BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Near Eastern Languages & Cultures - UCLA - ECPv6.17.4.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Near Eastern Languages & Cultures - UCLA X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Near Eastern Languages & Cultures - UCLA REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20210314T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20211107T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20220313T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20221106T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20230312T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20231105T090000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220928T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220928T160000 DTSTAMP:20220922T164223Z CREATED:20220922T164223Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220922T164223Z UID:17140-1664373600-1664380800@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:NELC Welcome Reception Fall 2022 DESCRIPTION:Please join us for a fall reception at Royce Hall to commemorate the past and celebrate the upcoming academic year in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. \nThe event will be held on the balcony of Royce 306. Self-pay parking is available in UCLA lots 2\, 3\, 4\, and 5. Please view the UCLA Interactive Map for location details. \nRSVP [gravityform id=”171″ title=”false” description=”false”] URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/nelc-welcome-reception-fall-2022/ LOCATION:Royce Hall Room 306\, 10745 Dickson Plaza\, Los Angeles\, CA (CALIFORNIA)\, 90095 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220605T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220605T130000 DTSTAMP:20220429T190537Z CREATED:20220429T190537Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220429T190537Z UID:16966-1654428600-1654434000@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: Nahid Pirnazar DESCRIPTION:Judeo Persian Writings an original comprehensive collection published in 2021 gives parallel examples in Judeo Persian and Perso Arabic script and their translations into English Most Judeo Persian documents not only reflect the twenty seven centuries of Jewish life in Iran\, but they are also a testament to their intellectual\, cultural\, and socioeconomic conditions The significant value of such documents is found in the areas of linguistics\, history\, sociocultural and literary issues\, in the form of verse and prose As an example\, Ketāb e Anūsi The Book of the Forced Converts\, was compiled by three poets\, Bābāi Ben Loṭf Bābāi Ben Farhād and Mashiah ben Rephael This historical narrative\, transliterated from Judeo Pasian to Perso Arabic script in 2021 reports about the forced conversions and the events relevant to Iranian Jewish communities that took place during the period of Shah Abbas I of the Safavid\, through the rise of the Afsharid period (1613-1730). \n  \nClick here to register. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-nahid-pirnazar/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Pirnazar_Bilingual-Lecuture-Series_Persian.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220603T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220603T130000 DTSTAMP:20220520T205229Z CREATED:20220520T205229Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220520T205229Z UID:17018-1654257600-1654261200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Love\, Service\, and the State: An analysis of communication and persuasion in Old Kingdom Egyptian letters and decrees DESCRIPTION:This research explores how self-perception and royal ideology shaped and legitimized the ethics of community behavior and hierarchical interaction at the end of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (ca. 2700-2200 BCE). First\, my analysis of politeness in private letters determines the ancient Egyptian behavioral expectations around inferiors\, superiors\, and equals. Subsequently\, I investigate how the pharaoh’s rhetoric instrumentalized the community focus seen in letters to shape his ideology of state service in royal letters and decrees. Critical Discourse Analysis reveals that royal texts legitimize the king as an intellectually superior being\, distinguished from the uniform mass through a series of divine qualities that include his authoritative speech. I show that the Old Kingdom state language willingly obfuscated the boundary between cooperation and coercion\, masking conscripted service as an act of love for the king. Paradoxically\, the autocratic enforcement of social collaboration resulted in the gradual empowerment of local chiefs\, which eventually led to the collapse of the Old Kingdom centralized regime. Therefore\, I use language as a medium to obtain information about the ethical\, conceptual\, and ideological principles of the earliest Egyptian state\, focusing on what was left unsaid as commonsensical knowledge\, rather than what the texts explicitly express. This work ultimately explains the role that collective identity and community values played in the Egyptians’ acceptance of authoritarianism\, questioning a top-down approach to power imposition. It shows that the pharaohs’ commands were based on an ideological appeal to willful cooperation or love\, rather than coerced obligation. \n  \n Victoria Almansa-Villatoro obtained her Ph.D. in Egyptology at Brown University in 2022. She is an incoming Junior Research Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows (2022-2025) and specializes in the use of language and hieroglyphs’ iconicity to understand oral knowledge and ideology in Old Kingdom Egypt. Since 2019 she is a member of the AERA archaeological project in Giza\, and assistant director to the Royal Necropolis and Pyramids of Nuri Expedition since 2021. \n  \n[gravityform id=”182″ title=”false” description=”false”] URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/love-service-and-the-state-an-analysis-of-communication-and-persuasion-in-old-kingdom-egyptian-letters-and-decrees/ LOCATION:348 Kaplan Hall ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_2544.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220602T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220602T160000 DTSTAMP:20220520T204507Z CREATED:20220520T204507Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220520T204507Z UID:17011-1654182000-1654185600@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Becoming a Titan: Hermann Grapow’s Position in Egyptology and National Socialist Initiatives for the Humanities\, 1938–45 DESCRIPTION:This lecture will be a case study of the academic and political roles of one of the most prominent German Egyptologists of the 20th century during the second part of the Nazi period: Hermann Grapow (1885–1967). Grapow\, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Berlin and a senior administrator of the university and the Prussian Academy of Arts and Sciences between 1938 and 1945\, was instrumental in repositioning Egyptology during these years under his own leadership\, and to open the discipline to National Socialist initiatives for the Humanities. It can be demonstrated that Grapow not only used the opportunities that the new political situation offered for his personal professional ascent but that he embraced National Socialist agendas as a pathway for future research and teaching as much as he condoned the Nazi regime’s ‘fate-given’ racist and expansionist politics. The lecture will provide additional evidence and arguments in the context of recent debates about how to properly contextualize Egyptology and the position of Egyptologists in Nazi Germany. \n  \nThomas Schneider (Dr.phil. and Habilitation\, University of Basel) is Professor of Egyptology and Near Eastern Studies at the University of British Columbia and Executive Director of the Pacific Alliance of Liberal Arts Colleges. Prior to UBC\, he was the inaugural holder of the Chair in Egyptology at Swansea University\, Wales. He recently served as Associate Vice President (International) at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen\, China (2018-20) and held visiting professorships at the University of Vienna\, the University of Heidelberg and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. \n  \n[gravityform id=”181″ title=”false” description=”false”] URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/becoming-a-titan-hermann-grapows-position-in-egyptology-and-national-socialist-initiatives-for-the-humanities-1938-45/ LOCATION:365 Kaplan Hall ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Grapow-1944.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220519 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220521 DTSTAMP:20220517T191208Z CREATED:20220509T211419Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220517T191208Z UID:16987-1652918400-1653091199@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:The World of Ancient Iran and the West DESCRIPTION:An International Symposium\nConvened by M. Rahim Shayegan (University of California\, Los Angeles) and  Jeffrey Spier (J. Paul Getty Museum)\nMay 19–20\, 2022 | 314 Royce Hall\nMorning Refreshments: 8:00 am\nSymposium Begins: 9:00 am\nThe Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World and the J. Paul Getty Museum are convening for a third year an international symposium on the exchanges between ancient Iran and the Classical world. This year’s symposium\, held at UCLA over two days (May 19 and 20\, 2022)\, will mark the launch of the exhibit\, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World at the Getty Villa in the spring of 2022. The symposium will include invited speakers\, UC faculty\, and Getty scholars\, whose research pertains to the nexus between ancient Persia and the West. The overarching themes covered by the symposium are: Achaemenid Persia and the West; Iran and the Hellenistic World; and Eastern and Western Entanglements in the Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Periods. \n  \nThe link for online hybrid attendance is: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92658651250 \n  \nClick here to download the full program.\nClick here to download the speaker abstract book.\nDr. Jeffrey Spier has a handout as part of his presentation.  To download the PDF of this handout\, please click here. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/the-world-of-ancient-iran-and-the-west-2/ LOCATION:314 Royce Hall CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-16-at-8.42.51-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220516T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220516T163000 DTSTAMP:20220328T224110Z CREATED:20220328T211819Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220328T224110Z UID:16811-1652713200-1652718600@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: The Performance of Female Masculinity in Lalehzari Music DESCRIPTION:The Performance of Female Masculinity in Lalehzari Music\nThe Arabic-infused Iranian popular musical genre\, Lalehzari (or Kucheh-Bazari)\, was well liked amongst Iran’s underclass in the last few decades before the 1979 Revolution. In the sixties and seventies\, the taste for Lalehzari music clearly indicated a lower social class and was associated by mainstream culture with debauchery\, even criminality\, and a lack of social consciousness. This project explores ways that the female Lalehzari performers rejected the features of conventional femininity imposed on women through their performances of female masculinity. The female Lalehzari performers claimed their presence in the underclass and underworld male urban spaces previously inaccessible to women. Central to the methodological approach of this project is the enduring question of how to narrate the stories of subaltern performers who are missing from the various archives without limiting their stories to the manner in which they were sexualized and objectified by the entertainment industry. This project treats music as performance and explores the ways in which the Lalehzari female singers treated their songs as scripts and staged them in various song-and-dance scenes in pre-1979 Revolution commercial cinema (Film Farsi). It also investigates how Film Farsi scripts reacted to the separation of masculinity from the male body. It asks\, in what ways did female Lalehzari singers’ performance of female masculinity cite\, valorize\, and also mock and destabilize the masculinity of their male counterparts? How\, in other words\, did musicians\, performers\, and their audiences construct and construe the fictions of gender in the Lalehzari music scene? \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nMina Khanlarzadeh is a postdoctoral scholar in science and technology studies at Northwestern University and a visiting scholar in Gender\, Sexuality\, and Feminist Studies at Duke University. She holds a PhD from Columbia University\, and her research interests are in global political thought\, critical and postcolonial theory\, gender studies\, and modern Middle Eastern cultural and historical studies. She is currently working on two book projects\, Alienation\, Translation\, and Their Postcolonial Critics and Gender Fictions and the Urban Locations of Iran’s Arabesque Music. Work from both projects has been published in Religions and British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies\, and is forthcoming in Popular Music and Society and the collection of essays\, Music and Society of Modern Iran (eds. Nahid Simadoust and Houchang Chehabi). Her poetry has been published in Arts of The Working Class and STILL DANCING (ed. Habib William Kherbek). She has also written numerous articles on Iranian contemporary music and global political thought in Reorient\, Z Magazine\, and Jadaliyya. \n  \nClick here to register and receive the Zoom information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-the-performance-of-female-masculinity-in-lalehzari-music/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Khanlarzadeh_Bilingual-Lecuture-Series_English-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220515T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220515T130000 DTSTAMP:20220328T224125Z CREATED:20220328T211548Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220328T224125Z UID:16806-1652614200-1652619600@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: اجراگری مردانگی توسط زنان هنرمند در موسیقی لاله‌زاری DESCRIPTION:اجراگری مردانگی توسط زنان هنرمند در موسیقی لاله‌زاری\nThe Arabic-infused Iranian popular musical genre\, Lalehzari (or Kucheh-Bazari)\, was well liked amongst Iran’s underclass in the last few decades before the 1979 Revolution. In the sixties and seventies\, the taste for Lalehzari music clearly indicated a lower social class and was associated by mainstream culture with debauchery\, even criminality\, and a lack of social consciousness. This project explores ways that the female Lalehzari performers rejected the features of conventional femininity imposed on women through their performances of female masculinity. The female Lalehzari performers claimed their presence in the underclass and underworld male urban spaces previously inaccessible to women. Central to the methodological approach of this project is the enduring question of how to narrate the stories of subaltern performers who are missing from the various archives without limiting their stories to the manner in which they were sexualized and objectified by the entertainment industry. This project treats music as performance and explores the ways in which the Lalehzari female singers treated their songs as scripts and staged them in various song-and-dance scenes in pre-1979 Revolution commercial cinema (Film Farsi). It also investigates how Film Farsi scripts reacted to the separation of masculinity from the male body. It asks\, in what ways did female Lalehzari singers’ performance of female masculinity cite\, valorize\, and also mock and destabilize the masculinity of their male counterparts? How\, in other words\, did musicians\, performers\, and their audiences construct and construe the fictions of gender in the Lalehzari music scene? \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nMina Khanlarzadeh is a postdoctoral scholar in science and technology studies at Northwestern University and a visiting scholar in Gender\, Sexuality\, and Feminist Studies at Duke University. She holds a PhD from Columbia University\, and her research interests are in global political thought\, critical and postcolonial theory\, gender studies\, and modern Middle Eastern cultural and historical studies. She is currently working on two book projects\, Alienation\, Translation\, and Their Postcolonial Critics and Gender Fictions and the Urban Locations of Iran’s Arabesque Music. Work from both projects has been published in Religions and British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies\, and is forthcoming in Popular Music and Society and the collection of essays\, Music and Society of Modern Iran (eds. Nahid Simadoust and Houchang Chehabi). Her poetry has been published in Arts of The Working Class and STILL DANCING (ed. Habib William Kherbek). She has also written numerous articles on Iranian contemporary music and global political thought in Reorient\, Z Magazine\, and Jadaliyya. \n  \n  \nClick here to register and receive the Zoom information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%b1%d8%a7%da%af%d8%b1%db%8c-%d9%85%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%86%da%af%db%8c-%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%b3%d8%b7-%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%87%d9%86%d8%b1%d9%85%d9%86%d8%af/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Khanlarzadeh_Bilingual-Lecuture-Series_Persian-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220513T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220513T170000 DTSTAMP:20220412T183907Z CREATED:20220412T183907Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220412T183907Z UID:16891-1652457600-1652461200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Gilgamesh and the Translation of Philological Crises DESCRIPTION:This year\, the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh celebrates the 150th anniversary of its modern rediscovery in 1872: since then\, the epic has swept like a Flood through the literary world\, and it continues to be celebrated as the oldest entry in the literary canon. \nIn this talk\, Sophus Helle offers an introduction to the epic and its modern afterlife\, focusing on the particular challenges that face the translators of premodern texts\, who must contend with the cruxes and crises that come with the manuscript medium. \nTranslators of such texts must confront the question of how to render philological problems—or\, as Helle terms them\, “crises of reading”—including fragmentary sections\, variation across manuscripts\, obscure words\, and the like. Helle argues that these philological problems can have their own poetics\, their own set of aesthetic effects\, which translators can engage with in creative ways. \n  \nCo-sponsored by The Center for the Study of Religion \n  \nSophus Helle is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. He previously translated Gilgamesh into Danish with his father\, the poet Morten Søndergaard. He is currently working on a book about Enheduana\, the first known author. \n  \n  \n  \n[gravityform id=”177″ title=”false” description=”false”] URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/gilgamesh-and-the-translation-of-philological-crises/ LOCATION:Kaplan Hall 365 CATEGORIES:Assyriology ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/The_Newly_Discovered_Tablet_V_of_the_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_The_Sulaymaniyah_Museum_Iraq.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220501T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220501T130000 DTSTAMP:20211215T202114Z CREATED:20211215T202114Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211215T202114Z UID:16576-1651404600-1651410000@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: Fatemeh Shams DESCRIPTION:تنش شعر و قدرت در ایران ِ پس از انقلاب \nThe Tension Between Poetry and Power in Post-Revolutionary Iran\nشعر و شاعران چه نقشی در پیروزی انقلاب ۵۷ و به مسند نشاندن حاکمان جمهوری اسلامی داشتند؟ چرا حاکمان جمهوری اسلامی به شعر اهمیت می‌دهند؟‌ شاعران حکومتی چه کسانی هستند و چگونه به عرصه شعر بعد از انقلاب وارد شدند؟‌ آنها توسط چه کسانی حمایت می‌شوند و از چه می‌نویسند؟ چه ارتباطی میان شعر، زبان، استبداد، و خاطره جمعی وجود دارد؟ در این سخنرانی فاطمه شمس با معرفی کتاب جدیدش که در سال ۲۰۲۱ توسط انتشارات آکسفورد تحت عنوان «یک انقلاب مقفّا:‌ دستکاریِ ایدئولوژیک در شعر دوره جمهوری اسلامی» منتشر شده است به این سؤالات پاسخ خواهد داد. \nWhat role did poetry and poets play during the 1979 revolution and the rise of the Islamic Republic? Why did leaders of the Islamic Republic pay so much attention to poetry? Who are the state-sponsored poets and how did they enter into the literary scene after the revolution? Who sponsored them and what did they write about? What is the relationship between poetry\, language\, despotism and collective memory? In this talk\, Fatemeh Shams will address these questions by introducing her recently published book\, A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-option Under the Islamic Republic (Oxford University Press\, 2021). \nAbout the Speaker\nDr. Fatemeh Shams is an Assistant Professor of Modern Persian Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D. in Oriental Studies from University of Oxford\, Wadham College. Her work focuses on the intersection of literature\, politics and society. She is interested in the evolution of poetry and patronage in the Persian literary tradition and the representation and transformation of this relationship in modern Iran. She has published articles and book chapters on poetry\, patronage and politics in the Iranian context. She has recently won the Humboldt Foundation Fellowship to join Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin in 2021 in order to embark on her second book project on exile and exilic writing in Persian tradition. \nفاطمه شمس: استادیار ادبیات معاصر در دانشگاه پنسیوالیای آمریکاست. از او تاکنون مقالات زیادی درباب ایدئولوژی، ادبیات و انقلاب منتشر شده است. همچنین سه مجموعه شعر با نام‌های «۸۸»، «نوشتن در مه»، و مجموعه دوزبانه «در را که شکستند» با ترجمه دیک دیویس منتشر شده است. او برنده جایزه شعر ژاله اصفهانی در سال ۲۰۱۲ و برنده جایزه کتاب سال لطیفه یارشاطر در سال ۲۰۱۶ است. کتاب جدید او «یک انقلاب مقفٌا: دستکاری ایدئولوژیک در شعر دوره جمهوری اسلامی» در سال ۲۰۲۱ توسط انتشارات آکسفورد منتشر شده است. \nPlease click here to register and receive the Zoom information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-fatemeh-shams/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Shams_Bilingual-Lecuture-Series_Persian.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220427T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220427T130000 DTSTAMP:20220412T184940Z CREATED:20220412T184841Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220412T184940Z UID:16897-1651060800-1651064400@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:‘Aqām al-ḥajj Fulān’: The Leaders of Abbasid Pilgrimage in the Early Islamic Annalistic Tradition DESCRIPTION:The caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (d. 193/809) allegedly led the ḥajj nine times over the course of his twenty-three-year reign\, in 188/804 he was also the last ʿAbbāsid caliph to lead the pilgrimage rites. The pilgrimage served as a means of legitimation as well as a place of succession and nomination\, with Hārūn and his wife Zubayda bt. Jaʿfar (from whence the Darb Zubayda) in particular undergoing extensive infrastructural works on the pilgrimage route. The leaders of the ḥajj – and of the summer expeditions (ṣawāʾif) – are the most consistently provided information in the early Islamic annalistic tradition (tawārīkh)\, being found at the end of each year\, reflecting the place of the event in the Islamic calendar. For the early ʿAbbāsid period\, the pilgrimage akhbār are tremendously consistent\, demonstrating few discrepancies across late ninth/early tenth century sources (ten disagreements across one hundred and one notices). The agreement between the early Baṣran traditionist Khalı̄fa b. Khayyāṭ (d. 240/854) and al-Ṭabarī (d.310/923) demonstrates that this information was circulating in a complete form by the mid-ninth century. This contrasts with the leaders of the Umayyads pilgrimage season\, which is reported with significant variation in the same sources. The near unanimity epitomises the consistency of the sources for the Abbasid period\, further evidencing their centralising narratives. The most well-known leaders are undoubtedly the caliphs and their sons\, leading it twenty-five times\, when they were not present it was nearly always a member of the ʿAbbāsid family. This talk collates the ʿAbbāsid leadership reports (from 132/750 – 232/847) across our early annalistic sources and aims to answer the major questions that a detailed overview of the material raises: who was leading the ḥajj for the early ʿAbbāsids\, where does this material derive from and what is the connection between pilgrimage ceremonial and caliphal nomination? \n  \nCo-sponsored by CMRS Center for Early Global Studies and UCLA Islamic Studies Program \n  \nLeone Pecorini Goodall is a third year PhD student in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh/St. Andrews (supervisors: Marie Legendre\, Yannis Stouraitis and Tim Greenwood). His thesis explores the patterns and means of succession of the late Umayyad and early Abbasids\, focusing on over-looked aspects of succession such as the matrilineal line\, age\, eligibility and ‘failed’ heirs. His research makes use of Arabic\, Armenian\, and Greek language sources\, adopting a source-critical and comparative approach. \n  \n[gravityform id=”178″ title=”false” description=”false”] URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/aqam-al-%e1%b8%a5ajj-fulan-the-leaders-of-abbasid-pilgrimage-in-the-early-islamic-annalistic-tradition/ LOCATION:365 Kaplan Hall CATEGORIES:Arabic & Islamic Studies ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Zubayda-Darb-coin.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220427T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220427T123000 DTSTAMP:20220325T042932Z CREATED:20220324T163137Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220325T042932Z UID:16793-1651057200-1651062600@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Iran Unglazed: Local\, National\, and Global Histories of Persian Tilework DESCRIPTION:Wednesday\, April 27\, 2022 at 11:00am Pacific Time via Zoom\n\nRegistration Required \n\n\n\nThis talk examines the many ways in which Persian tilework has been packaged and interpreted between the field\, museum\, and photograph. At stake is a balancing act between prevailing narratives of world heritage and local and national histories\, as well as the reconciliation of museum “objects” and their original architectural homes. Through this lecture\, Dr. Overton highlights the circumstances that have informed the transformation and reception of Persian tiles over the last two centuries\, including their documentation\, plunder\, preservation\, exhibition\, commodification\, and most importantly\, perception by the audience. Dr. Overton ultimately seeks to unglaze the study of Persian tilework by moving beyond pristine surfaces and illuminating contested\, conditional\, and at times even ugly histories.\n\nAbout the Speaker\n\nKeelan Overton earned her PhD from the University of California\, Los Angeles in 2011. She is an Independent Scholar and art historian specializing in the eastern Islamic world from Iran to India. Her recent book is the edited volume Iran and the Deccan: Persianate Art\, Culture\, and Talent in Circulation\, 1400-1700 (Indiana University Press\, 2020). In fall 2021\, she was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute\, where she worked on her book in progress titled Iran Unglazed: Local\, National\, and Global Histories of Persian Tilework. She is currently teaching seminars on Persian architecture and preparing a virtual exhibition/website on the Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin.\n\n\nClick here to register. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/iran-unglazed-local-national-and-global-histories-of-persian-tilework/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Overton-Lecture-Flyer-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220420T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220420T173000 DTSTAMP:20220330T190930Z CREATED:20220308T000011Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T190930Z UID:16748-1650470400-1650475800@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – Empire and Borderlands at Interplay: A Structural Approach (First Millennium BCE – First Millennium CE) DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity.\n\nLecture 4: Empire and Borderlands at Interplay: A Structural Approach (First Millennium BCE – First Millennium CE)\nThe Achaemenid Empire represents a major evolutionary step in the longue durée of Afro-Asian state formations. The fourth lecture aims at illustrating the indebtedness of the Achaemenid polity to ancient Near Eastern and Afro-Asian precedents\, while exploring its unicity in light of the interplay between the imperial center and the borderlands. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \n  \n\nClick here to RSVP. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-empire-and-borderlands-at-interplay-a-structural-approach-tenth-century-bce-tenth-century-ce/ LOCATION:314 Royce Hall CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Persia_TEAMFINAL_4.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220420T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220420T140000 DTSTAMP:20220404T160219Z CREATED:20220404T160219Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220404T160219Z UID:16856-1650459600-1650463200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Priestess\, Queen\, Goddess: The Divine Feminine in Nile Valley Societies DESCRIPTION:The prominence of powerful goddesses\, the reverence awarded to the queen mothers of Kush\, and a series of sole-ruling queens (one of whom led her army in battle against the invading Romans)\, highlight the unusually high status of women in these ancient African societies along the Nile and serve as a fitting focus for the study of female power in the ancient world. \nThis lecture will examine more closely the queens\, priestesses\, and goddesses who were exceptionally prominent in ancient Nubia. Focusing on four specific women\, I will explore how ancient Africans of the Nile Valley understood female power and presence to be an essential enlivening element in maintaining Maat\, the balance of male and female energies\, in order to cultivate “divine right order” in the world and in the cosmos. \nThe women form a trinity of female power: a priestess\, a queen\, and a revered mother\, each associated with a goddess. The priestess is Amenirdis I\, Kushite royal daughter and god’s wife of Amun. The queens are Nasalsa\, queen mother of two ruling Kushite kings\, and Amanishakheto\, sole ruler of the kingdom of Meroe. The revered mother is Taese\, the woman whose marriage united two elite Nubian families who served the rulers of Meroe. Interwoven throughout the lecture will be the goddesses with whom these women were associated: Mut\, Hathor\, and Isis. \n  \nSolange Ashby received her Ph.D. in Egyptology with a specialization in ancient Egyptian language and Nubian religion from the University of Chicago. Dr. Ashby’s expertise in sacred ancient languages including Egyptian hieroglyphs\, Demotic\, and Coptic\, Ethiopic\, Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew underpins her research into the history of religious transformation in Northeast Africa and the Middle East. Her first book\, Calling Out to Isis: The Enduring Nubian Presence at Philae\, explores the temple of Philae’s history as a Nubian sacred site. Dr. Ashby has been awarded a President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California – Los Angeles. Her current research describes the roles of women – queens\, priestesses\, mothers – in traditional Nubian religious practices. In 2023\, Dr. Ashby will join the faculty of the department of Near EasternLanguages and Cultures at UCLA where she will teach Egyptology and Nubian Studies. She is a founding member of the William Leo Hansberry Society which seeks to create pathways for people of African descent – on the continent and in the diaspora – to engage in the study of African antiquity. \n  \n[gravityform id=”169″ title=”false” description=”false”] URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/priestess-queen-goddess-the-divine-feminine-in-nile-valley-societies/ LOCATION:365 Kaplan Hall CATEGORIES:NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Queen-Qalhata.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220418T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220418T173000 DTSTAMP:20220330T190959Z CREATED:20220307T235850Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T190959Z UID:16744-1650297600-1650303000@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – Space and Universality: The Long Life of the Achaemenid Mental Map in Antiquity and Beyond (Sixth Century BCE – Sixth Century CE) DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity. \nLecture 3: Space and Universality: The Long Life of the Achaemenid Mental Map in Antiquity and Beyond (Sixth Century BCE – Sixth Century CE)\nThe Achaemenid Empire ushered a new world order\, based on a novel conception of political geography\, which\, combined with an innovative language of power\, served to legitimize Achaemenid imperial/universalist claims. The longevity and impact of the Achaemenid imperial “model” and its language of power constitute the themes of the third lecture. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \nClick here to RSVP. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-space-and-universality-the-long-life-of-the-achaemenid-mental-map-in-antiquity-and-beyond-sixth-century-bce-sixth-century-ce/ LOCATION:314 Royce Hall CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Persia_TEAMFINAL_3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220415T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220415T160000 DTSTAMP:20220404T153606Z CREATED:20220330T172118Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220404T153606Z UID:16825-1650034800-1650038400@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:From the Jewish Antiquities to the Zena Ayhud: Alexander the Great in the Hebrew\, Arabic\, and Ethiopic Versions of Sefer Yosippon DESCRIPTION:One of the numerous medieval accounts about Alexander the Great appears in Sefer Yosippon\, a Hebrew adaptation of the works of Josephus produced in Italy in the tenth century. The anonymous author of the text slightly amends Josephus’s account of Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem\, which appears in Book 11 of the Jewish Antiquities. The subsequent popularity of Sefer Yosippon among medieval Jews\, Christians\, and Muslims results in further adaptations of the Josephan account of Alexander. In multiple stages of recensions produced in Hebrew and Arabic\, the story of Alexander in Jerusalem is interwoven with episodes drawn from the Alexander Romance traditions. Yonatan Binyam investigates the source-critical relationship between the accounts of Alexander as they appear in the Hebrew\, Arabic\, and Ethiopic versions of Sefer Yosippon. He outlines the connections between the various recensions of the Alexander Romance and the stories about Alexander that appear in the Copto-Arabic and Ethiopic versions of Sefer Yosippon\, the latter of which is known as the Zena Ayhud (or “History of the Jews”). Binyam demonstrates the value of this source-critical work for illuminating our understanding of the date and context of the reception of the Hebrew Sefer Yosippon within medieval Christian-Arabic and Ethiopic historiographical traditions. \n  \nYonatan Binyam is a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute for Society and Genetics and the Bunche Center for African American Studies. Prior to coming to UCLA\, he was an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies Department at Pennsylvania State University. He holds a doctorate in Religion from Florida State University. His research focuses on medieval Ethiopic receptions of ancient Greek and Latin texts\, as well as the study of race\, ethnicity\, and religion in late antiquity. \n  \n  \n  \n  \n[gravityform id=”176″ title=”false” description=”false”] URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/from-the-jewish-antiquities-to-the-zena-ayhud-alexander-the-great-in-the-hebrew-arabic-and-ethiopic-versions-of-sefer-yosippon/ LOCATION:365 Kaplan Hall CATEGORIES:NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Alexander-in-Jerusalem.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220413T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220413T173000 DTSTAMP:20220330T191119Z CREATED:20220307T235402Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T191119Z UID:16742-1649865600-1649871000@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – Whither the Achaemenid Empire? Towards a New Connected History of Afro-Eurasia in Antiquity DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity.\n\nLecture 2: Whither the Achaemenid Empire? Towards a New Connected History of Afro-Eurasia in Antiquity\nIn this lecture\, the history of the Achaemenid Empire as a powerful engine of transregional connectivity\, affecting all of Afro-Eurasia\, is explored. Of import is not only the Empire’s capacity to boost dynamic developments\, which may be qualified as an early example of globalization\, but also its ability to sustain cultural individuation processes and tolerate autonomous political formations. \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \n  \nClick here to RSVP. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-whither-the-achaemenid-empire-towards-a-new-connected-history-of-afro-eurasia-in-antiquity/ LOCATION:314 Royce Hall CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Persia_TEAMFINAL_2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220411T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220411T173000 DTSTAMP:20220330T191054Z CREATED:20220307T235227Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220330T191054Z UID:16735-1649692800-1649698200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series – An Afro-Eurasian “Hyperpower” and Its Ancient Near Eastern Roots (First Millennium BCE) DESCRIPTION:The 2022 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series\nFeaturing Professor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)\n  \nThe Achaemenid Persian World Empire\nThe series of lectures offers a novel and fresh perspective on one of the largest and most successful empires in world history\, namely\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire (sixth to fourth century BCE)\, the central power of a (proto-)globalized world\, and the driving force behind many cultural developments\, whose manifold repercussions we may observe from Gibraltar to the Taklamakan Desert\, from the Aegean and Scythian lands to the sub-Saharan worlds\, and from the Bay of Bengal to eastern Africa. Our sources\, both written and archaeological\, are but a faint palimpsest bearing witness to the grandeur of the Achaemenid civilization\, and its impress on the antique world. The present Yarshater Lectures are an attempt at deducing\, from among the many ideological layers still cluttering our (narrative) sources\, including the many biases\, old and new\, that still guide modern scholarship\, the unique identity\, sense of purpose\, and political awareness that distinguished the Achaemenids\, eventually enabling them to forge a capacious vision of the world. In these lectures\, the Achaemenid Persian World Empire will be presented as a political formation that not only profoundly impacted its immediate and more distant surroundings\, but also served as an imperial model that most lastingly transformed its posterity.\n\nLecture 1: An Afro-Eurasian “Hyperpower” and Its Ancient Near Eastern Roots (First Millennium BCE)\nThe lecture focuses on the structure\, genesis\, and historical setting of the Achaemenid Empire. It discusses major aspects of the royal ideology\, the position of the Great King\, and the Empire’s resilience in periods of crisis. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\n\nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has held since 2005 the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. \nDr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire. \nIn addition to his tenure at the University of Innsbruck\, he has held a number of prestigious chairs and fellowships worldwide: from 2010 to 2015\, he was the Finland Distinguished Professor at the University of Helsinki in the Department of World Cultures\, heading the research project “Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”; in 2020\, he was a Getty Scholar at the Getty Villa; since 2020\, he has been the NAWA Chair at the University of Wrocław\, Poland\, where he heads the international project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule.” \nDr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-)editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika (Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia (Austrian Academy of Sciences); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. \nHis recent publications include: Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche (coedited; Harrassowitz\, 2014); Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact\, Continuities\, Parallels (coedited; Ugarit-Verlag\, 2015); Alexander und die großen Ströme: Die Flussüberquerungen im Lichte altorientalischer Pioniertechniken (Harrassowitz\, 2013); Short-term Empires in World History (coedited; Springer\, 2020); A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire\, 2 volumes (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) (coedited; Wiley-Blackwell\, 2021); Empires to be Remembered (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, 2022); Decline\, Erosion and Implosion of Empires (Studies in Universal and Cultural History) (coedited; Springer\, forthcoming). \nHe is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \n  \n\nDownload the lecture series program here.\n  \nClick here to RSVP. \n  URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/biennial-ehsan-yarshater-lecture-series-an-afro-eurasian-hyperpower-and-its-ancient-near-eastern-roots-first-millennium-bce/ LOCATION:314 Royce Hall CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Main-Image.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220410T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220410T140000 DTSTAMP:20220204T220044Z CREATED:20220204T220044Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220204T220044Z UID:16671-1649590200-1649599200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: Latest Developments in Afghanistan and Implications for Iran DESCRIPTION:Latest Developments in Afghanistan and Implications for Iran: A Panel Discussion\n  \nAhmad Nader Nadery \nFormer Chair of Independent Civil Service Commission in Kabul\, and Member of the Peace Negotiation Team for Afghanistan \nThe Taliban’s Return to Power and Its Implications for Afghanistan and Iran \n  \nHomeira Qaderi \nAfghan Writer and Women’s Rights Activist\, and Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University \nHow Women in Afghanistan have Strived for Their Rights\nFarah Karimi \nHead of the Dutch Parliamentary Delegation to the OSCE PA and Former UN Consultant for Capacity Building of the Afghan Parliament \nAn Expert Reflection on International Responses to the Crisis in Afghanistan \n  \nClick here to register and receive the Zoom webinar link. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-latest-developments-in-afghanistan-and-implications-for-iran/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Afghanistan-Panel-Flyer.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220408T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220408T130000 DTSTAMP:20220224T230532Z CREATED:20220224T230532Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220224T230532Z UID:16701-1649415600-1649422800@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Iranian Studies: Āvānegār Film Screening and Panel Discussion DESCRIPTION:Āvānegār\, a collaborative documentary narrated by Dr. Mohsen Mohammadi (Director of Indo-Persian Music at UCLA) explores the history of transcription of Iranian music\, based on decades of research in various archives in Iran\, Europe\, and the United States. Rare historical documents and sources are presented in the film\, and several historical notations of Iranian music are performed. Exclusively for the film\, Dr. Reza Vali (Professor of Composition at Carnegie Mellon University) arranged a five-movement piece that is performed by an ensemble of notable American musicians. Moreover\, several prominent Iranian musicians are featured\, including (in Persian alphabetical order) Navid Afghah\, Ali Bahramifard\, Kazem Davoudian\, Siroos Jamali\, Siamak Jahangiri\, Layla Ramezan\, and Behzad Ravaqi. This film is dedicated to the memory of Mohammad-Taghi Massoudieh (1927–1999)\, whose publications are invaluable and incomparable sources for researchers\, musicians\, composers\, and all who are interested in Iranian music. \nModerator:\nDr. Shahab Paranj \nComposer and Artistic director of Du Vert a L’infini Music Festival \nShahab Paranj is an Iranian composer and instrumentalist. He is considered as one of the pioneers among his generation of Iranian composers whose composition style integrates Persian and Western genres. \n  \nPanelists:\n  \nRichard Danielpour \nProfessor of Composition\, UCLA \nGrammy-Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour has established himself as one of the most gifted and sought-after composers of his generation. With Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison\, Danielpour created his first opera\, Margaret Garner. Danielpour is one of the most recorded composers of his generation\, and he has received several national and international awards and prizes. \n  \nReza Vali \nProfessor of Composition\, Carnegie Melon University \nIranian Composer Reza Vali is known as the “Persian Bartók\,” given that he combines traditional work with modern compositional techniques. He has received numerous honors and commissions\, and his music has been performed in Europe\, China\, Chile\, Mexico\, Hong Kong\, and Australia and is recorded on the Naxos\, New Albion\, MMC\, Ambassador\, Albany\, and ABC Classics labels. \n  \nDavid Garner \nProfessor of Composition\, San Francisco Conservatory of Music \nDavid Garner is an American composer of opera and vocal\, instrumental\, and chamber music. A composition autodidact\, Garner’s works have won the 2015 American Prize in Composition as well as several Global Music Awards. \n  \nAnn E. Lucas \nAssociate Professor of Ethnomusicology\, Boston College \nAnn E. Lucas is an ethnomusicologist who specializes in music traditions of the Persian and Arabic-speaking Near East.  Her primary research focuses on the history of music in Iran and the relationship between significant cultural upheaval and musical change over epochs. Her monograph\, won Society for Ethnomusicology’s Bruno Nettl Prize. \n  \nMohsen Mohammadi \nDirector of Indo-Persian Music\, UCLA \nMohsen Mohammadi specializes in the music of Iran and the Middle/Central/Near East and plays the setar. His publications are based on his experience as a musician\, on fieldwork\, and on a wide range of first-hand historical sources including manuscripts\, diaries and memories\, old newspapers\, and early recordings. His publications include Musical Souvenirs: European Transcriptions of Persian Music. \n  \nBehrouz Jamail \nDocumentarian\, Musician and Media Producer \nBehrouz Jamali’s musical education embraces Persian\, Western\, and Azeri instruments and styles. Behrouz Jamali’s filmmaking career focuses on social and musical documentaries. He has directed and produced several documentaries in collaboration with various media companies\, such as The Experts’ Take on REDES with Naxos Records. \nPlease click here to register and receive the Zoom information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/iranian-studies-avanegar-film-screening-and-panel-discussion/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Avanegar-Flyer.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220404T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220404T163000 DTSTAMP:20220214T190202Z CREATED:20220214T190202Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220214T190202Z UID:16690-1649084400-1649089800@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: Shaul Bakhash DESCRIPTION:Book Talk with Shaul Bakhash:\nThe Fall of Reza Shah\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMonday\, April 4\, 2022 at 3:00pm Pacific Time via Zoom\nLecture in English\n\nRegistration Required \nhttps://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tvfAF2NiT8qu6vUxlBoFzA URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-shaul-bakhash/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Bakhash_Bilingual-Lecuture-Series.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220317T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220317T130000 DTSTAMP:20220317T203459Z CREATED:20220317T203459Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220317T203459Z UID:16781-1647518400-1647522000@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:The World of Ancient Iran and the West DESCRIPTION:An International Symposium\nConvened by M. Rahim Shayegan (University of California\, Los Angeles) and  Jeffrey Spier (J. Paul Getty Museum)\nMay 19–20\, 2022 | 314 Royce Hall\nMorning Refreshments: 8:00 am\nPanels Begin: 9:00 am\nThe Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World and the Getty are convening for a third year an international symposium on the exchanges between ancient Iran and the Classical world. This year’s symposium\, held at UCLA over two days (May 19 and 20\, 2022)\, will mark the launch of the exhibit\, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World at the Getty Villa in the spring of 2022. The symposium\, will include invited speakers\, UC faculty\, and Getty scholars\, whose research pertain to the nexus between ancient Persia and the West. The overarching themes covered by the symposium are: Achaemenid Persia and the West; Iran and the Hellenistic World; and Eastern and Western Entanglements in the Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Periods. \n  \nThe link for online hybrid attendance is: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92658651250 \n  \nPlease click here to register. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/the-world-of-ancient-iran-and-the-west/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-16-at-8.42.51-PM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220313T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220313T130000 DTSTAMP:20220126T231604Z CREATED:20220126T231604Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220126T231604Z UID:16663-1647171000-1647176400@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: Love at Eighty Film Screening DESCRIPTION:هشتادسالگی و عشق\nA Film Screening and Panel Discussion of Simin Behbahani: Love at Eighty\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSunday\, March 13\, 2022 at 11:30am Pacific Time via Zoom\nFilm in Persian with English Subtitles\nPanel in Persian\n\nRegistration Required \n\nhttps://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MkAi-NDfQR-rKKgZQI3kUw URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-love-at-eighty-film-screening/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Love-at-Eighty-Flyer.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220227T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220227T130000 DTSTAMP:20220202T220919Z CREATED:20220106T234557Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220202T220919Z UID:16623-1645961400-1645966800@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: The Collective for Black Iranians DESCRIPTION:A Talk with the Collective for Black Iranians:\nOn the Importance of Centering Erased Black and Afro Iranian Histories from Iran and the Diaspora\n\nA Panel Discussion\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSunday\, February 27\, 2022 at 11:30am Pacific Time via Zoom\nPanel in Persian and English\n\nRegistration Required \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease join the UCLA Program of Iranian Studies and the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies for a discussion centering the importance of storytelling and the point of view – two guiding principles in the Collective for Black Iranians’ work. Discover how the Collective creatively and critically deconstruct the way we see ourselves as Iranians and invite us to step into a culture that also stands at its Black and African intersections. \nAbout the Collective\nThe Collective was founded out of the necessity to be seen\, heard\, and understood. Through public education\, storytelling\, and advocacy\, the Collective shares its stories of belonging to the intersections of being Black\, Iranian and African/of African descent. Founding members\, Alex Eskandarkhah\, Priscillia Kounkou-Hoveyda\, Pardis Nkoy\, as well as resident historian\, Beeta Baghoolizadeh\, and other resident artists will be joining the panel for a global discussion of the work of the Collective\, the importance of sharing memories of belonging\, and stories of being Black\, Iranian\, and of African descent\, as well as contributing to the larger narrative of what it means to be who we are. \n  \nClick here to RSVP and receive the Zoom information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-the-collective-for-black-iranians/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Collective-for-Black-Iranians-Panel-Flyer-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220223T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220223T130000 DTSTAMP:20220126T170545Z CREATED:20220125T175046Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220126T170545Z UID:16656-1645614000-1645621200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Kianoosh Rezania DESCRIPTION:How Did the Ancient Iranians Coordinate Space? On the Old Iranian Absolute Frame of Reference\nFor verbal expression and nonverbal cognitive processing of spatial relations between two objects\, the speakers of a language use different frames of reference. (Psycho)linguistics classifies these into three main groups: intrinsic\, relative\, and absolute. This lecture aims to identify the old Iranian absolute frame of reference. After a short explanation of different frames of reference\, the presentation will examine four sorts of evidence to this end: Avestan and Old Persian textual testimonies\, the direction of Zoroastrian ritual in the Old Iranian period\, and the direction of some significant Achaemenid architectural constructions. The lecture will show that the ancient Iranians did not use the four geocentric cardinal points of east\, west\, south and north as the cardinal directions of their absolute frame of reference\, as research has implicitly taken for granted so far. The evidence\, conversely\, suggests that the old Iranian absolute frame of reference was constituted by the sunrise and sunset points of the winter and summer solstices. \nAbout the Speaker\nKianoosh Rezania is professor for the History of West Asian Religions at the Center for Religious Studies\, Ruhr University Bochum\, the co-director of the International Research Consortium Käte-Hamburger-Kolleg “Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe\,” and the PI of the long-term project “Zoroastrian Middle Persian: Digital Corpus and Dictionary (MPCD).” His main research interests cover history of Zoroastrianism\, Middle Persian literature\, the development of the concepts of time and space in (late) antiquity as well as Digital Humanities. \nHe holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Sharif University of Technology (Tehran 1998)\, a M.A. in Iranian Studies from the University of Tehran (2002) and a Ph.D. in Old Iranian Studies from the Georg-August University Göttingen (2008). \nKianoosh Rezania is the author of Die zoroastrische Zeitvorstellung: eine Untersuchung über Zeit- und Ewigkeitskonzepte und die Frage des Zurvanismus (Harrassowitz 2010) and Die Raumkonzeptionen im älteren Zoroastrismus: kosmische\, kultische und soziale Räume (Harrassowitz 2017). \nClick here to register for this event. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-kianoosh-rezania/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Rezania-Flyer-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220216T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220216T130000 DTSTAMP:20220112T174713Z CREATED:20220112T174713Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220112T174713Z UID:16641-1645009200-1645016400@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Céline Redard DESCRIPTION:Current Trends in Avestan Studies\nThis lecture discusses the major progress made in our understanding of the Avestan corpus/texts in the last years. Based on her recent publication co-written with Jean Kellens\, L’introduction à l’Avesta\, Céline Redard introduces the new vision of the Avesta\, leading to the new editions currently undertaken. The important ritual aspect will also be underlined\, with some concrete examples taken from her books The Srōš Drōn – Yasna 3 to 8\, and The Gujarati Ritual Directions of the Paragnā\, Yasna and Visperad Ceremonies (co-written with Kerman Daruwalla). \nAbout the Speaker\nBefore specializing in Iranian Studies\, Céline Redard studied Indo-European Linguistics\, Sanskrit and Latin in Switzerland. In 2010\, she obtained her PhD at EPHE (Paris\, France) for her doctoral thesis on the Vidēvdād 19. After working as a research assistant at the Collège de France (Paris) from 2008 to 2014\, she was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship at the University of Liège in Belgium (2014-2016). Since 2017\, she works for the Multimedia Yasna project based at SOAS (London). \n  \nClick here to register and receive the Zoom information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-celine-redard/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Redard-Flyer.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220214T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220214T160000 DTSTAMP:20211215T005348Z CREATED:20211215T005348Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211215T005348Z UID:16570-1644850800-1644854400@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: Ali Banuazizi DESCRIPTION:Iranian Cultural Identity and the Politics of Religious Nationalism\nThe lecture begins with an exploration of the various bases for Iranian “cultural identity” (Iraniyat)—including a long pre-Islamic legacy\, the Persian language\, Shi’ism\, and the bonds and affinities among a people who have inhabited roughly the same territory for nearly three millennia. It makes a distinction between Iranian “cultural” and “national” identities and examines how the latter view of Iranian “national” identity was transformed into nationalist political ideologies from the last decades of the 19th century to the end of the Pahlavi era. It concludes with an analysis of the Islamic Republic’s sacralization of state authority and concerted efforts to promote “religious nationalism” as its official ideology. \nAbout the Speaker\nAli Banuazizi is a Research Professor of Political Science at Boston College and    a    research fellow at the Center for International Studies at M.I.T. He is the author of numerous articles on society\, culture\, and politics of Iran andt he Middle East\, coauthor (with A. Ashraf) of Social Classes\, the State and Revolution in Iran (in Persian\, 2008)\, and co-editor (with Myron Weiner) of three books on politics\, religion\, and society in Afghanistan\, Iran\, Pakistan\, and Central Asia. He served as the founding editor of the journal of Iranian Studies for 14 years (1968-82) and associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. He is a past President of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and of the Association for Iranian Studies (AIS). \nPlease click here to register and receive the Zoom webinar information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-ali-banuazizi-2/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Banuazizi_Bilingual-Lecuture-Series_English.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220213T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220213T130000 DTSTAMP:20211215T003249Z CREATED:20211215T001926Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211215T003249Z UID:16567-1644751800-1644757200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bilingual Lecture Series: Ali Banuazizi DESCRIPTION:هویت فرهنگی، ملی گرائی، و ناسیونالیسم اسلامی در ایران / Iranian Cultural Identity and the Politics of Religious Nationalism\nThe lecture begins with an exploration of the various bases for Iranian “cultural identity” (Iraniyat)—including a long pre-Islamic legacy\, the Persian language\, Shi’ism\, and the bonds and affinities among a people who have inhabited roughly the same territory for nearly three millennia. It makes a distinction between Iranian “cultural” and “national” identities and examines how the latter view of Iranian “national” identity was transformed into nationalist political ideologies from the last decades of the 19th century to the end of the Pahlavi era. It concludes with an analysis of the Islamic Republic’s sacralization of state authority and concerted efforts to promote “religious nationalism” as its official ideology. \nAbout the Speaker\nAli Banuazizi is a Research Professor of Political Science at Boston College and    a    research fellow at the Center for International Studies at M.I.T. He is the author of numerous articles on society\, culture\, and politics of Iran andt he Middle East\, coauthor (with A. Ashraf) of Social Classes\, the State and Revolution in Iran (in Persian\, 2008)\, and co-editor (with Myron Weiner) of three books on politics\, religion\, and society in Afghanistan\, Iran\, Pakistan\, and Central Asia. He served as the founding editor of the journal of Iranian Studies for 14 years (1968-82) and associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. He is a past President of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and of the Association for Iranian Studies (AIS). \nPlease click here to register and receive the Zoom webinar information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/bilingual-lecture-series-ali-banuazizi/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Banuazizi_Bilingual-Lecuture-Series_Persian.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220128T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220128T130000 DTSTAMP:20211209T193613Z CREATED:20211209T193613Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211209T193613Z UID:16541-1643367600-1643374800@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Eberhard Sauer DESCRIPTION:From the Gorgan Wall to the Alan Gates/Dariali: The Northern Defenses of the Sasanian Empire\nA lecture by Eberhard W. Sauer \nBased on collaborative research with Jebrael Nokandeh\, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi\, \nLana Chologauri and Davit Naskidashvili \n  \nIt was only in December 2005 that radiocarbon samples established beyond doubt a Sasanian-era construction date for the Gorgan Wall\, the longest fort-lined barrier of the late antique world. Until then\, majority opinion had favored a date half a millennium before. Over the 16 years since\, our knowledge of the northern defenses of the Sasanian Empire has grown rapidly. In the early 2000s\, few large Sasanian military fortifications had been securely identified; today\, their combined size arguably exceeds that of those in the contemporary late Roman world. Scholars have frequently argued that the Sasanian army was much smaller than that of the Roman Empire or even that there was no standing army at all. Our most recent excavations have demonstrated that the Gorgan Wall forts were densely filled with large barracks\, rising in part to a height of two storeys. Later\, annexes were added. Huge storage pits\, storage jars and a series of ovens and fire-places\, as well as finds\, demonstrate dense occupation for one-and-a-half to two centuries. Fortresses in the hinterland\, some of them earlier than the Gorgan Wall\, housed extensive tent cities\, probably for the field army. The Sasanian state was also the first external power to fortify the Caucasus passes\, turning Europe’s highest mountain range into a formidable barrier. Fieldwork in Dariali Gorge have enabled our team to date fortifications controlling Transcaucasian traffic to the time not long before or after a famous Hunnic invasion via the same mountain pass in AD 395. Our joint fieldwork has not only revealed the extraordinary scale and sophistication of Sasanian military infrastructure\, it has also shed new light on its purpose and effectiveness. The empire’s strong fortification belt in the north far from being merely symbolic\, as some have argued\, enabled the empire to hold its ground and protect its core territories\, to launch counter-offenses\, and even to conquer temporarily the Levant in the early seventh century. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nEberhard W. Sauer is Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh and one of the directors of the joint fieldwork projects in Iran and Georgia.  Since 2012 he has been the Project Leader in the ERC Persia Project\, which has been involved with fieldwork on Sasanian military monuments in Iran\, Georgia\, and Oman. His many publications include Dariali: The ‘Caspian Gates’ in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages (co-authored 2020); Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia (edited 2017); and Persia’s Imperial Power in Late Antiquity: The Great Wall of Gorgān and Frontier Landscapes of Sasanian Iran (co-authored 2013). \n  \nTo register and receive the Zoom information\, please click here. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-eberhard-sauer/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Sauer-Flyer.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220119T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220119T130000 DTSTAMP:20211214T235441Z CREATED:20211214T183459Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211214T235441Z UID:16559-1642590000-1642597200@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: John W.I. Lee DESCRIPTION:Greek ‘Concubines’ and Achaemenid Dynastic Politics\nThe civil war of 401 BC between Cyrus the Younger and his older brother King Artaxerxes II (r. 405/4-359/8 BC) is well known to Achaemenid historians\, thanks especially to the famous account of Xenophon’s Anabasis.  While the military aspects of this conflict have been much studied\, this lecture focuses on the two Ionian Greek women who accompanied Cyrus on his campaign.   Xenophon describes them as “concubines\,” but setting these two women into the broader contexts of Achaemenid court culture and of intermarriage between Persians and local people in Achaemenid Anatolia reveals a more complex story. \nAbout the Speaker\n\n\nJohn W.I. Lee is Associate Professor of History at UC Santa Barbara.  He studies ancient Greece and West Asia\, especially the Archaic-Classical Greek world and its relations with the Achaemenid Persian Empire. He is interested in the social and cultural aspects of ancient warfare as well as in the equipment\, tactics\, and logistics of ancient armies.  His publications include A Greek Army on the March: Soldiers and Survival in Xenophon’s Anabasis (Cambridge 2007)\, The Persian Empire (The Great Courses 2012)\, and The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert (Oxford 2022).  At UCSB\, he teaches classes on Achaemenid and Greek history\, and on the history of ancient warfare. \n\n\n  \n\nPlease click here to register for the event and receive the Zoom information. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-center-lecture-series-john-w-i-lee/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Center ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Lee-Flyer-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220112T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20220112T100000 DTSTAMP:20211209T231410Z CREATED:20211208T233344Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211209T231410Z UID:16531-1641978000-1641981600@nelc.ucla.edu SUMMARY:From Medieval Afghanistan\, “The Most Beautiful of Stories”: Jami’s Yūsuf-u Zulaykhā\, a Persian reading group and workshop series DESCRIPTION:The UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies and the UCLA Program in Iranian Studies\, in collaboration with the Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Program on Central Asia\, invite scholars and graduate students from across the world to participate in the following research program: From Medieval Afghanistan\, “The Most Beautiful of Stories”: Jami’s Yūsuf-u Zulaykhā\, a Persian reading group and workshop series\, which will take place via Zoom on a weekly basis between January and June 2022. \nThe reading group and workshop series are convened by Domenico Ingenito (Associate Professor of Persian Literature\, NELC) and organized in the context of the UCLA Afghan Scholars at Risk Program\, coordinated by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Humanities Division. The series takes place in conjunction with the cycle of workshops Afghanistan through Afghan Voices\, organized by the UCLA Program on Central Asia\, in collaboration with the University of Washington\, Stanford\, and UC Berkeley. \nDescription \nWhile today thousands of Afghan scholars and students are forced out of Afghanistan by the totalitarian bigotry imposed by the Taliban regime\, during the 15th century poets and artists migrated to this Central Asian region from all the corners of the Persian-speaking world to contribute to the cultural efflorescence of the city of Herat. \nIn 1483\, one of those medieval migrants\, the celebrated Persian poet and polymath ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami\, composed Yūsuf-u Zulaykhā\, a literary masterpiece that revisited the erotic and mystical dimensions of the tale of Joseph—extolled by the Quran as the “most beautiful of stories.” \nThe aim of this reading group and workshop series is to explore the story of Yusuf and his lover\, Zulaykha\, through the lens of Jami’s book\, which we may regard as an enchanting meditation in verse on the act of contemplating beauty for aesthetic and spiritual ends. Jami’s version of the narration is an originally Jewish and Islamic tale filtered through the lens of Persian mysticism and literature\, a story that addresses and stages the multiple meanings of exile and displacement\, unrequited desire and possibility of rebirth through love. It is a story that transcends ethnic\, religious\, and national boundaries. Although Jami’s text predates by centuries the formation of modern Afghanistan as a political entity\, it is a story that resonates with the cultural an aesthetic ideals and practices of the land and its people. It further shows how medieval Herat can still inspire the peaceful and bright future that Afghanistan and Afghan scholars deserve today\, beyond the political boundaries that separate them from Persian-speaking neighboring countries\, including Iran. \nVirtual Reading Group\nEvery Wednesday\, starting January 12\, 2022\, at 9-10am via Zoom (Los Angeles time)\nScholars and graduate students (from all institutions) with an intermediate or advanced level of proficiency in classical Persian are welcome to join the reading group. Participants with rudimentary knowledge of Persian may audit the sessions. \nThe sessions will follow the format of a virtual literary majlis\, where creative and intellectually stimulating conversations follow a collective form of shared concentration and active meditation on the lines and their meanings. Every week\, four or five voluntary readers will prepare a series of lines beforehand. The lines will be read\, tentatively translated\, and discussed during the reading session. \nNo prior knowledge of the story is required\, and participants are free to join the reading group anytime they wish. UCLA and UC graduate students may apply for credit. A PDF file with a critical edition of the text\, along with optional introductory readings in English and Persian and images from Timurid and Safavid manuscripts\, will be shared through a Dropbox folder. \nReading Group Registration Details: Prospective participants may join the reading group by submitting a short description of their background in Persian language and literature to the following email address: dingenito@ucla.edu \nWorkshop Series \nStarting in Spring 2022\, and parallel to the reading group\, the program will host a workshop series on the artistic\, literary\, and historical dimensions surrounding the genesis\, circulation\, and reception of Jami’s Yūsuf-u Zulaykhā. \nPreliminary program (abstracts and registration links will be circulated in February 2022) and confirmed speakers: Khalilullah Afzali\, Leili Anvar\, Lamia Balafrej\, Dominic Brookshaw\, Shiva Mihan\, Julia Rubanovich\, Claudia Yaghoobi. \nThe reading group and workshop series are generously sponsored by the UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies\, the UCLA Program in Iranian Studies\, the Center for Near Eastern Studies\, and the Program on Central Asia\, and hosted by the UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies. \n  \nImage: detail from Jami’s Yusuf u Zulaykha\, 1595 CE\, Bodleian Library\, University of Oxford\, MS. Elliott 418\, f. 56r. URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/from-medieval-afghanistan-the-most-beautiful-of-stories-jamis-yusuf-u-zulaykha-a-persian-reading-group-and-workshop-series/ CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Capture.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="UCLA Iranian Studies":MAILTO:iranianstudies@humnet.ucla.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR