Cornelis Hulsman - Life

Life

Hulsman was born in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, in 1955, and studied development sociology at the State University of Leiden in the Netherlands from 1977-1984. During his studies he specialized during on Islam and Middle Eastern Christianity. From 1979 to 1982, Hulsman was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Christian Democratic Youth Appeal (CDJA), and was from 1982-1994 a member of the Middle East Committee of the Christian Democratic Appeal (Dutch: Christen Democratisch Apel, CDA). From 1986 until 1994, Hulsman occupied several leading positions in the Dutch emigration service. In 1994, Hulsman became a correspondent for several Dutch media outlets in Egypt, and with his Egyptian wife Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil, founded in 1997 the "Religious News Service from the Arab World". From 1999-2001, at the request of the American University Press in Cairo, Hulsman carried out research on the Coptic Orthodox Holy Family tradition and compared this with earlier work carried out by Dr. Otto F.A. Meinardus in the 1950s and 1960s. Hulsman's work resulted in the chapter “Tracing the Route of the Holy Family Today,” in the book “Be Thou There; The Holy Family's Journey in Egypt,” AUC Press, 2001. Following this research and publication, numerous magazine and newspaper publications on aspects of the Holy Family tradition followed. Hulsman also organized tens of visits to locations related to this tradition, built a Web site about this tradition and has become one of the world's foremost experts on this ancient Coptic tradition. In 2000 and 2001, Hulsman was the adjunct affiliate assistant professor in Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo, and in 2002 organized a workshop for Egyptian journalists regarding reporting on human rights. Hulsman decided devote his attention to developing an Egyptian institute for inter-cultural understanding, changed the name of the electronic digest RNSAW in 2003 to Arab-West Report. Following this, Hulsman initiated with a group of prominent Egyptians the "Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU)". CAWU then applied for Egyptian Non-Government Organization (NGO) status, which was obtained following a long bureaucratic process in January 2008. In 2004 Hulsman initiated the construction of an electronic library based on the reviews of Egyptian media and his own investigative reporting in the Religious News Service from the Arab World and Arab-West Report since 1997. Because of the delays in forming an Egyptian NGO, in 2005 Hulsman and his wife founded the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT). CIDT has become the institute preparing media reviews and translations for Arab-West Report. In May 2006, Hulsman organized the visit of former Dutch Prime Minister Andreas van Agt to Egypt, who lectured at universities and institutions in Cairo about the need for Arab-West understanding and met with prominent government officials in which he expressed strong support for the initiative to create a Center for Arab-West Understanding. Hulsman became in August 2007 the project director of the Electronic Network for Arab-West Understanding (ENAWU). ENAWU links organizations in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon with organizations in several European countries. This network was launched on June 5, 2008, by HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal. In March 2008 Hulsman coordinated efforts of the Center for Arab-West Understanding in a successful attempt to defuse the crises created by Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders' film “Fitna,” through organizing a visit of a delegation of Dutch church representatives and Muslim organizations to Egypt which was widely reported about in the Netherlands, asking Egyptian scholars to write reports explaining the Qur'anic texts Wilders highlighted and discussing the crisis on Egyptian TV and in public meetings at Cairo University.