Iranian Studies

Found in: Iranian culture

Iranian Studies is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the Iranian cultural region (or the Iranian "cultural continent"). It incorporates the study of history, literature, art and culture of Iran. The terms Iranology and Iranistics are less commonly used. Iranian Studies is broader than and distinct from Persian Studies, which is the study of the modern Persian language and literature specifically. The discipline of Iranian Studies focuses on broad trends in culture, history, language and other aspects of a variety of Iranian peoples not only Persians, but Baluchis, Kurds, Pashtuns, Ossetians, Scythians, etc.

Iranian Studies in pre-modern Iran

Ferdowsi, a Persian poet and thinker, is known as the founder of Iranian Studies. In his masterpiece Shahnameh, he tried extensively to address Persian culture, literature, art, history and anthropology.

In the ninth century, the Persian historian Jarir e Tabari made a distinct contribution to Iranian Studies with his book entitled History of the Prophets and Kings, which covers historical events till 915 AD. ''Tarikh-e Mas'oudi'', by the Persian historian and author Abolfazl Beyhaghi (995-1077), is one of the most creditable sources about the Ghaznavid Empire, and his fluent prose style has made the book considerable in Persian literature, too.

The Persian historian Ata Malek Joveyni was the first of several brilliant representatives of Persian historiography who flourished during the period of Mongol domination in Iran (12201336). Joveyni's magnum opus, the Tarikh-i jehan-gusha, is one of the most important works of Persian historiography. [*]

Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi was one of the greatest historians of 15th-century Persia. The work for which he is best known is the Zafernameh (The Book of Victory). It is a history of the Mongolian conqueror Timur and was probably based on the history of the same name by Nizam ad-Din Shami, a work written at Timur's request. [*]

Iranian Studies in modern Iran

Tehran University established several Iranology chairs, as ancient Iranian linguistics and culture, Persian literature, history and archeology. Many prominent figures hold these chairs during last century such as Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub, Zabihollah Safa, Ahmad Tafazzoli, Mehrdad Bahar, Jaleh Amouzgar and Badiozzaman Forouzanfar. Moreover Shiraz University has also chairs in Iranology and many notable figures have been conducting world class research on Iranology there .

Early in 20th century a huge project was started by Persian linguist and historian Allameh Dehkhoda. His encyclopedic collection is the largest comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published, in 15 volumes (26000 pages).

Throughout history, there were several publications on Iranology, among them Sokhan, Yaqma, Rahnamay e Ketab and Kelk were considered the most significant. Kelk was founded by Ali Dehbashi and very soon became one of the most prestigious Iranology journal in the world. Bokhara Magazine (Kelk under a new name) is today the most most reputable Iranology journal. Ali Dehbashi and Iraj Afshar are main editors of the journal who put significant effort in promoting Iranology during last few decades. [*]

Iranian Studies in Europe

University of Goettingen is the pioneer of Iranology in the West. In 2003 the hundredth anniversary of Iranology Department was held at Gottingen University. Among European countries, Germany contributed most to Iranology and Persian studies. [*] and [*]

European Iranologist Society has many international meetings in its periodical conferences in different universities and scientific centers all over the world.

Iranian Studies at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies in Marburg, Germany

The Centre for Iranian Studies at the University of Durham

Oxford, UK

British Institute for Persian Studies

Institut Fur Iranistik, Freier Universitat Berlin

Iranian Studies in the United States

Academic studies and instruction of Persian language were launched in the United States in 1958. Since then, Iranology departments have been founded in numerous American universities such as Stanford University and Columbia University. Columbia University's Encyclopedia Iranica for example, which is the most reputable source of Iranian culture, involves prominent Iranists like Richard Nelson Frye and Ehsan Yarshater. The encyclopedia remains the only precise and reliable large scale reference work on the lands, life, culture and history of all Iranian peoples and their interaction with other societies.

Other academic centers such as UT Austin operate Archnet, which is a database archiving documents pertaining to Iranian and Islamic architecture, in addition to offering PhD degrees in Persian language and culture.

The American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS)

The Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies

Stanford University

University of Maryland

Harvard University

University of Texas at Austin (2nd website)

Ohio State University

ISG : Iranian Studies Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

CIRA:Center for Iranian Research and Analysis at Quinnipiac University

UCLA Iranian Studies

UC Irvine, Center for Persian Studies and Culture (ISIS)

University of Chicago, Iranian Pre-Historic Project