The Third ASPS Biennial Convention, planned for January 2007 in Lahore, was cancelled due to a lack of funding, and because of the ineligibility of some potential participants to obtain a visa.
After months of investigating an alternative location, we finally agreed on Tbilisi (Tiflis), the capital of the Republic of Georgia, as the host city of our Third Biennial Convention. The Convention will be held at the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Georgian Academy of Sciences, and at the Tiflis State University.
The dates of the Convention are from Friday to Monday, 8-11 June 2007, considering that these dates are the best for convenient flights to Tiflis.
The Convention program remains essentially unchanged, with several Georgian colleagues added as session chairs and presenters. If f your paper was accepted for the Lahore convention, you are very welcome to present it in Tiflis.
ASPS will provide lodging for those who present papers and will arrange for hotel accommodations for those who choose to stay in a single room in a more upscale hotel than the hotel designated for the conference. As for travel expenses, we expect to provide funding to cover the travel expenses of the participants from the region. We will inform you further on this point as soon as ASPS receives its expected funding. Participants from Western Europe and the United States are expected to cover their own airfare through their institutions.
Tiflis is the capital city of the Republic of Georgia. Independent since 1991, Georgia was a part of the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union for almost two centuries. During most of the two hundred years before the Russian takeover of 1800, the eastern half of Georgia was under the control, or at least in the orbit, of Persia. Far from being a peripheral part of the Safavid state, Georgia exerted extraordinary influence on Persia’s military and bureaucratic order. It did so by way of the thousands of Georgian slaves who were settled in Persia in the course of the 16 th and 17 th centuries. Nominally converted to Islam, these Safavid subjects subsequently came to occupy the top ranks of the military and administrative establishment. By the end of the 17 th century, most high-ranking courtiers and the majority of Persia’s provincial governors were of Georgian background, and the Georgians were the only effective military force to fight the Afghan invaders in the early 18 th century. There remain several Georgian-speaking villages in Fereydan, east of Isfahan. (At least one scholar from this Perso-Georgian community will be present in the Tbilisi convention.) The city of Tiflis also prospered under the Safavids and Qajars as a major town with a sizeable Muslim community and considerable Persian cultural and architectural influence, some of which architectural examples still standing today.
ASPS conventions have added an important dimension to the ASPS mission of providing a forum for scholarly exchange in all Persianate countries and among all scholars who are engaged in scholarship concerning Persianate societies. In Tiflis we again look forward to bringing scholars together for an interdisciplinary academic meeting.
ASPS’s first biennial convention took place in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September 2002, with the cooperation of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature, and the National Commission of UNESCO, Tajikistan. This very successful and well-publicized four-day scholarly meeting brought together over 80 scholars from thirteen countries to present papers and to discuss a variety of themes on pre-Islamic and Islamic Persianate culture. Our second biennial convention on Iranian Studies, “Society, History and Culture in the Persianate World,” was held in Yerevan, Armenia in 2004, and brought together 90 scholars from eighteen countries. The conventions have provided a rare and valued opportunity for scholars from West, Central and South Asia, Europe and North America to join in an academic dialogue.
Travel to Georgia
Citizens of the EU, US, Canada, Japan and most post-Soviet states (except Russia) do NOT need visa to enter Georgia.
Iranian citizens can obtain visas upon their arrival at the Tiflis airport, yet it would be perhaps less costly for them to obtain a visa from the Consulate of Georgia in Tehran for approximately $30.
Citizens of countries where there is no Georgian consulate can obtain visas at the Tiflis airport (for approximately $50, but it depends on the length of their stay in Georgia).
An official invitation will be provided for those applicants who need it for obtaining visa and/or funding. An official letter will be send to you by email upon your request. Please contact Dr. George Sanikidze at gsany@yahoo.com
United Airlines, Continental Airlines, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, KLM, and Austrian Airlines offer flights from New York to Tiflis with at least one stop (often in London, but also in Munich and Vienna). On occasion, the second leg of the flight is with Airzena Georgian Airlines.
Based on www.travelocity.com , Prices currently range from $1,400 to $2,000 depending on which week day one chooses to travel. Midweek flights (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays) are the least expensive, but reasonably priced flights are available on other days, as well.
Program
Third Biennial Conference
Association for the Study of Persianate Societies
Tbilisi, Georgia
8-11 June 2007
Friday, June 8
Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Opening Session 16.00-18.00
Chair: Giorgi KHUBUA, Rector of the University
Welcoming Addresses by the Ambassadors and officials
Habib BORJIAN (Convention’s Chair)
Thomas GAMKRELIDZE (President of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia)
George SANIKIDZE (Head of the Tbilisi’s Organizational Committee)
Jemshid GIUNASHVILI (Former Ambassador of Georgia in Islamic Republic of Iran)
Presidential Address
Said AMIR ARJOMAND (SUNY, Stony Brook, US)
The Salience of Political Ethic in the Spread of Persianate Islam
18.00-19.30
Reception at the Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University on behalf of Prof. Giorgi Khubua, Rector of the University
June 9-11, G. Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies
Saturday, June 9
Morning: 9:00-11.00 Session 1
A – Tbilisi and the Persianate world (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Hirotake MAEDA ( University of Hokkaido, Japan)
George SANIKIDZE (Institute of Oriental Studies and Tbilisi State University)
Activities of Iranian Community in 19th Century Tbilisi
Marina ALEXIDZE ( Tbilisi State University and Institute of Oriental Studies)
Life and Culture of Persians in Tbilisi from 1801 to 1917
Irene KOSHORIDZE ( Georgian National Museum)
Two Persianate palaces in the Caucasus from the 18th century
Iago GOCHELEISHVILI ( Cornell University, US)
Writing the History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-11): Georgian Sources
B – Cultural History of Persianate Societies (Room 204)
Chair: Marek SMURZYNSKI (The Jagiellonian University of Krakow, Poland)
Mahmoud JAAFARI-DEHAGHI ( University of Tehran)
Apostasy in Middle Persian Texts
Ishtiyaq Ahmad ZILLI ( Aligarh University, India)
Central Organization, Tabarrokat and Succession among the Early Chishtis of India
Caroline SAWYER ( SUNY College at Old Westbury, New York)
Ahmad al-Sirhindi's Maktubat as a Source for Study of Islam's Development in the Indian Subcontinent
Jurabek NAZRIEV (Institute of Oriental Studies and Written Heritage, Tajikistan)
Significance of Bidel's in the Literary Development of Transoxiana
11.00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:15 Session 2
A – Culture and Folklore (Room 204)
Chair: Firuza ABDULLAEVA ( University of Oxford)
Mehdi FARIVAR ( Karaj)
Fortune (bakht) and Free Will in Iranian Culture
Ravshan RAHMONI ( Tajik State University)
The problems of Tajik folklore in the beginning of the 21st century
Victoria KRYUKOVA (Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, St. Petersburg, Russia)
Sacrifice as Foundation of Marriage Ritual in the Traditional Culture of Tajiks
Manana KVACHADZE ( Tbilisi State University)
On the Classical Persian literary etiquette (Nizami Ganjavi, “Layli and Majnun”)
B – Persian Language and Teaching (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Thea SHURGAIA ( Tbilisi State University and Institute of Oriental Studies)
Maia Sakhokia (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Persian Morpho-syntax Innovations: Theory and educational practice
Lucia GHAZARIAN ( Yerevan State University)
Remarks on methods of teaching Persian as a foreign language in Armenia
13.15-14.30 Lunch
Afternoon: 14:30-16:15 Session 3
A – Northwestern Iranian Languages and Dialects (Room 204)
Chair: Vardan VOSKANIAN ( Yerevan State University)
Habib BORJIAN ( Hofstra University, New York)
The Median-Parthian Group of the Northwestern Iranian Languages
Hasmik KIRAKOSIAN ( Yerevan State University)
Some Archaic Aspects of Azari Dialects
Alice ASSADORIAN ( Azad University, Tehran)
The Awromani Dialect of Persian Kurdistan
Mahmud JONEYDI-JA'FARI (Department of Education, Tehran)
Central Dialects of Kashan District
B – Safavid Persia (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Grigol BERADZE ( Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Samvel MARKARYAN ( Yerevan State University)
The Rising in Qandahar in 1709: Mir Wais and Georg XI
Mikheil SVANIDZE (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Prince Selim's Campaigns in Georgia and Persia
Nana GELASHVILI (Institute of Oriental Studies and Tbilisi State University)
Information of Safavid Historical Sources concerning Georgian-Persian Relations
Hirotake MAEDA ( University of Hokkaido, Japan)
Martqopi's Revolt and Safavid Historiography
16:15-16:45 coffee break
16:45-18:30 Session 4
A – Medieval Intellectual History (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Irene NATHKHEBIA ( Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Mostafa YOUNESIE ( Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran)
The Relation of Logic and Language in the Commentaries of Farabi and Aquinas on Aristotle's Peri Hermeneias
Manu P. SOBTI ( University of Wisconsin, US)
What's in a City : An Examination of Moqaddasi's Work on Urban Systems in the Tenth-century Islamic World
Manana GABASHVILI (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
International Maritime Interests according to the 10 th century Hodud al-`Alam
Mansura HAIDAR ( Aligarh Muslim University, India)
Contribution of Persian Literature to Medical Sciences
B – Gender in the Persianate World (Room 204)
Chair: Iago GOCHELEISHVILI ( Cornell University, US)
Habiba FATHI (French Institute for Central Asian Studies, Tashkent)
Women of the Armenian Community of Iran at the Turn of the 20th Century: Gender, Culture, and Modernity
Mzia BURJANADZE ( Tbilisi State University)
Gender Problem in the Work of Persian Female Writers
Fatemeh Masjedi (Nashr-e Tarikh-e Iran, Tehran)
Feminist Historiography of the Early Twentieth Century of Iran
Sunday, June 10
Morning: 9:00-11:00 Session 5
A – Religion and mythology (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Ishtiyaq Ahmad ZILLI ( Aligarh Muslim University, India)
Victoria ARAKELOVA ( Yerevan State University)
Animals and Plants in the Yezidi Beliefs: Comparative studies of Near Eastern Traditions
Marek SMURZYNSKI (The Jagiellonian University of Krakow, Poland)
The Symbolic Mode of the Kabul's Ziarats: On the Crossroads of the Islam and Magic
Mehdi MOHAMMAD ZADEH (EPHE and Universite de Geneve, France)
The Origins of Religious Iconography on the Iranian Plateau
Mariam GVELESIANI ( Georgian National Museum)
The Notion of Hravena in Post-Achaemenid Kingship
B – Persian Grammar (Room 204)
Chair: Phati ANTADZE ( Tbilisi State University)
Ali Ashraf SADEGHI ( Persian Academy of Letters (Farhangestan), Tehran)
Some diminutive suffixes in Persian
Behrooz MAHMUDI-BAKHTIARI ( University of Tehran)
Notes on the Morphology of the Persian Irreversible Binominals
Nikoloz NAKHUTSRISHVILI (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Some Peculiarities of the Use of Plural Suffix -jāt in Modern Persian
11:00 - 11:30 coffee break
11:30 - 13:00 Session 6
A – Anthropology / Identity (Room 204)
Chair: GARNIK Asatrian ( Yerevan State University)
Thea SHURGAIA ( Tbilisi State University and Institute of Oriental Studies)
On the Problem of national identity of Iranians in M. Eslami-Nodushan's works
Vahe S. BOYAJIAN ( Yerevan State University)
The Dehwars of Balochistan: Preliminary Notes on the Ethnic Identity
Maryam BORJIAN (Teachers College, Columbia University in the City of New York)
Persian vs. Farsi: One Nation, One Language, Two Fighting Words
Afsaneh KHATOUNABADI ( University of Isfahan)
Undesired Consequences of Transnational Thinking in the Contemporary History of Iran
B – Social and Diplomatic History (Meeting hall)
Chair: Jurabek NAZRIEV (Institute of Oriental Studies and Written Heritage, Tajikistan)
Khachik GEVORGYAN ( Goettingen University, Germany; Arya International University, Armenia)
An Attempt to Classify the Persian Fotovvatnamas
Irene NATCHKEBIA (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Napoleon's Envoys' Data on Persia's Military Potential in the Context of Indian Expedition (1805-1809)
Houchang E. CHEHABI ( Boston University, US)
The Myth of Moses in the Islamic Revolution
Kian TAJBAKHSH ( Tehran)
Understanding the Institutions of the Public Sphere in Contemporary Iran
13.00-14.30 Lunch
14:30-16:15 Session 7
A – Iranian languages and the Caucasus (Room 204)
Chair: Manana KVACHADZE ( Tbilisi State University)
Sadegh SAJJADI (Great Islamic Encyclopedia, Iran)
Arran , Azerbaijan and Armenia in of Rashid-al-Bakuvi’s Talkhis-e majma al-athar fi ajayeb al-malek al-qahhar
Theo CHKHEIDZE (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
From the History of Iranian-Georgian Linguistic Contacts
Phati ANTADZE ( Tbilisi State University)
On the Typology of Lexical Microsystem in Modern Persian and Georgian
Vardan VOSKANIAN ( Yerevan State University)
Notes on the Dialect of the Village Kilit in Nakhchivan
B – Music in the Persianate world (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Houchang E. CHEHABI ( Boston University, US)
Jane LEWISOHN (Dept. of Music, SOAS, University of London)
Davud Pirnia and the Genesis of the Golha Programs
Homan ASADI (Dept. of Music, University of Tehran)
The Frozen Radif: Quarrel of Ancient and Modern Persian Music
Amir Hosein POURJAVADY (Dept. of Music, University of Tehran)
Amir Khan Gorji, the Last Composer of the Safavid Period
16:15-16:45 coffee break
16:45-18:30 Session 8
A – Linguistics in the Persianate World (Room 204)
Chair: Ali-Ashraf SADEGHI ( Farhangestan, Iran)
Maya NATADZE (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Complex Verbs in Middle Persian
Sorayya PANAHI ( Persian Academy of Letters, Tehran)
Persian Influence on Urdu
Bahriddin ALIEV ( Tajik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe)
The Suffixes -īč/-ūč in Toponyms of Zarafshān Valley
B – Orientalism (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Mansura HAIDAR ( Aligarh Muslim University, India)
Maia NACHKEBIA (Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature, Georgia)
Orient, Viewed by European Scholar of 17th Century: Historical and Geographical Review
Grigol BERADZE (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
Epigraphs of Travel: Henry Morton Stanley's Commemorative Inscription in Persepolis
Saleem MAZHAR ( University of Punjab at Lahore, Pakistan)
Contribution of the University of Punjab at Lahore towards the extension of Persian studies in the Subcontinent
Giorgi LOBZHANIDZE ( Tbilisi State University)
Sohrab Sepehri and Oriental Mystical Tradition
Monday, June 11
9:00-10:11.00 Session 9
A – Arts in the Persianate World (Meeting Hall)
Chair: Irene KOSHORIDZE ( Georgian National Museum)
Firuza ABDULLAEVA ( University of Oxford)
The Artistic Rivalry of Two Brothers: Ebrahim Sultan's Reply to Baysanghur Mirza's Shahnama
Daria VASILYEVA (Institute of Oriental Studies, St Petersburg, Russia)
Sacred History Frozen in Paintings: Shiite Iconography in Saint Petersburg Collections
Natia ROSTIASHVILI ( Georgian National Museum)
Two Chinese Vessels from the Ardabil shrine
B – Persian Literature (Room 204)
Chair: Giorgi LOBZHANIDZE ( Tbilisi State University)
Askar HAKIM (The International Society of Tajiks and Persian Speakers, Dushanbe)
Common Tendencies in the Contemporary Poetry of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran
Jemshid GIUNASHVILI (Institute of Oriental Studies and Tbilisi State University)
Bād (wind) and Nasīm (light breeze) in Persian Poetry
Kimie MAEDA ( University of Tokyo)
Ahmad Shamlu and his Poetics of Non-Verse Poems
Magali TODUA (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
The Savior and the Holy Virgin in Persian Poetry
11.00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:15 Session 10
A – Georgia and Persia(Meeting Hall)
Chair: Nikoloz NAKHUTSRISHVILI ( Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
George KATSITADZE (Tbilisi Institute of Asia and Africa and Institute of Oriental Studies)
Some Aspects of Iranian Politics in South Caucasus
Fatema SOUDAVAR (Soudavar Foundation, London)
Real or Fable: Was there a Georgian Prince Under the Name Laichin?
Sayyed MOYLIANI ( University of Isfahan)
Georgian Elements in the Safavid Persia
Mohammad R. SAHAB (Geographic and Drafting Institute, Iran)
Old and Historical Maps of Georgia and Iran
B – Persian historical and artistic manuscripts
Chair: Sadegh SAJJADI (Great Islamic Encyclopedia)
Alexey KHISMATULIN ( St. Petersburg, Russia)
A Co-author of Nezam-al-Molk's Siasat-nama
Inga KALADZE (Institute of Oriental Studies, Georgia)
One of the oldest specimens of hermeneutics according to the old Georgian translation of Gorgani’s Vis o Ramin
Akbar IRANI (Research Centre for the Written Heritage, Tehran)
Introducing the Project for Research on Persian Manuscripts
Demonstration of the Documentary Āthār-e Īranī-e Gorjestān “Persian Monuments of Georgia”
(Sima-Film, Tehran, 1997)
C – Modern Intellectual History (Room 204)
Chair: Jemshid GIUNASHVILI ( Institute of Oriental Studies and Tbilisi State University)
Ahmad KAZEMI MOUSSAVI ( University of Maryland, US)
Iqbal's Contribution to Islamic Rationalism
Vladimir BOYKO ( Barnaul State Pedagogical University, Russia)
Afghan Personality of the 20th Century: Khalil-Allah Khalili between Art and Politics
Keith HITCHINS ( University of Illinois at Urbana, US)
Sadriddin Ayni: Central Asian Jadidism Confronts Modernity, 1900-1930
Taghi AZADARMAKI ( Tehran)
Montesquieu and Iranian Intellectuals
12.00-13.00
Opening of the Tbilisi Branch of ASPS
Closing Ceremony
13.15-14-00 Lunch
