THE SHAHNAMEH AND PERSIANATE IDENTITY CONFERENCE

(9-12 April 2010, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland)

A conference focusing on the Shahnameh and the development of Persianate identity is historical perspective.

Organised by

Institute of Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews and the Iran Heritage Foundation.

Covened by

Prof. Ali Ansari (St Andrews)

Introduction

A millennium after his death, the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi remains the single most important literary source of the construction and definition of Persianate identity. Ferdowsi’s magisterial achievement in collating and versifying the history and myths of the Iranian peoples ensured not only the preservation of a canon of shared historical memory and experience, but crucially secured the renaissance of the Persian language for future generations. This conference will focus on the political, social and historical legacy of the Shahnameh in the development of identities in the Persianate world. Moreover, it will welcome papers which look at aspects of identity beyond ethnic or national characterisations. What, if any, are the ethical bases of the Shahnameh? Does it serve as a moral guide for human behaviour which transcends ethnic affiliation or can it be best understood as the creation myth of a particular people? How are we to understand its mythical and historical relevance? How do we explain its continued – political - appeal to this day? The conference will seek to address these questions, amongst others in historical context, looking at the origins and development of the Shahnameh in Sasanian Iran and its aftermath, particularly in the post-conquest period when Persianate historians struggled to reconcile their inherited narratives with those resulting from the Muslim conversion. How did these historians seek to reconcile these competing traditions, and why did the Shahnameh remain popular with governing elites from Delhi to Istanbul, from the mediaeval to the modern world?
The organisers welcome papers on a broad range of topics but will be guided by the following thematic areas:

1. Reconciling competing traditions: Persianate historians in the Islamic era
2. The idea of Iranshahr
3. Hero & King in the Shahnameh: the chivalric ethos
4. The epic in comparative perspective
5. Myth and history: historical mythology in the modern Persianate world

Proposals for papers should send an abstract of no more than 250 words, along contact details, a brief biography including an institutional affiliation, to the Organising Committee, Shahnameh Conference, School of History, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL, by November 15th 2009. Alternatively proposals may be sent in electronic format to the email below. All proposed papers must constitute unpublished new research. Authors of papers presented at the conference must commit themselves to publish their papers in the publication described below, if the editors of the publication select their papers for inclusion in the publication.

Confirmed Speakers:

1. Professor Dick Davis (Ohio)
2. Professor Charles Melville (Cambridge)
3. Professor Robert Hillenbrand (Edinburgh)
4. Professor Dick Bulliet (Columbia)
5. Professor Parvaneh Pourshariati (Ohio)
6. Dr Hussein Kamaly (Columbia)
7. Dr Paul Luft (St Andrews)
8. Professor Robert Hoyland (St Andrews)
9. Professor Hugh Kennedy
Publication
A book, edited by Ali Ansari, of selected papers from the conference will be published by I. B. Tauris Publishers, in the series “Iran and the Persianate World”. Organising Committee Professor Ali Ansari
Dr Tim Greenwood
Dr Pedram Khosronejad
Professor Robert Hoyland
Dr Paul Luft

Professor Nick Rengger
Dr Angus Stewart