ACES Conference this weekend

The Association of Central Eurasian Students is holding their annual conference at Indiana University. If you're near Bloomington, check it out!
I designed the program covers. 

Click HERE for the schedule of panels. 

Picturing Shi'ism

Now that I have finally finished a very busy semester, I can start blogging again! Don't worry-- I haven't stopped immersing myself in all things Persian :) As a final project for a class about Shi'ism, I recently wrote a paper about popular devotional art from Iran and Iraq. I came into this class with a basic knowledge about Shi'ism but as I began collecting images of religious posters, banners, and internet imagery I started to understand the significant emotional dimensions of Shi'ism and how visualization stands at the very core of it. Contrary to popular belief that Muslims don't "like" figural imagery, Shi'ism has always embraced it and has popularized it to such an extent that it has become its own visual vocabulary. Every Shi'ite knows the iconic face of Imam Hussein-- his determined expression and piercing eyes in portraiture or his arrow-riddled body in combat-illustration. He was the hero-martyr in what was the most defining moment in Shi'ism-- the Battle of Karbala in the deserts of Iraq where the Prophet Muhammad's descendants were brutally murdered by the army of Yazid or taken captive. The Day of Ashura commemorates this event and people often carry posters of Hussein, Imam Ali (the cousin of the Prophet), or the 12 Imams in processions. South Asia has also had a rich tradition of Shi'ite devotional art-- depicting Hussein's horse Zoljaneh and the hand of Fatima (the daughter of the Prophet). Posters like these are very instrumental as they help create a collective memory and identity for Shi'ites as well as capture the idealized personas of the Holy family to inspire emulation among devotees. I know I was totally captivated!  

An old painting of the Battle of Karbala from Qajar Iran 

(left) Portrait of Imam Ali and his sword, (middle) Imam Hussein, Abbas, Zayneb and Ali Asghar the martyred infant, (right) Imam Hussein

Two posters of Imam Hussein in the Battle of Karbala

Imam Hussein, Imam Ali, and Abbas with the 12 Imams below including the Mahdi (the Imam in occultation) at the far left with a ray of light as his face--yet to be seen.

Two posters of Zoljaneh (Imam Hussein's white stallion), another illustration of the 12 Imams, and a photo of boys in Iraq holding a poster with Hussein and Ali

(clockwise) poster of Imam Ali in Iraq, a poster from India of a young boy and girl reading the Quran, the Battle of Karbala--its martyrs are depicted as roses, and Buraq (the Prophet Muhammad's holy steed that flies to heaven) 

A collage of Imam Ali portraits from the Internet

Islamic talisman from South Asia with the names of Ali, Fatima, Hassan, and Hussein in the stars.The hand in the middle has the names of the 12 Imams written in its palm. 

New Translation of Hafez

Dick Davis was recently featured on the PBS NewsHour Weekly Poem Series to discuss his new publication: Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz. Below is the link to the full article and its videos, as well as a few quotes from the accomplished translator:

"People say that Bach sort of gathered together everything that had gone before him in music and brought it into a new kind of stage. Hafez did the same with the conventions of lyric poetry." 

"One of the great things in Hafez's poetry is that it's extremely ambiguous often and that it can be read in different ways. His poetry can read in a secular way or in a religious ... that's the great problem with translating Hafez that you have this constant ambiguity and ambiguity is very difficult to transfer from one language to another."

"Different cultures put their energies into different arts at different times ... For example, you can think, painting in Italy or music in Germany, that kind of thing, but in the medieval period, the artistic energies of Iran went largely into poetry. And poetry has become part of the Persian cultural identity in a way that is true of very few other cultures."

PBS LINK:

A Poetic Odyssey: Dick Davis translates Hafez in "Faces of Love," his new installment in a life dedicated to medieval Persian literature

On Amazon:

http://amzn.com/0143107283

Tea Houses of Iran

چایخانه های سنتی

Babur's Gardens: An Oasis in Kabul

Like most Tuesday afternoons, I attended "Pashto coffeehour" today where students of the Pashto language can practice their speaking skills with local Afghans and Ostad Rakhmon Inomkhojaev--Senior Specialist of Afghan languages at IU. Since learning of Professor's Inomkhojaev's  upcoming retirement, I've developed a deeper appreciation for these coffeehours and the opportunity to study Pashto--a language I first fell in love with back in 2007. Having a background in Pashto made learning Persian a little less of a hurdle and I'm currently trying to develop my ear for Dari. I've found watching "Voice of America" broadcasts to be the best strategy where I jot down new word I hear, pause the video, and look it up with a dictionary or on google translate. I also get to mess up a lot and confuse the two languages in front of Rakhmon as I try to compartmentalize everything. It's a labor of love though! Along with being incredibly patient, one of Rakhmon's many strengths is Mughal poetics and he loves to discuss the historical sites of Afghanistan. Today he talked about Babur's Gardens in Kabul during coffeehour.

After decades of war and neglect, Babur's gardens have been completely restored thanks to the Aga Khan Foundation who began rebuilding the site in 2002. It receives thousands of visitors every week and has become an oasis for the residents of Kabul to relax, have picnics, and spend time with friends and family. Babur, the founder of the great Mughal Dynasty, is buried there and the site has expanded into an enormous complex of gardens and waterways. His tomb is rendered in white marble with a plaque bearing his last wish:  "If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this." In a lot of ways, Babur's garden has become a type of paradise--at least a weekend escape for city dwellers. Someday I'd like to visit, but in the meantime there are some great videos that document the transformation of the site in English and Dari:

Extra Links:

Aga Khan's Restoration Projects in Afghanistan

More about the History of Bagh-e Babur

Voice of America: Dari

Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region at IUB

Falnama Future

Falnama is a book of omens used by fortune tellers in Iran and Turkey during the 16th and 17th centuries as the approach of the Islamic millennium (year 1000) inspired concern about the future. Individuals seeking insight into the future would engage in a series of purification rituals, turn to a random page in the Falnama, and interpret the text and drawings thereon for good or ill. Falnamas were not only common objects used by fortune tellers, but also appended to copies of the Koran commissioned by rulers and wealthy individuals. Despite its apparent popularity in the ancient world, only four copies of the large "folio" Falnamas are known to remain in existence. Thames & Hudson published a gorgeous book about Falnamas in 2010. 

Here is the link:   http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Falnama/9780500515112

I first encountered Falnamas in an art history course about images of the Prophet Muhammad and was totally captivated by their use of color and provocative imagery-- reminding me of tarot cards. As a new academic year begins, I wonder what the future looks like.  Let's hope it doesn't look like inferno!

Summer Plans

This summer I'll be in Dushanbe, Tajikistan for two months studying Persian through the US State Department's Critical Language Scholarship. Since I've never been to Tajikistan, I've been looking at a lot of photos from the region to get a sense of its landscape and people. So far it looks like an eclectic mix of socialist architecture with traditional marketplaces and citadels. Dushanbe has a lot of Soviet-style monumental architecture and reminds me of what I saw in Russia. The natural scenery is really beautiful (about 95% of the land is mountainous) and I hope to get a chance to see some of the higher mountains outside the capital. Love the photos of suzani textiles and women's clothing!

Dushanbe from above

Khojand