EMBODYING THE BELOVED: (Homo) eroticism and Embodiment in Medieval Sufism

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is pleased to announce EMBODYING THE BELOVED: (Homo) eroticism and Embodiment in Medieval Sufism, a lecture presented by Matthew Thomas Miller and hosted by the Library of Congress and Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at University of Maryland, College Park.

Matthew Miller is a PhD student in the Program in Comparative Literature and graduate certificate program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is completing his dissertation entitled “The Poetics of the Sufi Carnival: The ‘Rogue Lyrics’ (Qalandariyyāt) of Sanā’ī, ‘Attār, and ‘Erāqī.”

Mr. Miller is currently a Roshan Institute Research Fellow at University of Maryland and Associate Director for Roshan Institute’s Digital Project in Persian Humanities. Previously, he was Dissertation Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis (2013-2014), a Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute Fellow (2012-2013), and a Mellon Sawyer Doctoral Fellow (2011-2012). He is the author of the forthcoming (2015) “Fakhr al-Dīn ‘Irāqī: Poet and Mystic,” in Religious and Mystical Literature (Volume VI of A History of Persian Literature Series).

Thursday, September 3, 2015 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Thomas Jefferson Building, African Middle Eastern Reading Room, LJ-220 | Library of Congress

New Grant to East-West Center for 2015 Senior Journalists Seminar

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is pleased to announce its continuing support of the Senior Journalists Seminar, a signature program of the East-West Center, in 2015. Launched in 2003, the Senior Journalists Seminar is a 21-day professional dialogue, study and travel program intended to enhance media coverage and elevate the public debate regarding religion and its role in the public sphere, specifically as it regards US-Muslim relations. 

Designed for senior print, radio, broadcast and online journalists from the US and Asian countries with substantial Muslim populations, the Senior Journalists Seminar offers an opportunity for participating journalists to engage their peers, experts and the public on issues relevant to US-Muslim relations.

The 2015 Senior Journalists Seminar program includes travel to Washington, DC; Nashville, Tennessee; Honolulu, Hawaii; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Lahore and Islamabad, Pakistan, from August 19 – September 10.

New Support for the Completion of the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Matthew Stolper, John A. Wilson Professor Emeritus of Oriental Studies, the Oriental Institute at The University of Chicago, has been awarded a two-year Roshan Institute Fellowship for Excellence in Persian Studies, in support of the completion of the Persepolis Fortification Archive (PFA) Project at the Oriental Institute. The PFA is a group of clay tablets discovered at Persepolis in 1933 by archaeologists from the Oriental Institute and provides an incredible source of information on the languages, art, institutions and history of Achaemenid Persia at its height. The PFA project, under the direction of Professor Stolper was first supported by Roshan Institute in 2013.

The new grant allows Professor Stolper to complete the project by engaging two students to work on the project during summer 2015 and summer 2016, and up to eight students to work part-time during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years. This funding and work are of timely importance before the tablets leave the Oriental Institute to return to the National Museum of Iran.

Learn more about the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project

Persian Language Class to be offered Online in the Fall at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa

Beginning in the fall of 2015, Persian language will be offered as an online course for the first time at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. PERS 101: Beginning Modern Persian 1 is designed for distance learning, attracting learners who do not have Persian instruction at their universities.

Persian Language, Linguistics, and Culture Program at UH Mānoa is an exciting initiative made possible through a grant from Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute.

Rumi: Quatrains of Love

Shangri La, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art presents Rumi: Quatrains of Love,
a musical performance based on the writings of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273), one of the world’s most
revered and beloved Persian poets. This musical creation is composed by Luna Pearl Woolf and includes performances
by a cellist, pianist and vocalist. Former Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute Fellow, Maseeh Ganjali will read Rumi’s
quatrains in the original Persian and offer additional insights into the life and significance of this beloved master
of literature and spirituality.

 

Roshan Institute Achievement Awards for Iranian Culture and Art Club Students

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute would like to congratulate the 40 recipients of Roshan Institute Achievement Awards whose accomplishments were recognized at an end-of-year ceremony held by the Iranian Culture and Art Club (ICAC) of Fresno on June 7. During the ceremony, presentations were made in Persian language by ICAC students to an audience of more than 150 Iranian-American community members and judges.

ICAC is a nonprofit organization that offers Persian language and dance classes as well as public programs celebrating Persian culture for the Fresno community. A grant from Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute made possible for ICAC to continue providing its successful Persian language and cultural programs during the academic year 2014-2015.

Find out more about ICAC

Watch the Awards Ceremony