series as we upload new interviews here and catch up on past episodes of the COVID-19 Chronicles here.

Podcast:

We all try to forget bad things and to support ourselves by polishing positive memories from our past. Can this process happen on a national level too? Or can the memorialising of something painful in a nation’s history be used as a political weapon? This week's podcast recommendation is Memories Lost and Found from our Naked Reflections series with The Naked Scientists. Joining Ed Kessler in this episode to discuss political memory in Nigeria and Israel are Christopher Wadibia and Philip Luther-Davies. You can subscribe and listen to weekly episodes of Naked Reflections here or on your favourite podcast platform.

Blog:

As places of worship across the world are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people of faith need to either offer prayers within the restricted walls of their homes or make use of the virtual platforms available. Our blog recommendation for this week is Religion and COVID-19 in India by Woolf Institute online course alumna Piyali Mitra. Piyali details how religious communities in India are adapting to this new climate and how they are working to support others during this time. You can read Piyali's blog here.

Research:

The Arabic of the Ottoman Empire presents an immensely fruitful linguistic topic. Our research recommendation this week is Dr Esther-Miriam Wagner's development of a Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic. The aim of the project is to produce the first linguistic volume to focus exclusively on varieties of Christian, Jewish and Muslim Arabic in the Ottoman Empire of the 15th to the 20th centuries, and present Ottoman Arabic material in a didactic and easily accessible way. Read more about Miriam's research and this project here.