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By spishbin, October 10, 2017 12:01 pm

Salaam dustaan,

This week, the University of Chicago’s Persian Circle are fortunate to host Andrew Hicks (Associate Professor of Music and Medieval Studies, Cornell University ) for a talk entitled:

“Musical agency in Ghaznavid court poetry” [this talk in English]

Please join us this Thursday 5th October for what promises to be a fascinating talk!

5:00-6:30pm
Pick Hall 218
5828 S. University Ave
Chicago, IL 60540

Professor Hicks’ research focuses on the intellectual history of early musical thought from a cross-disciplinary perspective that embraces philosophical, cosmological, scientific and grammatical discourse in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and spans the linguistic and cultural spheres of Latin, Greek, Persian, and Arabic. http://music.cornell.edu/andrew-hicks

Talk abstract: The divan of Farrukhī Sīstānī (d. 1037) teems with evocations of a lively Ghaznavid minstrel culture, a culture Farrukhī knew first-hand, as he was not only a court poet but was also, according to the Chahār maqāla, a “dexterous performer on the harp.” Though numerous studies document and detail the public, courtly persona of the Persian minstrel,the divan-e Farrukhī presents a much less studied aspect of Ghaznavid minstrelsy, namely, the minstrel’s private, erotic persona as the “moon-faced,” “silken-breasted” beloved; auditory beauty and visual beauty become semantically entwined and at times interchangeable. This study takes as its point of departure the lyric nasib to several of Farrukhī’s qasidas that describe intimate and manifestly erotic encounters between Farrukhī, the poet, and an (always unnamed) Turkish beloved, the minstrel. In recounting such erotic encounters, Farrukhī’s poetry affords us a glimpse into the formative stages of a still-living symbol that was to become, in later Persian poetry, “stock” poetic imagery: the beloved as “Turk”. A careful reading of Farrukhī’s poetry, with occasional glances to Manūchihrī and ‘Unṣurī, allows us to chart with more precision the emergence of this symbolic minstrel persona, which was rooted in the historical realities of the Ghaznavid court but came to resonate more broadly with the imagery of music and musical performance unique to the Persian poetic tradition.

Prof. Hicks will be giving a second talk on Friday 6th October @3:30pm, in the Fulton Recital Hall, entitled:

“Listening Vicariously: music and metaphor in medieval Persion Sufism”

Full details of Friday’s talk can be found here: https://music.uchicago.edu/page/music-colloquium-series

Be omid-e didar,
Shaahin

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By spishbin, September 26, 2017 12:57 pm

Farsi-guyan-e mohtaram-e Chicago,

Salam va khosh amadid be aghaz-e fasl-e jadid!

Please join us for the first Persian Circle of the quarter! Zach Winters (NELC) will be giving a talk (in Persian) on Thursday, September 28 at 5-6.30pm in Pick 218, entitled:

آداب و نواب: فرهنگ فارسی زبانان در لکهنو

Zach Winters is a second year PhD student in the NELC department. He studied Mughal Persian in Lucknow, India, over the summer. He will talk about his experiences there, as well as his observations and insights into the history of Persianate culture in Lucknow.

Thursday, September 28th
5–6.30pm in Pick Hall 218
(5828 S. University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637)

There will be tea, biscuits, and minimal ta’arof.

Be omid-e didar,

Shaahin

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By avhoffmann, May 14, 2017 5:14 pm

Please join us for a Persian Circle talk on Tuesday, May 16 at 4:30pm with filmmaker Prof. Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa (Columbia College, Chicago):

کوتاه‌ترین راه

The Shortest Way

Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa is a filmmaker and a professor in the Cinema and Television Arts Department at Columbia College Chicago.  She has written extensively on Iranian cinema and has published her book on Abbas Kiarostami co-written with Jonathan Rosenbaum in 2003. In this talk, she will review Kiarostami’s career and his significance in world cinema. She will focus on some of his films including, Close-Up, The Traveler, Taste of Cherry, and The Wind Will Carry Us.

*This talk will be in Persian*

Tuesday, May 16, 2017
4:30 – 6pm in Pick Hall 218
(5828 S. University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637)

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By avhoffmann, May 5, 2017 3:43 pm

انجمن سخن فارسی در دانشگاه شیکاگو

Please join us for a Persian Circle talk on Tuesday, May 9 at 4:30 PM with Dumanian Visiting Professor Giusto Traina (University of Paris-Sorbonne):

“Ardaxshīr I: The Armenian File”

When it comes to consider the Armenian sources, many Iranologists still follow the attitude of Arthur Christensen: although apparently neutral, the great Danish scholar made actually use of them the least possible. The Armenian evidence is suspect, not only because these texts are not contemporary, but also because they reflect a different perspective. In this paper, Prof. Traina will present the particular case of the rise of the Sasanians. The ‘Armenian file’ on this event consists of several passages of Agat‘angełos and Movsēs Xorenac’i, the main local sources for the history of ancient Armenia, and in a Greek text translated from Armenian but inspired by Pahlavi literature, the so-called Romance of Artawan and Artašir.

*This talk will be in English*

Tuesday, May 9
4:30 – 6pm in Pick Hall 218
(5828 S. University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637)

There will be tea&sweets!

See you there,
Alexandra

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By avhoffmann, April 23, 2017 2:34 pm

Salaam! Please join us for a Persian Circle talk on Tuesday, April 25 at 4:30pm with
Dr. Ramin Takloo-Bighash (UIC): 

فرایندهای دموکراتیک در قانون اساسی ایران

“Democratic processes of the Iranian constitution”

 In this talk, intended as a cautionary tale, Dr. Takloo-Bighash will describe the democratic processes present in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He will show that in an abstract sense the current Iranian system of government might be considered a democracy, even though in practice it is not. The talk ends with a discussion of some possible explanations for this discrepancy. 

Tuesday, April 25
4:30 – 6pm in Pick Hall 218
 (5828 S. University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637)
 

There will be tea & sweets!

Be omid-e didaar,
Alexandra

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By avhoffmann, January 21, 2017 8:50 pm

Salaam! Please join us for a Persian Circle talk on Tuesday, January 24 at 4:30pm with artist Ario Mashayekhi:

انسانیت در میان بی رحمی انسان

مشاهده هنری به زیبایی در برابر فجایع انسانی

Humanity Amidst Inhumanities. An Artistic view to Beauty in the Face of Human Atrocities

(self-portrait of the artist)

Ario Mashayekhi works professionally as a painter, sculptor and actor. In his visual art, Ario illustrates universal human conditions from pain and sorrow and isolation to the struggle to survive and the will to go beyond to promote the beauty and richness of life and the attainment of love. Through the years his artwork has been displayed in many individual & group shows and various publications, and has been honored by several awards. Ario holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Arts, Painting, and Sculpture from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

This talk will be in Persian. There will be tea & sweets!

Tuesday, Jan. 24
4:30 pm in Pick Hall 218
(5828 S. University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637)

See you there!
Alexandra

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By avhoffmann, November 20, 2016 10:10 pm

Salaam! Please join us for a Persian Circle talk on Tuesday, Nov. 22 with Prof. Alireza Doostdar:

هالیوود، شیطان‌پرستی و جهان‌وطنی

Hollywood, Satanism and Cosmopolitanism

In this talk, Prof. Doostdar examines the contrasting ways in which Hollywood supernatural thrillers and horror cinema are received in Iran, and offers some remarks on what these responses reveal about attitudes to cultural differences and the powers that shape them.

*This talk will be in Persian.*

It will be preceded by an introduction to the topic and vocabulary by the speaker, designed to help students learning Persian to follow the talk. To join the introduction, come to the NELC Lounge at 4pm (Pick Hall, 3^rd floor). The regular talk starts at 4:30pm in Pick Hall 218.

There will be tea & sweets!
Be omid-e didaar,

Alexandra

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By avhoffmann, November 12, 2016 2:17 pm

Salaam!

Please join us for a Persian Circle talk on Tuesday, November 15 with Ahmad Arbaboun (CMES Alumnus):

مکتب اصول فلسفی شیخ مرتضی انصاری (وفات 1864 میلادی – 1281 هجری قمری)

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By avhoffmann, November 6, 2016 8:15 pm

Salaam! Please join us for a Persian Circle talk on Nov. 8 with Ani Honarchian (UCLA):

جابجایی پیکر قدیسین در سر حدات شاهنشاهی ساسانیان و امپراطوری رم

 “Transferring relics in the borderlands of the Sasanian and Roman Empire”

*This talk will be in Persian.*

It will be preceded by an introduction to the topic and vocabulary by the speaker, designed to help students learning Persian to follow the talk. To join the introduction, come to the NELC Lounge at 4pm (Pick Hall, 3^rd floor). The regular talk starts at 4:30pm in Pick Hall 218.

Ani Honarchian will talk about the significance of the formation of the cult of saints in two cities in the region of the borderlands of the Roman and the Sasanian Empires. While the city of Sophene received favors and relics from Theodosius II (401-450) and the Sasanian king, Yazdgerd I (r. 399-410), the relics of a recently converted Jewish boy were stolen by a tribe of Arab merchants in the city of Singar, who then spread the cult of the saint in their own lands. The different approaches that cities in the borderland used to disseminate the cult of saints will be then compared to the approach within the Sasanian Empire itself.

Tuesday, Nov. 8

Introduction for students: 4pm in the NELC Lounge (3^rd floor, Pick Hall)

Regular talk: 4:30 pm in Pick Hall 218

(5828 S. University Ave, Chicago, IL 60637)

You can listen to a recording of this talk here: