Historiography & Iran in Comparative Perspective

Institute of Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews / Iran Heritage Foundation

With the support of BIPS

10-13th September 2009

Conference Programme

(Please note that the programme may be subject to change)

10th September – Arrival and Registration

16.00-18.00 Registration - New Arts Building
   
19.00 Welcome Drinks reception - Lower Parliament Hall
   

11th September – Day 1

08.00-08.45 Late Registration (New Arts Building)
   
08.45-09.00 Welcome – Professor Ali M Ansari – Persia and Iran
   
09.00-09.45 Keynote: Professor Michael Bentley – Historiography and Iran; the view from the West [University of St Andrews]
   
09.45-10.30 Keynote: Professor Bert Fragner – Persian Historiography [Austrian Academy of Sciences]
   
10.30-11.15 Keynote: Professor Chris Lorenz – Comparative historiography [Free University of Amsterdam]
   
11.15-11.30  Coffee
  Panel I - Nationalism and historiography
(Chair – Professor Ali Ansari)
   
  Mohammad Imanpour – ‘The Growth of historical nationalism and new trends in historiography of Iranian in early 20 century: the Case of Pirniya’s Ancient History’ [The Ferdowsi University of Mashad, Iran] [Abstract]
   
  Rudi Mathee – Na Gharbi, na Sharqi, Irani: The Historical roots of Iran's Quest for Self-Sufficiency. [University of Delaware]
   
  Pejman Abdolmohammadi – ‘History, National Identity and Myths in the Iranian Contemporary Political Thought: Mirza Fathali Akhundzadeh (1812-1878), Mirza Agha Khan Kermani (1853-1896) and Hassan Taqizadeh (1878-1970)’ [University of Genoa, Italy] [Abstract]
   
  Lindsay Allen – ‘“The New Crusade”: pictorial reportage and America’s archaeological mission to Iran in the 1930s’. [King’s College London] [Abstract]
   
13.30-14.30 Lunch
   
14.30-16.30 Panel II – The Early Modern Period
(Chair – Professor Andrew Pettegree)
   
  Andrew Newman – Safavid Historiography [University of Edinburgh]
   
  Lloyd Ridgeon – Sufi’s in Safavid Iran [University of Glasgow]
   
  Stephen Blake – ‘History and Chronology in Early Modern West and South Asia: The Safavid Mughal, and Ottoman Empires’ [University of Minnesota] [Abstract]
   
  Sanjay Garg – Safavid-Mughal Relations: the numismatic evidence [National Archives of India]
   
1630-1700 Tea
   
1700-1800 Keynote: Professor Abbas Milani – The Shah: Methodological Problems of a Biography
(Chair – Michael Bentley)
   
19.30 Conference dinner
   
   

12th September – Day 2

09.00-11.00 Panel III – Antiquity
(Chair: Dr Tim Greenwood)
   
  Touraj Daryaee – Aspects of Sasanian Historiography [University of California, Irvine]
   
  Lynette Mitchell – Persia and the Greeks [University of Exeter]
   
  Mohsen Zakeri – ‘From “Two Centuries of Silence” to “The Dawn of Islam”. A new approach for writing the early Islamic history of Iran’ [der J. W. Goethe Universität, Frankfurt] [Abstract]
   
   
11.00-11.30 Coffee
   
11.30-12.30 Keynote – Professor Abbas Amanat [Yale University]
The construction of Grand narratives
(Chair – Dr Paul Luft)
   
12.30-13.30 Lunch
   
13.30-15.30 Panel IV – The Mediaeval imagination
(Chair – Professor Robert Hoyland)
   
  Rob Bartlett – Persia in the mediaeval imagination [University of St Andrews]
   
  Carole Hillenbrand – Classical Arab historiography [University of Edinburgh]
   
  David Morgan – Rashid al Din [University of Wisconsin-Madison]
   
  Anja Pistor-Hatam – ‘History and Its Meaning in the Islamic Republic of Iran: The Case of the Mongol Invasion and Rule’ [Christian-Albrechts- Universität, Kiel] [Abstract]
   
15.30-16.00 Tea
   
16.00-17.30 Panel V – Writing 20th century History
(Chair – Ali M Ansari)
   
  Peter Sluglett Writing the History of 20th century Iraq [University of Utah]
   
  Farhang Jahanpour – Persia in the Western imagination: Translations of Persian Poetry from 18th-21st centuries. [Oxford University]
   
  Saeed Talajooy - ‘Myth and History in Contemporary Iranian Theatre’ [UCL]
   
17.30-19.00 Panel VI – Aryanism and its discontents
(Chair – Dr Bernhard Struck)
   
  Robert Irwin – Gobineau and the construction of Aryanism [School of Oriental and African Studies]
   
  David Motadel – ‘Evolution and Transfer of the Term “Aryan” in Modern Intellectual and Political History’ [University of Cambridge] [Abstract]
   
  Menachem Merhavy – ‘From “The Great Civilization” to “False Cyrus” – Legacy of ancient Iran as reflected in Pahlavi discourse’, [Tel Aviv University] [Abstract]
   

13th September – Day 3

17.30-19.00 Panel VII –Persian in the Early Modern Imagniation
(Chair - Dr Steve Murdoch)
   
  Hafiz Abid Masood – ‘Renaissance Humanism, Classical Persia and 16th Century English Drama’ [University of Sussex] [Abstract]
   
  Elisa Sabadini – ‘Persia in the western imagination: From reign of freedom to land of oppression: 17th century Persia through Italian eyes’ [Universitá degli Studi di Milano] [Abstract]
   
  Giorgio Rota
   
11.00-11.30 Coffee
   
11.30-13.30 Panel VIII –Myth and Memory
(Chair – Ali M Ansari)
   
  Yadullah Shahibzadeh – ‘The Implications of Recent Historiographical Trends in Iran’ [University of Oslo, Norway] [Abstract]
   
  Pedram Khosronejad – The Ethnography of Sacred Defence Literature [University of St Andrews]
   
  Shahram Kholdi – ‘Politics of Memory and the Historiography of the 1979 Revolution’ [University of Manchester] [Abstract]
   
13.30-1400 Conclusion

 

 


 


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Institute for Iranian Studies
School of History
St Katharine’s Lodge
The Scores
St Andrews
KY16 9AL

Tel:
+441334 463027
+441334 463058

Fax:
+441334 462927

Email:
iran@st-andrews.ac.uk




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