Institute for Iranian Studies
@iranianstudies.bsky.social
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Official account for the Institute for Iranian Studies (Iranistik) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Website: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/ifi/
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iranianstudies.bsky.social
New faces at the IFI for the new academic year!

Ilona Chmilevskia joins us as a pre-doctoral researcher working with Shamil Shikhaliev to study the transformation of Islamic juridical systems in the eastern Caucasus under the Russian Empire. Welcome to Ilona!
A young woman looking at the camera. She is white, with mouse-blonde hair, and her head is tilted towards the viewer with her right hand touching her chin: there is a bright window behind her.
Reposted by Institute for Iranian Studies
danamir.bsky.social
Apply for this! Ariane's work and the whole project is so exciting AND you get to live in Wien ☕
iranianstudies.bsky.social
We have an open position for a pre-doctoral researcher in Dr. Ariane Sadjed's "Persian Jews – History, Community, Memory" team, looking at the Jewish communities of central Asia.

See here for job profile and other details: applications must be in by October 1st.
www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=pp87...
Offene Stellen an der ÖAW
Aktuelle Stellenausschreibungen aus den Instituten und der zentralen Verwaltung der ÖAW
www.oeaw.ac.at
iranianstudies.bsky.social
We have an open position for a pre-doctoral researcher in Dr. Ariane Sadjed's "Persian Jews – History, Community, Memory" team, looking at the Jewish communities of central Asia.

See here for job profile and other details: applications must be in by October 1st.
www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=pp87...
Offene Stellen an der ÖAW
Aktuelle Stellenausschreibungen aus den Instituten und der zentralen Verwaltung der ÖAW
www.oeaw.ac.at
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Here we seek to take a non-Eurocentric perspective and bring together scholars specialising in different parts of Asia to question these narratives and provide alternative perspectives on how, and whether, we should see non-European cultures as in a comparative decline in the early modern period.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
This workshop will tackle problems around the 'great divergence' of early modern and modern history, often explained especially in populist media by suggesting that Europe had unique institutional or cultural characteristics that contributed to its enormous economic surge in the early modern world.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Event coming up in October!

Our next JESHO workshop, convened by Dr. Paolo Sartori and with a keynote by Prof. Cemal Kafadar, is "Was There an Ottoman Decline?"

Details here:
www.oeaw.ac.at/ifi/veransta...

#Turkey #Ottoman #History #Asia #Economics
Was There an Ottoman Decline?
A JESHO International Workshop
www.oeaw.ac.at
iranianstudies.bsky.social
We've been excited by the many great contributions to this year's conference - and we look forward to updating you on follow-ups and other academic meetings in the future!
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Our Bruno De Nicola, Stefan Kamola, and Sara Mirahmadi joined the panel "Continuity and Transformation in Persianate Mongol Intellectual History" with Carina Dreyer, and Robert Steele presented his book, "Pahlavi Iran’s Relations with Africa: Cultural and Political Connections in the Cold War"!
Dr. Robert Steele's presentation at the conference: He is standing just right of the centre of the picture, with a powerpoint visible immediately to the left showing some late 20th century Iranian covers or book images. Several other researchers can be partially seen in the foreground in the audience. Three researchers at the conference panel on Mongol Intellectual History: from left to right, Stefan Kamola, Bruno De Nicola, and Carina Dreyer, who is speaking and gesturing with her hands.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Our contributions included sessions on Histories and Historiographies of C16-18 Central Asia led by Florian Schwarz, on Central Asian National Identities with our deputy director Ariane Sadjed, and with Jeanine Dagyeli on Capitalism in Turkestan: Foreign Investments and Local Entanglements:
Professor Florian Schwarz leads a panel at the conference. He is sitting in the centre of the picture behind a desk, with a powerpoint projected on the the wall behind him: three other researchers are sitting around the desk, one man and one woman to the left and a woman on the right. Jeanine Dagyeli sits behind a desk with a powerpoint on "The Durrschmidt Enterprise in the Emerging Capitalism of Central Asia" visible behind her.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
In August we were at the biannual Conference of the Association of Persianate Studies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan!

Thanks to the hosts and organisers: these vital spaces show the importance of having many and diverse disciplines and scholars building better research on the Persianate world together!
Members of the IFI at the Biannual Conference of the Association of Persianate Studies ASPS, Tashkent Uzbekistan. A group of five men and three women stand in a line, with a hotel wall and foliage behind them.
Reposted by Institute for Iranian Studies
nomaland.bsky.social
Nuevas investigaciones sobre #Mongoles en el #Oeste enteramente en #espanol editado por Antonio García Espada (@uneduniv.bsky.social) y Bruno De Nicola (@oeaw.bsky.social‬). Disponible en noviembre 2025!
Más información:
brill.com/display/titl...
@iranianstudies.bsky.social @fwf-at.bsky.social
Mongoles en el Oeste
"Mongoles en el Oeste" published on 27 Nov 2025 by Brill.
brill.com
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Iran is facing severe drought. With high temperatures due to climate change, and tensions around water use and river flow, there are a range of potential risks ahead.

An OEAW interview on the subject with our director, Prof. Florian Schwarz (in German):

www.oeaw.ac.at/news/hitzewe...
Hitzewelle und Wassermangel: Wie ist die aktuelle Lage in Iran?
Temperaturen über 50 Grad und ein akuter Wassermangel stellen die Einwohner:innen Irans vor große Herausforderungen. ÖAW-Iranist Florian Schwarz erklärt, was es bräuchte, um die Dürre langfristig in d...
www.oeaw.ac.at
iranianstudies.bsky.social
In the recent Iran-Israel conflict, being informed on wider and long-term contexts can help with understanding the region.

The IFI's Robert Steele has been informing the public on the history of these tensions: read (in German) his interview in Der Standard here:
www.derstandard.at/story/300000...
Wie der Iran und Israel zu Feinden wurden
Der Konflikt zwischen Iran und Israel hat sich in den vergangenen Wochen dramatisch zugespitzt. Droht ein Krieg ohne Ende? Robert Steele vom Institut für Iranistik der ÖAW über historische Hintergründ...
www.oeaw.ac.at
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Lots of great work on the wider Iranian world at last week's International Medieval Congress (@imc-leeds.bsky.social).

From the IFI, we had Stefan Kamola on astrology & legitimacy in Mongol contexts, and @jubalbarca.bsky.social on masculinities in the medieval Caucasus. An exciting week all round!
A man with short curly hair in glasses, a dark blazer, and a white shirt looks rightward from behind a desk while speaking. A red poster for the International Medieval Congress is behind him. A man with mousy hair, a green-brown waistcoat, and a white shirt looks down at a desk gesturing with his left hand while speaking. A red poster for the International Medieval Congress is behind him on the right.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
New publication - a special issue of Medieval Worlds on knowledge transfer in Mongol Baghdad, with contributions from three of our researchers (Bruno De Nicola, Stefan Kamola, and Ghasem Gharib) is now out!

Find out more here:
doi.org/10.1553/medi...
Medieval Worlds
doi.org
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Friends in Vienna, our Caucasus researchers are holding an interdisciplinary, cross-institution picnic for Caucasus and Caucasus-adjacent studies this coming weekend.

If you'd like to join, please do, and do forward this to anyone else based in the city doing research of any kind on the region!
We’re having a meetup! There are lots of people doing Caucasus studies across the different Vienna academic institutions and beyond, and it would be good if we were able to network more, so as the Caucasus Studies group of the Academy’s Institute for Iranian Studies we’re organising a first summer picnic to help foster connections and see what else we can build together. We look forward to seeing you there!

When: Saturday, June 21, 2025: 15:00pm

Where: Meet at Donaustadtbrucke U2 station at 15:00. If you’re likely to come later and don’t already know people who are going, please email in advance and we’ll give you a contact number to call on the day to find us in the nearby area.

Open to: All academics at any level working on or from the broadly defined Caucasus region (including the North Caucasus, South Caucasus, and Subcaucasus). Interested friends in adjacent non-academic work and fields who’d like to come along are also all very welcome!

What to bring: Bring your own food & drink or something to share, and a picnic rug if you have one – we’ll bring along some cups, plates, and other basics.

Contact: james.baillie@oeaw.ac.at – there is no obligation to ‘register’ or similar but it would help to get an idea of numbers so contact in advance is welcome.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
As part of this year's Middle Ages in Modern Games conference, a short analysis of some modern reception of the history of the Caucasus region and its roots from our own @jubalbarca.bsky.social:
midagesmodgames.bsky.social
Our session on Field of Glory: Kingdoms closes with ‘On Piety and Power: Faith in Field of Glory: Kingdoms’ and is delivered by @JubalBarca. It’s live: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=649
iranianstudies.bsky.social
We have two post-doctoral roles open in the PersCom team under Dr. Ariane Sadjed, looking at Jewish history in central Asia!

Job outlines and application links below:

www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=4xhd...

www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=bcr4...
Offene Stellen an der ÖAW
Aktuelle Stellenausschreibungen aus den Instituten und der zentralen Verwaltung der ÖAW
www.oeaw.ac.at
iranianstudies.bsky.social
For the IFI Dr. Bruno de Nicola, principal investigator of the @nomaland.bsky.social project, has been the primary research lead working with with the Chinggis Khan National Museum, and gave a public lecture there today.

We look forward to sharing more news as our collaboration develops!
Bruno de Nicola, Alexander van der Bellen, Chuluun Sampildondov and Heinz Fassmann.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
We're excited to announce a Memorandum of Understanding signed for us by ÖAW president Fassmann with the Director of the Chinggis Khaan National Museum of Mongolia!

Joint historical document expertise will build new research insights on Mongolia's critical role in central Asian history & culture.
President Khürelsükh of Mongolia and President van der Bellen of Austria seated behind a desk, with OEAW president Fassmann and Museum Director Sampildondov holding signed agreements in the foreground.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
New project at the IFI! Dr. @jacopobrn.bsky.social's "A Tale of Pots and People" will use a data-driven approach to the ceramic finds of the Bukhara Oasis in Uzbekistan in order to look at everyday life and interactions with major events from the C3rd to C8th CE:

www.oeaw.ac.at/ifi/forschun...
A black and white line-drawn logo - a bisected circle with "A TALE OF POTS AND PEOPLE" written top to bottom through the right half, and a sketch of half a pot on the left.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
Now available on our website is a write-up and summaries of "A Transdisciplinary Approach to Mughal Studies", a symposium and exhibition held in honour of Prof. Ebba Koch for her 80th birthday.

You can find all the talks and a summary of the event here:
www.oeaw.ac.at/en/ifi/ifidi...
Humayun’s Tomb, conservation during 2007-2013. It is a large red-stone building with a central white dome and several smaller surrounding domes, on a wide raised plinth. There are trees around it in the background, and upward pointing archways around the building.
iranianstudies.bsky.social
We have a new publication in our Iranian Studies Monographs (Veröffentlichungen zur Iranistik) series! "Hybrid Judeo-Persian and Arabic Correspondence: Eight Documents from the Cairo Genizah" provides new editions of documents from around 1000AD.

Find out more at:
verlag.oeaw.ac.at/en/product/h...
Hybrid Judeo-Persian and Arabic Correspondence. Eight Documents from the Cairo Genizah | 978-3-7001-9322-7 | Verlag der ÖAW
Bestellen sie jetzt Hybrid Judeo-Persian and Arabic Correspondence in unserem Verlagswebshop.
verlag.oeaw.ac.at