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Advanced Persian through Ethnographic Texts

Instructor: Peyman Eshaghi

 

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About the course:

This course is designed for advanced students to explore the "living" Persian language—the way it is spoken and written when documenting the people, rituals, and diverse landscapes of the Persianate world. We move from medieval geography to modern sociology, focusing on how Persian handles the specific, the local, and the "unfiltered."

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Content of the course:

Week 1: The First Ethnographer

Text: Tahqiq ma li-l-Hind (The Persian Translation) by Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (11th Century).

  • Context: Biruni, a Khwarazmian polymath, provides the first scientific study of Indian culture, religion, and science.

  • Linguistic Focus: The vocabulary of comparative religion and the precision of scientific observation in early New Persian.

  • Theme: The "Objective Eye"—how to describe a foreign culture without bias.

 

Week 2: Frontier Landscapes

Text: Hudud al-'Alam (The Regions of the World) (10th Century - Anonymous).

  • Context: The earliest known geography book in Persian, written in the Samanid era.

  • Linguistic Focus: Archaic geographical terminology and the categorization of "nations" and "peoples" in early prose.

  • Theme: Mapping the "Other"—the boundaries between the civilized and the steppe.

 

Week 3: Safavid Urban Life

Text: Ketab-e Kulsum-Naneh by Aqa Jamal Khwansari (17th Century).

  • Context: A satirical look at the customs and superstitions of women in Isfahan.

  • Linguistic Focus: Colloquial Safavid-era idioms, domestic vocabulary, and the language of folk rituals.

  • Theme: Gendered spaces and the "hidden" culture of the Safavid household.

 

Week 4: Tribal Gazettes

Text: Safarnameh-ye Lorestan va Khuzestan by Baron de Bode (Persian Translation/Qajar Era Notes).

  • Context: Mid-19th-century accounts of the Bakhtiari and Luri tribes.

  • Linguistic Focus: The terminology of nomadic life (Ilat), livestock, and tribal hierarchy (Khan, Kalantar).

  • Theme: The tension between the central Qajar government and the autonomous tribes.

 

Week 5: The "Gharbzadegi" Crisis

Text: Khark, the Orphan Pearl by Jalal Al-e Ahmad (1960s).

  • Context: A sociological and ethnographic study of the people on Khark Island in the Persian Gulf.

  • Linguistic Focus: Al-e Ahmad’s signature "chopped" sentences and his use of local maritime terminology.

  • Theme: The impact of the oil industry on traditional island communities.

 

Week 6: The Nomad's Soul

Text: If I Die in My Homeland (Agar dar Sarzamin-e Khod Bemiram) by Mohammad Bahmanbegi.

  • Context: Bahmanbegi was the founder of tribal schools in Iran and a member of the Qashqai tribe.

  • Linguistic Focus: Lyrical, modern prose that elevates tribal life; vocabulary of the Zagros mountains and migration (Kuch).

  • Theme: Education as a bridge between tribal identity and national citizenship.

 

Week 7: Folklore and Myth

Text: Nirangestan by Sadegh Hedayat.

  • Context: Hedayat, Iran's premier modernist, was also a dedicated collector of Persian folklore and superstitions.

  • Linguistic Focus: The language of "Amu" (superstition), traditional charms, and the preservation of oral culture in writing.

  • Theme: The preservation of pre-Islamic remnants in modern Iranian folk belief.

 

Week 8: The Borderlands of Khorasan

Text: Qal'eh-ye Dokhtar by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi.

  • Context: Although a novelist, Dowlatabadi’s work is deeply ethnographic regarding the life of the Khorasani peasants.

  • Linguistic Focus: Heavy Khorasani dialectical influence, agricultural vocabulary, and the rhythms of rural life.

  • Theme: The struggle for land and water in the arid east.

 

Week 9: The Anthropology of the Bazaar

Text: Bazaar-e Tehran (Selected Essays) by Saeed Nafisi or modern sociological studies.

  • Context: A study of the economic and social heart of the Persian city.

  • Linguistic Focus: Trade idioms, the specialized language of guilds (Asnaf), and the architecture of the marketplace.

  • Theme: The Bazaar as a social network and political powerhouse.

 

Week 10: Marginalized Voices

Text: Ahl-e Hava (People of the Air) by Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi.

  • Context: A haunting ethnographic study of the "Zar" cult and spirit possession in the southern ports of Iran.

  • Linguistic Focus: Afro-Iranian terminology, the language of exorcism, and the coastal "Bandari" influence.

  • Theme: Syncretism and the influence of African culture in the Persian Gulf.

 

Week 11: The Afghan Village

Text: The Land of My Fathers (Excerpts) by Akram Osman or Sayd Bahodine Majrouh.

  • Context: Ethnographic observations of life in the Panjshir or rural Afghanistan.

  • Linguistic Focus: Distinct Dari vocabulary and the preservation of classical Persian forms in modern Afghan speech.

  • Theme: Honour (Nang) and hospitality (Melmastia) in the Persian-speaking Afghan context.

 

Week 12: Digital Ethnography: The New Iran

Text: Selected Blog/Social Media Analysis of modern Iranian urban life (e.g., from the Zanan-e Emruz collective).

  • Context: How modern Iranians describe their own subcultures today.

  • Linguistic Focus: Slang, neologisms, the influence of English on urban Persian, and "Internet Persian" (Farsish).

  • Theme: Identity in the age of the globalized internet.

 

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Course Details:

Schedule: Wednesdays, 1 April – 17 June 2026

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Time: 10:30-11:30 AM (US Pacific), 12:00–13:00 (US Eastern), 06:00–07:00 PM (Central European)


Format: 12 online sessions

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Tuition: $300 (payable in 3 installments)

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​​Registered participants will receive full access to recorded session videos and all course materials.​

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Registration link: https://forms.gle/qb8HgweQcqGEuPRD9​​​

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