Moderated by Dr. Hessam Dehghani (University of British Columbia)\, this book talk features author Dr. Elaheh Kheirandish in discus sion of her book Baghdad and Isfahan: A Dialogue of Two Cities in an Ag e of Science CA. 750-1750 alongside two panelists Prof. Charles Melvil le (University of Cambridge) and Dr. Anne Ashley Davenport (Harvard Univers ity). The event is hosted by Persian Language and Iranian Studies Initiativ e at UBC and sponsored by the UBC Department of Asian Studies.
September 8 | 11am – 12pm (PDT)
L
ocation: online via Zoom
This talk will be presented in Engli
sh.
Free & open to the public. Click the link below to register for
the event.
Registration link: https://ubc.zoom.us/webinar/register /WN_BZJyihShSlWR0SNT6bp_8g
About the speaker
Elaheh Kheirandish is a lecturer and researcher at Harvard University\, Cambr idge\, Massachusetts. She holds a PhD in the History of Science from Harvar d University\, as well as graduate degrees in Mathematics and Science Educa tion from the University of Rhode Island. Her undergraduate degrees are in Applied Mathematics and Chemistry. She has taught courses at several depart ments at Harvard University\, curated exhibits at Harvard and Brown Univers ities\, produced documentary films and digital projects\, and lectured inte rnationally. Her most recent affiliation is with the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University\, and the Agha Khan Program f or Islamic Architecture.
Charles Melville \, University of Cambridge
Charles Melville is an Emeritus P rofessor of Persian History at the University of Cambridge. He has been a l ong-serving member of the Governing Council of the British Institute of Per sian Studies and is currently (since 2017) President. He has also served on the Board of the Societas Iranologica Europaea (1995-2003) and was Preside nt of The Islamic Manuscript Association (2006-19) and a trustee of the Gib b Memorial Trust until 2019. Since 1999\, he has been Director of the Shahn ama Project\, based in Cambridge. In 2010 he was behind an exhibition of Pe rsian manuscripts and paintings of the Shahnama (Persian Book of Kings) at the Fitzwilliam Museum. He is series editor of 'Studies in Persian Cultural History' (Brill\, Leiden) and the 'Idea of Iran' symposia (Soudavar Memori al Foundation). He is a Permanent Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Man uscript Cultures (CSMC) at Hamburg University and currently has a Leverhulm e Trust Emeritus Fellowship with a project on 'Visualising Persian history' . He has travelled widely in Central Asia and Iran (both before and after the Islamic Revolution).
Anne Davenport\, Harvard University< /strong>
Anne Ashley Davenport is a senior fellow at t he Center for the Study of World Religions at the Harvard Divinity School. Raised in France\, she received a diploma from the University of Nancy befo re entering Harvard College where she earned a bachelor of arts degree cum laude. She received a master’s degree in teaching from Simmons College and completed her Ph.D. in the history of science at Harvard in 1998. Recipient of grants from the Cades Foundation and the Institute for Medieval Philosophy and Theology at Boston College\, Dr. Davenport was a Dibner Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol ogy. She has written a number of scholarly articles. Her first book\, Measure of Greatness: The Intensive Infinite\, 1250-1650< span class="">\, was published by Brill last year.
Hessam Dehghani\, University of British Columbia
< strong>About the Book:
Baghdad and Isf ahan: A Dialogue of Two Cities in an Age of Science CA. 750-1750
Elaheh Kheirandish
Renowned as great centres of learning\, the c ities of Baghdad and Isfahan were at the heart of the Islamic civilization as rich capital cities and centres of intellectual thought. Their distinct cultural voices inspired a unique historical dialogue\, which finds new exp ression in Baghdad and Isfahan\, the story of how knowledge was transmitted and transformed within Islamic lands\, and then spread across Europe. Capt uring the history of Baghdad and Isfahan from 750 to 1750\, Elaheh Kheirand ish draws on the voices of court astronomers\, mathematicians\, scientists\ , mystics\, jurists\, statesmen and Arabic and Persian translators and scho lars to document the extensive and lasting contribution of sciences from Is lamic lands to the history of science. Kheirandish bases her narrative on a unique medieval manuscript and other historical sources and the result is more than a thousand-year 'tale of two cities' – it is a city by city\, and century by century\, look at what it took to change the world. In a feat o f travelogue and time travel\, this unique book creates parallel stories wi th modern and historical characters\, crossing cities worldwide\, and captu ring changes through time. Interweaving multiple narratives\, histories\, a nd futures\, she charts the possible paths – formalized and serendipitous\, lost and recovered – by which knowledge itself is translated and transmitt ed across time and cultures.
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