Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture

Transcription

1 Annual Report Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture The University of California, Irvine

2 2 Nowruz Haft Sin table at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture at UC Irvine.

3 Message from the Director It is my pleasure to serve as the Director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture for the academic year. This is the third year that I have had the privilege to embark on important activities to study and understand the Iranian world. We had forty-seven events this past year, which included talks, seminars, movie showings, and art exhibits. Scholars from Iran, Europe, and the US have come to the center to share their knowledge with us, the university, and the Iranian community in Orange County. I am pleased that we at the center have published a book series, in both English and Persian, as well as CD productions this year. Furthermore, we have continued our work on SASANIKA: LATE ANTIQUE IRAN PROJECT, with new articles and archaeological reports. TEHRAN PROJECT: WATER, CITY, PEOPLE has added an article and DABIR: DIGITAL ARCHIVES OF BRIEF NOTES & IRAN REVIEW has published its third volume. I hope to continue to make the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture thrive and make the history and culture of the Iranian world better understood. touraj daryaee, Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture Staff Touraj Daryaee Director and Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture Amanda Jeanne Swain Executive Director, Humanities Commons Saeid Jalalipour Program Coordinator, Persian Center/Humanities Commons UNDERGRADUATE STAFF Shadi Namiranian Special Events Assistant AFFILIATED FACULTY Houri Berberian Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies Soheila Kian, Lecturer in Persian Mark Levine, Professor of History Hossein Omoumi Maseeh Chair in Persian Performing Arts; Department of Music Alka Patel, Associate Professor of Art History Nasrin Rahimieh Howard Baskerville Professor of Humanities; Department of Comparative Literature Catherine Sameh Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexual Studies Soorosh Sorooshian Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Roxanne Varzi Associate Professor of Anthropology Visiting Scholars and Artists Sheida Mohamadi, poet-in-residence Noureddin Zarrinkelk, artist-in-residence Kamyar Abdi, scholar-in-residence Volunteers Mahsa Soroudi, Photographer Farinaz Pirshirazi, Social Media Coordinator 3

4 Campuswide Collaborations October 18, 2016 Silk Road Journeys of the Eurasian Lute Dr. James A. Millward, Professor of Inter-societal History at the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of History, Georgetown University Co-Sponsored by The National Committee on US- China Relations, The Long US-China Institute, The Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies, and The Group for the Study of Early Cultures November 15, 2016 On Photographic Self-Representation in Iran Dr. Ali Behdad, Professor of English at UCLA Co-Sponsored by Art History March 7, 2017 The Mongol Invasion of Afghanistan Michael O Neal Co-Sponsored by art history march 9, 2017 From Tehran to Seoul to Los Angeles: How Iranian and Korean Diasporas Converged Dr. Michael Jin, Assistant Professor of History, University of Illinois at Chicago Co-Sponsored by Center for Critical Korean Studies and Department of Asian American Studies The Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture collaborates with departments and centers in the School of Humanities, and across the UC Irvine campus. We were pleased this spring to co-present a talk on Iranian and Korean diasporas in Los Angeles with the new-established Center for Critical Korean Studies. May 15, 2017 The Artful Face, Voice, Gaze, and Ear in Abbas Kiarostami s Cinema Dr. Hamid Naficy, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Radio/TV/Film, Northwestern University Co-Sponsored by Humanities Language Learning Program, and Film and Media Studies June 1, 2017 History as Visual Splendor: Nostalgia as Ideological Colonization in Bollywood Films Dr. Ruhi Khan, Associate Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of California, Riverside Co-Sponsored by Art History 4

5 Community Outreach Farhang Foundation Celebration of Nowruz at UC Irvine On Saturday, March 25, 2017, Farhang Foundation along with the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, and UC Irvine s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, presented Farhang Foundation s 2nd annual Nowruz celebration in Orange County with a full day of activities and musical performances, featuring a headlining concert by Mohsen Namjoo and his ensemble, plus performances by the Sibarg Ensemble, Parisa Daneshvar & her children s ensemble, Negar Estakhr & Nargol Rashidian s Puppet Show, the Firuze Dance Troupe & DJ Arin. Special Children s activities by the Khayam Persian School Foundation & Darioush Negahban. Vista Verde School Outreach program The Vista Verde K-8 School in Orange County, which has a large number of children of Iranian heritage, invited the center s faculty and graduate students to speak to kindergarten through 8th grade students. The outreach program was organized through the efforts of the Yamini Sharif family. Dr. Touraj Daryaee, the center s director, along with graduate students Arnold Alahverdian and Soodabeh Malekzadeh, gave talks about the ancient festival of Nowruz, Persian New Year, and its importance for Iranian culture and the world. 5

6 Graduate Student Spotlight The Center Welcomes Professor Simcha Gross Simcha Gross, newly appointed assistant professor of History at UC Irvine, completed a PhD at Yale University in the Department of Religious Studies. His work centers on Jews living under the various Persian Empires in antiquity. One of his primary areas of specialization is the social, cultural, and religious histories of Jews and Syriac Christians in the Sasanian and early Islamic Empires. Studying Jews, Christians, and other minority groups in their larger imperial context shows how these groups and their cultural productions are responses to, formations of, and structured by generative interactions with the larger historical forces of their time. His most recent article is entitled, Irano-Talmudica and Beyond: Next Steps in the Contextualization of the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish Quarterly Review (2016), Simcha also recently co-authored a work entitled The History of the Slave of Christ : From Jewish Child to Christian Martyr, Gorgias Press, Babak Mazloumi Babak Mazloumi is doing his PhD in Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. His research interests are the comparative study of literary criticism/theory in Persian and Western languages, literary translation (theory and practice) as well as literary geography and cartography. He received his interdisciplinary Master s in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University where he focused on human rights, censorship, narratology, Middle Eastern Studies, and media. Babak is also a literary translator who has translated works by Robert Coover, Dave Eggers, Ismail Kadare, Steven Galloway, Nick Kolakowski, and Leonid Tsypkin into Persian. He has also translated many essays and short stories that have appeared in Iranian literary journals and newspapers. Fouad Oveisy Fouad Oveisy is currently working on his PhD in Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. He received an M.A. in Literatures of Modernity at Ryerson University before completing an M.A. in Comparative literature at UC Irvine. He holds a doctoral fellowship from Canada s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and has been a recipient of the Zarrinkelk Family fellowship. Fouad s research is broadly focused on the intersections between realpolitik and critical theory and, specifically, on the role of post-revolutionary literatures that shaped Iran s political landscape across the historical space of the modern and premodern Iranian state. This project explores translation theory in and through transhistorical interstices and encompasses poetry, history, and philosophies in Arabic, Kurdish, and Persian. 6

7 Faculty Spotlight Maestro Hossein Omoumi Dr. Hossein Omoumi was born in 1944, in Isfahân, Iran, and began his musical education singing with his father. At age 14, he started studying the Ney, the traditional reed flute of Iran. While studying architecture, he was accepted as a tutorial student at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Tehran, and worked with the great masters Mahmud Karimi and Farhâd Fakhreddini. He then worked with the great master of Ney, Hassan Kassâei. Dr. Omoumi graduated from the faculty of architecture at the National University of Iran with honors and taught there for 10 years after receiving his doctorate degree from the University of Florence, Italy, with a scholarship awarded by the Italian government. Omoumi s performance career has included appearances at many major festivals and concert halls in Europe and the United States, including San Francisco s World Music Festival, UCLA s Schoenberg Hall and Wadsworth Theater, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the World Music Institute,and the Asia Society in New York, and Theatre de la Ville in Paris. He is a noted scholar and teacher of Persian music, having served on the National Conservatory, Tehran University, Center for Conservation and Diffusion of Music (Iran National Television) in Tehran, Center for Oriental Music Studies (CEMO) of Sorbonne University in Paris, the Ethnomusicology departments of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Washington in Seattle. He is now Maseeh Professor in Persian Performing Arts in the UC Irvine Department of Music. He has arranged and composed 11 lessons to teach the principals of classical Persian music under the title of Pish Radif. His research on the making of the Ney and Iranian percussions has opened new possibilities and introduced significant innovations to the Ney, Tombak, and Daf. 7

8 Keynote Lecture on the Iranian World Farhang Foundation Lectures in Iranian Studies at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture This year, the renowned musician, Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh gave a lecture titled Art and People. He spoke about the beginnings of sound tracks and the song scores for some of the memorable Iranian films, which he composed in 1960 s and 1970 s. A reception was given in his honor, which was attended by hundreds of attendees. He later answered questions in a more private setting with the center s affiliates. The Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture and the Farhang Foundation are proud to have hosted Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh. Mr. Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh 8

9 Semnani Family Foundation Lectures UC Irvine s Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture is proud to continue the second annual Semnani Family Lectures in Memory of Dr. Richard Frye. We are grateful to the Semnani Family Foundation for their generous contribution. Professor Antonio Clemente Domenico Panaino of Università di Bologna, in Italy delivered two fascinating lectures entitled Kingship in the Achaemenid Empire and Kingship in the Sasanian Empire, followed by a seminar on Astral Mythology in Ancient Iran for students and faculty. We would like to thank Dr. Khosrow Semnani for his support of the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture at UC Irvine. Dr. Khosrow Semnani PROF. ANTONIO PANAINO 9

10 Conferences, Workshops & Film Festivals Celebration of Iranian Cinema at UC Irvine An event organized by Farhang Foundation and the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, Friday-Saturday, August 5-6, 2016 The inaugural film festival featured three films shown over two days on the UC Irvine campus. A Time for Love, directed by Alireza Raissian and starring Leila Hatami and Shahab Hosseini, looks at the practice of temporary marriages through the lives of successful lawyer championing women s rights and her own husband s temporary marriage. Hadji Sha tells the story of an insular, extended family of women who occupy an urban household, with no male family member in their lives. The film was directed by Zamani Esmati and stars Roya Teimoorian, Afsaneh Chehreh Azad, and Leila Zareah. In Charshanbeh 19 Ordibehesht, directed by Vahid Jalilvand, focuses on the plight of the poor in two women explain why they deserve a philanthropist s generosity. The film stars Niki Karimi, Amir Aghaei. and Vahid Jalilvand. Three Views on Ancient Iran by Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani (princeton University) Historian Khodadad Rezakhani, Princeton University, presented three lectures that explored ancient Iran from different perspective on August 24-25, The first lecture looked at the Kingdom of Persis; the second lecture explored East Iran and the Sasanians (Kushans); while the final lecture addressed Arabs and the Sasanian World. TWO talks on Modern Iran by Dr. Mateo mohammad farzaneh (Northeastern Illinois University - Chicago) Dr. Farzaneh, Northeastern Illinois University Chicago, gave two lectures on modern Iran on November 4 and November 7. His first talk was titled Faith, Nationalism and Iranian Women s Role in the Iran-Iraq War. The second lecture was titled Iranian Historiography and the Absence of Source Analysis from Revolutionary Organizations. 10

11 Conferences, Workshops & Film Festivals Mehregan Conference Being Present Sheida Mohamadi s Lectures Dr. Noureddin Zarrinkelk s Workshops Sunday, October 2, 2016 November 17-December 15, 2016 October 16, 2016 Co-presented by the Farhang Foundation Lectures by Ms. Sheida Mohamadi Workshops by Dr. Noureddin Zarrinkelk Persian mystical poetry and literature were the topics of the second UC Irvine Mehregan Conference supported by the Farhang Foundation. A series of lectures about modern Persian poetry and its importance for humanity today was presented by our poet-in-residence, Ms. Sheida Mohamadi. These lectures were held on 5 consecutive Thursdays in November-December A series of illustration workshops was held by our artist-in-residence and famed Iranian animator, Dr. Noureddin Zarrinkelk. These workshops took place on 10 consecutive Sundays starting on October 16, The Many Voices of Mowlana by Professor Alan Williams of the University of Manchester Attar and his Society Dr. Soheila Saremi of Saddleback College They were very well attended by both students and the members of the community. Those who attended the workshops were given a certificate on behalf of the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture. Musical Performance by the traditional Persian Quartet Feat. Vocalist: Shayandokht Abedinimanesh Shahin Yousefzamani Naghmeh Sarang Greg Ellis 11

12 The Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture

13 Events and Lectures All Posters were designed by Kourosh Beigpour, K-B-Studio. 13

14 Dr. Fariborz Maseeh The Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture s Benefactor Dr. Maseeh and Mrs. Maseeh. Photo courtesy of Newport Beach Lifestyle Magazine. Dr. Fariborz Maseeh is an Iranian-born Iranian- American pioneer in the field of micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) who founded IntelliSense in 1991 and sold it in He is the founder and managing principal of Surlamer LLC, an investment management firm which invests in various assets and manages several proprietary traded hedge funds, as well as Orbitron LP, a global macro long-short hedge fund. An active philanthropist, Dr. Maseeh established the Kids Institute for Development and Advancement (KiDA), a treatment clinic and education facility for children on the autism spectrum based in Irvine, California. He is the founder and president of The Massiah Foundation, a charitable organization. The Maseeh Professors were made possible by a principle gift from Fariborz Maseeh and the Massiah Foundation. In addition to their academic appointments, the Maseeh Professors are also integral members of the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, also established by Fariborz Maseeh and the Massiah Foundation. The Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture serves as an umbrella organization for various activities related to the study of Iran and the Persianate world at UC Irvine. It is one of the first centers of scholarship in this field. 14

15 Mani Haghighi Iranian Director at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture The renowned Iranian actor and director, Mani Haghighi, attended a showing two of his films Dragon Arrives! and A Modest Reception at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture. The screenings were followed by a discussion with audience about his films and career. 15

16 Visiting Scholars & Artists Kamyar Abdi Dr. Kamyar Abdi was this year s visiting scholar at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture. Dr. Abdi received his BA at the University of Tehran, his MA at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago and a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Michigan. He has taught at Dartmouth College and the Tarbiyate Modarres University in Tehran. He has published widely on the archaeology and art of the ancient Near East, especially Iran. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Iranian Journal of Archaeology and History and the International Journal of the Society of Iranian Archaeologists. He has published many books, including Toll-e Bashi: A Neolithic Village in Kur River Basin, Iran and Yeki Bud, YekiNabud: Essays on Iranian Archaeology in Honor of William M. Sumner. He is also the author of countless articles in various academic journals. Nazanin Aygani Ms. Nazanin Aygani, an artist, writer, and poet, was a visiting artist at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture in the spring. She has presented exhibitions at art galleries around the world including Paris, Venice, Prague, Slovenia, and Tehran. She has published several children and adolescent books and has taught in various institutions in Iran. While at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, Ms. Aygani delivered a talk entitled Dynamique in Persian Poetry and showed an art installation entitled Word. The Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture also published Mrs. Aygani s poetry book titled On Parables of Eve, with sketches by Rasem Basem. While at the center, Dr. Abdi gave many lectures and completed a book titled In the Lands of the Gods on the civilization of Elam, the Achaemenids, and history of Iranian archaeology. 16

17 Student Awards & Fellowships Farzaneh Family Fellowship Arnold Alahverdian PhD Candidate in History MA, History, UC Irvine (2015) BA, History, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies minor, Cal State Northridge (2013) Dissertation Topic A Clash of Myths at Avarayr: The Gendered Rhetoric of Holy War and Fifth-Century Sasanian Anxieties Zarrinkelk Fellowship Fouad Oveisy PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature MA, Literatures of Modernity, English, Ryerson University (2013) BAS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo (2009) Dissertation Topic The literary figurations of Iranian national and cultural identity at critical junctures of Iran s deep political history Dean s Gateway Fellowship Deanna Kashani PhD Candidate in Visual Studies BA, History of the Modern Middle East, Brown University (2004) Dissertation Topic Beyond the Framed Image: Contemporary Iranian Art from Production to Exhibition Dean s Gateway Fellowship Soodabeh Malekzadeh PhD Candidate in History MA, Ancient Languages and Cultures, Shiraz University (2011)BA, English Literature Shiraz University (2005) Dissertation Topic Bahram V: The Romantic Hunter- King or a Judeo-Arab Emperor Dean s Gateway Fellowship Ali Olomi PhD Student in History MA, History, UC Irvine (2014) BA, History, UCLA (2011) Dissertation Topic Birth of a Homeland: The Construction of a Golden Age and the Formation of Cultural-religious Identity in the Perso-Islamic Dynasty Dean s Gateway Undergraduate Fellowship Parsa Zamani Mazdeh MA Candidate in Bio-Medical Engineering, UC Irvine BA, Bio-Medical Engineering, UC Irvine (2017) 17

18 The Center s Publications & CDs Publications Ancient Iran Series Alka Patel and Touraj Daryaee, Iran and India in the Longue Duree (UC Irvine Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, 2017) The result of a conference held at the UC Irvine covering contacts between Iran and India from antiquity to the modern period, the chapters address historical, archaeological, and artistic aspects and influences between the two civilizations. CDs Ahmad Shamloo, Battle with Darkness, vols. 1 & 2 (UC Irvine Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, 2017) Live poetry reading by Ahmad Shamloo in 1974 Recorded and Introduced by Farhang Farrahi Music by Ahmad Pejman Touraj Daryaee, King of the Seven Climes (UC Irvine Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, 2017) The edited volume is a survey of the dynasties and rulers who went beyond their own surroundings to forge larger polities within the Iranian realm. Kanoon, Battle with Darkness, vols. 1 & 2 Ahmad Shamloo live poetry reading 1974 Recorded and Introduced by Farhang Farrahi Music by Ahmad Pejman (UC Irvine Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, 2017) contemporary Iran Series Nazanin Aygani, On Parables of Eve (UC Irvine Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, 2017) This book of short poems in Persian by Nazanin Aygani is illustrated with sketches by Basem Rasam. Sheida Mohamadi, I Blink and You are a Peacock, (UC Irvine Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, 2017) Audiobook of Sheida Mohamadi s Persian Poems, read by herself and accompanied by a cello performance by Maestro Homayoun Khosravi. 18

19 Celebrating Dr. Noureddin Zarrinkelk Dr. Noureddin Zarrinkelk, known internationally as the father of Iranian animation, is the artist-in-residence of the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture. From a familial lineage of painters and calligraphers, Dr. Zarrinkelk forged an artistic path of his own. At age 16, he began drawing caricatures for magazines. After earning a PhD in pharmacology at Tehran University, he worked as an illustrator and then at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults where he noticed animation s potential to capture and transform its audiences. Zarrinkelk has since written and directed 13 films. His style is playful yet pointed and often relies on simplicity to tell a story. A recurring theme is power. His film Super Powers depicted the power and interconnectedness of war with only + and symbols. Made during the Iraq-Iran war, the film won the national Fajr award in His 1975 animated film, The Mad, Mad, Mad World perfectly encapsulates his mix of surrealism, playfulness, and serious political commentary. Zarrinkelk advanced Iranian animation by founding the country s first animation school in 1974 and Iran s branch of the international film animators group, Association Internationale du Film d Animation or ASIFA, in In addition to being an film animator and puppeteer, Zarrinkelk is also an illustrator, painter, and graphic designer. He has illustrated over 20 books, several of which have received international praise, including The Crows, which won Best Book by UNESCO Asia and UNESCO Iran. While at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, Dr. Zarrinkelk has held several lectures and workshops and published a book titled Family Faxations in

20 Hamid Naficy Renowed Iranian Film Scholar at UC Irvine The Artful Face, Voice, Gaze, and Ear in Abbas Kiarostami s Cinema by Prof. Hamid Naficy The famous Iranian filmmaker and scholar, Prof. Hamid Naficy delivered a talk titled The Artful Face, Voice, Gaze, and Ear in Abbas Kiarostami s Cinema in memory of the renowned late Abbas Kiarostami. Naficy is the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in Communication from Northwestern University, and a leading authority in cultural studies of diaspora, exile, and postcolonial cinemas and media. Additionally, His areas of research and teaching include documentary and ethnographic cinemas, and Iranian and Middle Eastern cinemas and media. He has published nearly a dozen books (some awardwinning) and scores of book chapters and journal articles. In addition, he has lectured widely, nationally and internationally, and his works have been cited and reprinted extensively and translated into many languages. Naficy has also produced many educational films and experimental videos and participated in major international film festivals, curated film series, and initiated the annual Iranian film festivals in Los Angeles in 1990 and in Houston in This event was presented by UC Irvine s Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, Humanities Language Learning Program, and Film and Media Studies. Prof. Hamid Naficy 20

21 Middle Persian (Pahlavi) Summer School At the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture Middle Persian (Pahlavi) Summer School, June 12-23, 2017 Lectures by Ms. Soodabeh Malekzadeh & Dr. Touraj Daryaee The Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture held its first Pahlavi (Middle Persian) Summer School, from June 12 to June 23. The two week intensive course was designed to provide an introduction to Pahlavi literature. In week one,students learned the script, ideograms and grammar. During week two, the class read Zoroastrian Pahlavi text (print and manuscript versions), Sasanian inscriptions, as well as the Pahlavi papyri, the Psalms (translated from Syriac into Pahlavi), and legends on coins. The Pahlavi Summer School was sponsored by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture (UC Irvine) and the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World (UC Los Angeles). 21

22 Nazanin Aygani Talk and art installation at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture Dynamique in Persian Poetry, a talk and Word, an art installation by Mrs. Nazanin Aygani On Sunday, March 12, 2017, Mrs. Nazanin Ayganu gave a talk titled Dynamique in Persian Poetry about her newly published book by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, titled On Parables of Eve and presented an art installation titled Word. 22

23 Publication of Persian Learner Books At the Jordan Center For Persian Studies & Culture Dr. Peyman Nojoumian Persian Learner, Vol, I & II, by Dr. Peyman Nojoumian, June, 2017, the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture, University of California, Irvine. We are happy to announce the publication of Dr. Peyman Nojoumian s Persian Learner series by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture at UC Irvine. Dr. Nojoumian is a Professor of Persian Language at the University of Southern California. Persian Learner is a modern multimedia-based textbook designed to develop basic to intermediate Persian proficiency through authentic materials with integrated languages skills and thematic contents enriched with culture. This textbook has been developed based on the latest language learning standards that define clear-cut student learning objectives. Lessons have been sequenced based on the complexity of language tasks and spiraled up in line with the intended proficiency levels. 23

24 Sasanika Project The Sasanian Empire was one of the most remarkable empires of the first millennium CE. Emanating from southern Iran's Persis region in the third century CE, the Sasanian domain eventually encompassed not only modern day Iran and Iraq, but also the greater part of Central Asia and the Caucasus, including at times the regions corresponding to present-day Syria, Turkey, and Egypt. This geographically diverse empire brought together a striking array of ethnicities and religious practices. Arameans, Arabs, Armenians, Persians, Romans, and Goths, as well as a host of other peoples, all lived and labored under Sasanian rule. The Sasanians established a relatively tolerant imperial system, creating a vibrant communal life among their Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian citizens. The center s Sasanika website is a comprehensive collection of resources, articles, and visual materials on the Sasanian Empire. In , the Persian Center has published the following articles and an interactive map. Antonio Panaino(University of Bologna): Yasna and the End of the Ritual Michael G. Morony, (UCLA): Trade and Exchange: The Sasanian World to Islam Michael Alram, (Austrian Academy of Sciences - Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna): The Cultural Impact of Sasanian Persia along the Silk Road Aspects of Continuity 24

25 Tehran Project The Tehran project aims to look at Tehran from the point of view of the spaces that it occupies, both physical and metaphorical. This will allow the project to change focus, at times concentrating on micro studies of language and religion, and at others, zooming away to consider urban occupation and city planning. In between the two, matters of ethno-linguistic make up and their relations to the occupation patterns, as well as specialized topics such as health and the environment can be studied in the city, based on their framing on a macro level and their studies on a micro one. Negar Zojali & Ashrafosadat Mousavilar (Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran): A Case Study of Works of Tehran Carnival Based on Patricia Phillips s Public Art Machine Theory Dabir: Volume III, 2017 The Digital Archive of Brief Notes & Iran Review (DABIR) is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal published by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture at the University of California, Irvine. DABIR aims to quickly and efficiently publish brief notes and reviews relating to the pre-modern world in contact with Iran and Persianate cultures. Articles From Yima s Wara to Jamshid s Throne: Persepolis and the Impact of the Avestan Lore - Touraj Daryaee Elamo-Hittitica I: An Elamite Goddess in Hittite Court - Kamyar Abdi Neo-Assyrian Diplomatic Marriage and Divination: A Case Study - Parsa Daneshmand The hypothetical life of a Middle Iranian particle - Adam Benkato Methodological and Historiographical Notes on the Paradise as an Iranian Royal Institution - Matthew P. Canepa Saansaan Pirosen: Ammianus Marcellinus and the Kidarites - Khodadad Rezakhani Avestan Chithra - Amir Ahmadi Reviews Stoneman, Richard Xerxes: A Persian Life. New Haven: Yale University Press. Reviewed by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. Jongeward, David, Joe Cribb & Peter Donovan Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite coins: a catalogue of coins from the American Numismatic Society. New York: The American Numismatic Society. 322 pp. Reviewed by Khodadad Rezakhani. Special Issue An Overview of the History and Development of the Parsi Priesthood in India up to the 19th Century - Firoze M. Kotwal 25

26 The Library of Congress Symposium on the Sasanian World Co-Sponsored by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture From Oxus to Euphrates: The Sasanian Empire, June 7, 2017, The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. An all-day symposium on the Persian Sasanian Empire was held at the Library of Congress as part of an annual series of symposia on the ancient civilizations of the Near East organized by the African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED). Dr. Hirad Dinavari (AMED Reference Librarian for the Iranian World Collections), Prof. Touraj Daryaee (University of California, Irvine) and Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani (Princeton University) convened the symposium. Each of the nine participants spoke on the legacy of the Sasanian empire that, at its height, stretched from the Oxus River in Central Asia to the Euphrates in Western Asia and from the Hindukush to Eastern Arabia. For more than 400 years ( CE) prior to the Islamic conquest, Iranshahr (the Domain of Iran) influenced and was influenced by the various Iranian and non-iranian cultures, languages, religions, and art within this vast territory. The symposium was recorded for online viewing, and the papers will be published by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture in

27 Supporters of the Center Dr. Fariborz Maseeh Mr. Houshang Dadgostar Mrs. Yassaman Amini Dadgostar Razi Family Foundation Farzaneh Family Foundation Mr. Majid M. Zarrinkelk, MBA, CPA Mrs. Sohaila Zarrinkelk Mr. Javid Nja Ms. Mojgan Vahdati Mrs. Malea Farsai Zafari Mr. Reza Zafari Shadiar Ohadi, M.D. Dr. Iraj Khalkhali Ms. Sevin Ataie Mr. Mehdi Jalili, M.D. Professor Babak Shahbaba Mr. Rohollah Abdollahi Mrs. Zarrin Abdollahi Ms. Homa Shadrouz Mr. Bijan Farhad Mrs. Paricher Farhad Ms. Parvanel Payravi Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute Mr. Hooman Yamini Sharif Semnani Family Foundation Mrs. Ghazaleh Semnani Mr. Khosrow B. Semnani Mr. Bijan Farhad Mrs. Paricher Farhad Ms. Parvaneh Payravi Mr. Ghobad Fakhimi Mr. Bahman & Mrs. Niloo Fakhimi Mr. Hooman Fakhimi & Mrs. Raheleh Shakoori Farhang Foundation 27

28 Professor Alan Williams, surrounded by guests, after the Mehregan Conference. UC Irvine s Humanities Gateway Patio, October Jordan Center for Persian Studies The University of California, Irvine First Floor Humanities Gateway, Irvine, CA Website Lectures Sasanika Tehran Project Dabir Journal 28