Biography: Carmel Cassar is Professor of Cultural History, Director of the Institute of Maltese Studies and Chairman of the Platform for Mediterranean Foodways at the Mediterranean Institute. He read for an MPhil in Social Anthropology at Cambridge and defended his PhD under the supervision of Professor Peter Burke at Cambridge in 1994. He has published widely on Maltese and Mediterranean culture and history. After graduating in History and Italian, Cassar spent a few years reconstituting large sections of the Cathedral archives particularly those pertaining to the Roman Inquisition. Cassar was later responsible for the development of an Ethnography Section, and particularly the rehabilitation of the Inquisitor’s Palace at Vittoriosa within the then Malta Museums Department. He also co-founded and served as first Leader of the Slow Food Malta Convivium and helped to generate a research-based interest in the history of food in Malta. Cassar is presently the Malta University delegate for UNeECC [the University Network of the European Capitals of Culture] and is a permanent member of the UNeECC board. His books include: A Concise History of Malta.; Society, Culture and Identity in Early Modern Malta; Honour and Shame in the Mediterranean (translated into five languages); Witchcraft, Sorcery and the Inquisition; Fenkata. An Emblem of Maltese Peasant Resistance?
Historical anthropology in Malta, Italy and the Mediterranean
Food history & culture
Christian/Muslim/Jewish relations
The Roman Inquisition and Catholic policy
Witchcraft, popular values and beliefs
Ethnicity and Cultural Identity
The Society of Jesus and Malta (16th to 18th centuries)
Membership of Professional Bodies: 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014: Academic delegate Terra Madre, Slow Food, Turin, Italy. 2007-present: Member of the Renaissance Society of America. 2000 to present: Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. 1990 to present: Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society. 1980 to present: Member of the Malta Historical Society.
Boards of Learned Journals: Reviews Editor & Editorial Advisory Board Journal of Mediterranean Studies Editorial Advisory Board, Studi sull’Oriente Cristiano - Rome Advisory Board, Storia dell’Urbanistica – Rome Conseil Scientifique, Association Internationale SECUM
Research Grants and Fellowships 2004/2005/2006: Jesuit Historical Institute Fellowships to carry out research at the Jesuit Historical Archives in Rome, Italy. 2007/2003/2002/2001/2000/1999: State, Jesuit and Vatican Archives in Rome - Italian government research grants. 2002: Farsons Foundation Sponsorship for Research in the Humanities (Malta). 2001: University of Malta - Marquis Scicluna Senior Research Fellowship. 2000: University of Wales - Visiting Research Fellowship. 2000: Albany Trust Company Ltd (Channel Islands) - Dr M. Aylwin Cotton Foundation Fellowship. 1998: Grey College, University of Durham - Sidney Holgate Fellowship. 1994: Ethnography Museum Studies Program – University of Palermo. Italian government research bursary.
