Cornell University is pleased to announce a call for papers for an online workshop on “Judeo-Persian Literature at the Intersection of Jewish Studies and Iranian Studies.” Judeo-Persian literature (i.e., New Persian texts written in Hebrew characters) is a vast corpus of writings composed in different dialects and genres by the Jews of Persia from the 8th to 20th century. Although this corpus has been studied by specialists since the nineteenth century, these sources have not yet been fully integrated into Jewish Studies or Iranian Studies despite their tremendous and unique value to the history of Jews in the medieval Islamic world, the study of Jewish exegesis and translation, the reception of classical Persian literature, Iranian linguistics and dialectology, among other topics. The purpose of this workshop is to gather together scholars of Judeo-Persian language and literature to present and discuss unpublished works-in-progress and to increase awareness of the value of their research to the fields of Jewish Studies and Iranian Studies, broadly defined.

The date of the event, held entirely over zoom, is December 6th and 7th, 2022. Participants are welcome to present on any topic related to Judeo-Persian studies. Each presentation should be in English and 30 minutes in length, with papers pre-circulated a few weeks before the workshop. Each presentation will be followed by a discussion of the paper. The event will be open to the public. Presenters will receive a honorarium in exchange for giving a lecture and participating in the workshop.

To apply, please send a C.V. and 2-3 page description of the proposed workshop paper. Advanced Ph.D. students are welcome to apply and should have a letter of recommendation sent on their behalf. Please send application materials to Professor Jason Sion Mokhtarian at jmokhtarian@cornell.edu no later than June 10th, 2022.

This event is sponsored by Cornell University’s Jewish Studies Program, Department of Near Eastern Studies, and the Neuman Chair in Hebrew and Jewish Literature.