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| International Association for the Study of Persianate Societies | |
|---|---|
| Name | International Association for the Study of Persianate Societies |
| Abbreviation | IAPS |
| Formation | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Toronto |
| Region served | Global |
| Fields | Persianate studies |
International Association for the Study of Persianate Societies is an international scholarly organization dedicated to the study of Persianate cultures across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. It brings together historians, linguists, literary scholars, and area specialists associated with institutions such as University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Tehran, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Columbia University and University of Toronto to examine links among the courts of Safavid Iran, Mughal Empire, Ottoman Empire, and regional polities like Timurid Empire and Kipchak Khanate. The association interacts with research bodies including British Academy, American Historical Association, Royal Asiatic Society, Max Planck Society, and UNESCO to promote multilingual scholarship.
The association was established in the early 21st century with founding members drawn from projects at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of Cambridge, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley who had worked on archives in Isfahan, Delhi, Istanbul, Bukhara, and Herat. Early conferences featured papers on topics linked to figures such as Hafez, Saadi Shirazi, Rumi, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, Nizami Ganjavi and institutions like Tabriz Bazaar, Madrasa of Ulugh Beg, Golestan Palace, and Chupanids. Over time the association fostered collaborations with national academies including Iranian Academy of Arts, Pakistan Academy of Letters, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Kazakh Academy of Sciences, and cultural foundations such as Tagore Foundation and Gandhi Peace Foundation.
The association's mission aligns with scholarly agendas advanced at meetings of Association for Asian Studies, Middle East Studies Association, International Congress of Historical Sciences, and policy forums at European Association for South Asian Studies to document Persianate literary, artistic, and political exchanges. Objectives include promoting research on manuscripts from repositories like Topkapı Palace Museum Library, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Tashkent State University Library, and Vatican Library; supporting philological work on texts tied to poets such as Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam, Attar of Nishapur, and Anvari; and fostering comparative studies involving courts of Akbar the Great, Shah Abbas I, Suleiman the Magnificent, and cultural patrons like Humayun.
The association is governed by an elected executive board patterned on bodies at Modern Language Association, American Council of Learned Societies, and International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies, comprising a president, vice-presidents, treasurer, and secretary drawn from universities including Yale University, University of Chicago, McGill University, and National University of Singapore. Advisory committees mirror practices at Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress for curatorial and archival cooperation, while regional chapters liaise with centers such as Centre for Persian Studies (Tehran), Pakistan Studies Centre (Karachi), Central Asian Studies (Tashkent), and institutes like Oriental Institute (Prague). The bylaws set election cycles similar to Royal Society and committee structures comparable to European Research Council.
The association organizes biennial congresses in partnership with hosts like University of Delhi, University of Karachi, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Leiden University, and Bogazici University, with panel themes referencing works such as Shahnameh, Maqamat of al-Hariri, Divan of Hafez, and archival collections like the Nadir Shah Papers. It publishes proceedings, monographs, and journals in collaboration with presses including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Brill Publishers, Routledge, and Mehr Publications, and issues edited volumes that cite projects funded by European Research Council, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Special issues have addressed topics involving Persianateate coinage, Indo-Persian historiography, Persianate architecture and performances connected to the Ashura tradition and courtly music patronage of Mirza Ghalib.
Membership is open to scholars affiliated with universities such as Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Leiden University, University of Melbourne, University of Tokyo, and Seoul National University as well as independent researchers linked to museums like Metropolitan Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Hermitage Museum. Institutional affiliates include research centers such as Institute of Ismaili Studies, Katha Center, Centre d'Etudes Iraniennes, and funding partners like Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Wellcome Trust. The association maintains reciprocal arrangements with learned societies like International Society for Iranian Studies, Association for the Study of Persian Literature, and national academies including Academy of Persian Language and Literature.
Major initiatives support digitization of manuscripts from collections at Seyyed Municipality Library, Astan Quds Razavi Library, Samarqand Manuscript Center, and projects on linguistic change in varieties of Persian across regions such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Iraq. Collaborative grants have enabled fieldwork connected to excavation reports from Balkh, Samarkand, Rayy, and conservation programs at sites like Persepolis and Bam Citadel. The association also sponsors doctoral fellowships and postdoctoral exchanges patterned after programs at Fulbright Program, Rhodes Scholarship, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
The association confers prizes for lifetime achievement, best monograph, and dissertation awards, honoring scholars with profiles similar to recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature-level acclaim within regional studies such as Ann Lambton, Richard Frye, Edward Said, Hamid Dabashi, and W. B. Henning. Awards ceremonies have been held alongside lectures named after figures like Minorsky, S. H. Hodivala, and Ehsan Yarshater, and medal presentations mirror traditions at British Academy and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Category:Academic organizations Category:Persianate studies