Persian Studies FAMES University of Cambridge

Call for Paper
The 6th International Conference on Teaching Persian Language and Literature
Organised by the University of Cambridge in Collaboration with and hosted by University of British Columbia
22-24 April 2027
Vancouver, Canada
https://pips.ubc.ca/main-page/

We invite you to join a hybrid lecture by our own Prof Saloumeh Gholami on "Monājāt and Muškil Āsān: A Comparative Study of Zoroastrian Oral Literature in India and Iran" on the 10th April 2026. https://iranianstudies.utoronto.ca/event/zoroastrian-ritual-practices-and-cross-border-challenges-in-iran-and-india/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQfydhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF2STh1THlOVnlQazI1bHhnc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHlPLh2pKAxIvm6_oyKlW-_17905qMy_ZnNw6WwyzPkpMxr75jf55JDXns1P0_aem_IkO0Oc4b2nTiFwWEMDyVHg

A Comparative Study of Zoroastrian Oral Literature in India and Iran | Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studiesin collaboration with the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America, the Ontario Zoroastrian Community Foundation, the Zoroastrian Society of Ontario, and the […]

A New article titled “Linguistic Insights from a Historical Bilingual Letter: The Malati Dialect of Zoroastrian Dari (Behdīnī) in Yazd
Part 2. Language Contact”

By Prof. Saloumeh Gholami

brill.com

Judeo-Yazdi in Historical Perspective: A Comparative Examination with Zoroastrian Dari in Yazd
By our own Prof. Saloumeh Gholami

https://brill.com/view/journals/jjl/13/2/article-p141_2.xml?fbclid=IwY2xjawPDFn9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeqdjNKTE8-uIQL9Lzqqj2FObVyMOeLQjn4Kr4pOLRdh8p20WOsYpP6vE9Lc8_aem_IQCCopHEC3j27baivUdATw

Judeo-Yazdi in Historical Perspective Abstract In Yazd, the Jewish and Zoroastrian communities speak languages that belong to the Central Dialects of Iranian, while the Muslim majority speaks Yazdi Persian. This divergence raises two pivotal questions: Why do the languages of Yazd’s minorities differ from the majority language, and wh...

Dear All,
Finally the international edition of "Persian for Dummies" written by Dr Mahbod Ghaffari, Associate Professor in Persian Language, Linguistics and Culture in the University of Cambridge and Dr Behrooz Mahmoodi Bakhtiari and Dr Faeghe Shahhoseini was published.
This is a self study book and designed to help readers gain enjoyment from Persian and offers specific examples and “real-life” scenarios on a variety of topics (from greetings to travelling) that they will almost certainly find useful.
Available on Amazon:
https://amzn.eu/d/fLfj5Mg

and Ingram:

https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=bTJdsZlYjZc55gSOcJLFy7wyR9uwIQfkHF1IRpuFi1s

We are delighted to share that the 5th International Conference on Teaching Persian Language and Literature was successfully held on 18–19 September 2025!
Organised by Persian Studies at FAMES, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Chair of Iranian Studies, Yerevan State University, this year’s conference brought together 35 speakers from around the world, who presented their research across 8 dynamic panels followed by a round table and 2 workshops on Persian Learner Corpus and AI in Teaching Persian.
A heartfelt thank you to Yerevan State University for graciously hosting us in Armenia and for their warm hospitality.
گروه مطالعات فارسی دانشکده مطالعات آسیایی و خاورمیانه دانشگاه کمبریج با همکاری و میزبانی کرسی ایران‌شناسی دانشکده شرق‌شناسی دانشگاه دولتی ایروان پنجمین همایش بین‌المللی آموزش زبان و ادبیات فارسی را در روزهای ۲۷-۲۸ شهریور ۱۴۰۴ برابر با ۱۸-۱۹ سپتامبر ۲۰۲۵ با موفقیت برگزار کرد. در این همایش بیش از ۳۵ سخنران نتایج آخرین پژوهش‌های خود را در ۸ جلسه برای شماری از مدرسان، استادان، پژوهشگران و دانشجویان زبان و ادبیات فارسی و ایران‌شناسی ارائه کردند. پس از سخنرانی‌ها شرکت کنندگان در میزگرد آموزش زبان و دو کارگاه در مورد پیکره زبان آموز فارسی و استفاده از هوش مصنوعی در آموزش زبان فارسی شرکت کردند.
با سپاس بی‌کران از کرسی ایران‌شناسی دانشگاه دولتی ایروان و همه عوامل برگزارکننده و هماهنگ کننده این همایش که با پذیرایی گرمشان سخاوتمندانه میزبان این همایش بودند و دو روز به یادماندنی را برای شرکت‌کنندگان رقم زدند

Registration: 5th International Conference on Teaching Persian Language and Literature
ثبت‌نام: پنجمین همایش بین‌المللی آموزش زبان و ادبیات فارسی

https://www.ysu.am/en/conference/914

Ritual Dialogues and Shared Legacies: Reflections on the Contemporary Iranian–Indian Zoroastrian Encounter
Interview conducted by Professor Christine van Ruymbeke, Soudavar Professor of Persian Literature and Culture, co-Chair of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Head of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, UK.
https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/news/ritual-dialogues-and-shared-legacies-reflections-contemporary-iranian-indian-zoroastrian?fbclid=IwY2xjawKcTVdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETEwUkVWYUVuWjFoVnRraExqAR4xUqMDvfbaLoNlzbMDGrrsTGOHY85QS3lvb6fNLdZ3vOtNeyyAbdPwXCtqwA_aem_UPSSg9eqSekRAS4gU7pRyQ

Ritual Dialogues and Shared Legacies: Reflections on the Contemporary Iranian–Indian Zoroastrian Encounter | Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Interview conducted by Professor Christine van Ruymbeke, Soudavar Professor of Persian Literature and Culture, co-Chair of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Head of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, UK.

Call for Papers
E.G. Browne and the Making of Iranian Studies
Pembroke College and the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge are organising a conference to mark the centenary of the passing of Edward Granville Browne (1862–1926). As a fellow of Pembroke and eventually as Sir Thomas Adams’s Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, Browne dedicated his entire academic career to the study of Persian literature, history, and culture.
We invite proposals for papers that situate Browne in the emergence and development of Iranian Studies. Preference will be given especially to papers that engage critically with some aspect of Browne’s vast body of scholarship. Paper proposals can take the form of offering critiques of one or a group of Browne’s works, of using Browne’s scholarship as a starting point for their own studies, of interrogating Browne’s scholarly approach and methods, or of historicising Browne in his context and among his intellectual interlocutors. These are a few, though not exclusive, examples of the types of papers we seek.
A conference that has as its central, organising thread Browne’s scholarship is by definition interdisciplinary. Browne’s interests were not confined to Persian history or past culture, but ranged widely and also encompassed topics such as contemporary society and politics. While he may be most famous today for his four-volume A Literary History of Persia, his history of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, or indeed for his studies of the Babi and Baha’i religions, his bibliography – as compiled by his colleague and successor R.A. Nicholson – comprises some fifty-five major works. These can be divided roughly into three categories: 1) religion, 2) history and literature, and 3) politics and journalism. We thus welcome proposals from scholars working in any discipline that touches on these areas of research.
Browne’s role in the making of Iranian Studies is difficult to overstate. Subsequent scholars pronounced him to be among the ‘finest specialists’ of Persian ever, and his body of work has been described as ‘epoch-making’. The aim of this conference is not just to honour the person of Browne, but his legacy and impact upon an entire academic field.
Paper proposals of no more than 300 words should be submitted to Assef Ashraf ([email protected]) by 31 August 2025.
The conference is scheduled for 10-12 April 2026 in Cambridge. It is expected that the papers presented during the conference will be submitted later for publication in an edited volume.

Our very own Prof Saloumeh Gholami talks on "Preserving What Was Lost: Endangered Languages of Yazd’s Religious Minorities Zoroastrians and Jews and Their Vernacular Heritage" hosted by CELC (Cambridge Endangered Languages and Cultures Group) on Wednesday 26 February 2025, 17:00-18:00.

Seminar Series | Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics We host regular seminars and webinars on language endangerment and revitalisation. An archive of all our past seminars is available here.