The Columbia University Seminars
Seminar on Iranian Studies

Dear Iranian Studies Seminar Members and Guests,
The third meeting of the 27th consecutive year of Columbia University Seminar on
Iranian Studies for the academic year 2014-2015 will take place on:

Wednesday, October 8, 2014
at 5:30 pm in the
Faculty House of Columbia University
Our speaker will be

Prof. Janet Kestenberg Amighi

Who will lead the discussion on the topic of:
Zoroastrian in the pre and post Islamic revolution period:
a comparative view

We will gather in the lounge of Faculty House from 5:00-5:30.
Seminar will start at 5:30.

Please notify our rapporteur, Zeinab A. Azarabadegan at: zaa2117@columbia.edu if you will attend the lecture. (Please also specify if you will stay for dinner.)
We are looking forward to the pleasure of seeing you at the seminar.

Sincerely,
Co-Chairs: Vahid Nowshirvani and Ahmad Ashraf

To reach the Faculty House:
Enter the Wien Hall Gate on 116th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive. Walk past Wien Hall, then turn right to the Faculty House.

Summary

The talk will focus on the policies of the later Qajars and the contemporary Iranian government in relation to the Zoroastrian community. I will examine the impact on the Zoroastrians of government efforts to centralize power, and control and manipulate nationalism. I will consider how have these efforts furthered or undermined the continuing survival of this small community.

Bio

Prof. Janet Kestenberg Amighi did her PhD research in anthropology in Iran from 1972-78. Her resulting book, The Zoroastrians of Iran: Conversion, Assimilation and Persistence covers their social history from Sasanian times to 1978. She is hoping to update this work in the near future. She has contributed the entry, “Child Rearing Among Zoroastrians in Modern Persia,” to the Encyclopœdia Iranica. She has done anthropological research in various fields including child development in Bali, unionizing efforts of Mexican mushroom workers in Pennsylvania and on the psychological meaning of movement.  She is presently polishing a novel tentatively titled, “Love and Revolution in Algiers” which was used to enlighten and entertain her students at Montgomery County Community College.