This course offers an examination of the history and culture of the first multicultural superstate of the ancient world, the Achaemenid Empire. Through a close analysis of ancient sources, this course …
The Films of Abbas Kiarostami: Being and Movement
This course will survey the work of the Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, and will do so with an especial interest in the way that Kiarostami’s films raise important questions about tradition, …
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Iranian Women Write Their Lives: The First Generation
The readings for this course are the memoirs of Iranian women that tell us about their lives, and their path to finding a comfortable place in situations different from their parents who were born in …
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Text and Image: The Formation of Arabic and Persian Manuscript Illustration
The course traces the development of manuscript illustration in Islamic lands up to the year 1258. In its first part, the question of iconoclasm within Islam will be discussed, as will be the opposing …
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Painting In Late Medieval And Early Modern Iran And Beyond
In the course, the evidence for a fresh start of painting in Iran after the Mongol invasion is reviewed, as well as the process of refinement and attrition which followed and which, over the 14th …
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Persianate Art and Architecture
The impact of the Mongol conquest on Islamic art is examined in terms of the division of the Islamic world into eastern and western spheres of culture as well as the increased influence of Chinese …