Rethinking History: Returning to Archives and Documents

Ongoing series
On Zoom

The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies and Invisible East present a series of monthly online seminars about archives and documents. Convened by Arezou Azad and Mohamad Tavakoli, the seminars are held monthly on Zoom. 

Programme

SUMMER 2025
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Can Inshāʾ Literature Compensate for the Lack of Archives in Medieval Iran? With David Durand-Guédy, University of Hamburg.

Wednesday 9 April 2025, 12PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

Advanced registration essential.

Marking a Century of Hijri-Shamsi Calendar Nationalization: Archival Insights on Continuity and Change, with Delbar Khakzad, McGill University.

Thursday, 15 May 2025, time TBC

 

Past events in this series

The Archive of Early Illustrated Persian Books as Historical Record with Dr Roxana Zenhari, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Thursday, 16 January 2025, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time 

Private Sins, Public Crimes: Policing, Punishment, and Authority in Iran with Prof Farzin Vejdani, Toronto Metropolitan University

Wednesday, 12 February 2025, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

Zooming In: Architectural Inscriptions from 10th- to 13th-Century Afghanistan as Recorded in Photographic Archives, with Dr Viola Allegranzi, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Thursday, 13 March 2025, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 4PM UK Time

 

From the Gavbara to Khurshid: the Pahlavi Archive of Atabarestan and the First Century of Islam in Iran with Khodadad Rezakhani, Leiden University

Wednesday, 09 October 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

Archival History of Iran-Canada Relations [تاریخ روابط ایران و کانادا: جست‌وجو درد آرشیوهای ایران] with Javad Abbasi, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad

Thursday, 14 November 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

See YouTube recording of the talk here.

Uncovered Untold Histories: Iranian Political Activist and Migrant Worker Under Stalin's Great Terror with Touraj Atabaki, Leiden University

Thursday, 12 December 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

See YouTube recording of the talk here.

Sex and the Subject of Law in the National Archives of Iran with Jairan Gahan, Canadian Society for Iranian and Persian Studies

Thursday, 11 January 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

See YouTube recording of the talk here.

Bactrian documents and archives from Northern and Southern Afghanistan with Nicholas Sims-Williams, University of London

Monday, 08 February 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link.

Gulistan Harem Histories: Gender in the Qajar Archives with Leila Pourtavaf, University of York

Thursday, 14 March 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

See YouTube recording of the talk here.

Archival Practices Materialised: The Persian and Persianate Documents from al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem (13th-14th centuries) with Zahir Bhalloo, University of Hamburg

Thursday, 11 April 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

See YouTube recording of the talk here.

Of Petitions, Taxes and Democratization: Constitutionalism and the Public in Iran with Nader Sohrabi, University of Göttingen

Thursday, 16 May 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

See YouTube recording of the talk here.

(Re-)discovering the Firuzkuh Documents from Afghanistan, 12th-13th century with Nabi Saqee, University of Oxford

Thursday, 13 June 2024, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

The Archival Remnants of Art or an Intimate Lunch with Abu Turab Ghaffari with Shabnam Rahimi Golkhandan, University of Toronto

Thursday, 28 September 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link

Slavery in eastern Iranian regions: the case of late antique Bactria with Reza Huseini, University of Cambridge

Monday, 16 October 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link

In Search of Urban Geopolitics: Deep Mapping Tehran's Lalehzar District, 1880-1960 with Ida Meftahi, Boise State University

Thursday, 16 November 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link

Persian Qutbshahi Documents from India with Eva Orthmann, University of Gottingen

Thursday, 14 December 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link

Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran with Afsaneh Najmabadi, Harvard University 

Thursday, 20 April 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link.

Presence and Silence: The Iran Archives in the German Foreign Office with Jennifer Jenkins, University of Toronto 

Thursday, 18 May 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link.

The Arabic documents from early Islamic Khurasan with Geoffrey Khan, University of Cambridge 

Thursday, 15 June 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link.

The Village and the Archive: On Documents in Iranian Languages (11th-13th century) with Arezou Azad, Oxford University

Thursday, 20 July 2023, 12:00 PM Toronto Time / 5PM UK Time

More information at this link.