Iraj Bashiri
Encyclopedia
Iraj Bashiri is Professor of History at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

, USA‎ and one of the leading scholars in the fields of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

n Studies and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian Studies. Fluent in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

/Tajik
Tajik language
Tajik, Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, is a variety of modern Persian spoken in Central Asia. Historically Tajiks called their language zabani farsī , meaning Persian language in English; the term zabani tajikī, or Tajik language, was introduced in the 20th century by the Soviets...

 and several Turkic languages
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...

, Bashiri has been able to study and translate works otherwise inaccessible to the mostly Russian-speaking
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 Central Asian studies community. Bashiri career focus started on Persia then shifted to the Tajik identity and the relations between Tajiks and the Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

 people of Central Asia, namely the Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...

.

Biography

Iraj Bashiri was born on July 31, 1940, in Behbahan
Behbahan
Behbahan is a city in and the capital of Behbahan County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 99,204, in 24,204 families....

, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. He completed his early education in the towns of Damaneh and Daran in ‎Fereydan and his high school in Isfahan and Shiraz. He graduated in 1961 with a ‎diploma in mathematics from ‎Haj Qavam High School in Shiraz
Shiraz, Iran
Shiraz is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river...

. While in high school, Bashiri showed a distinct talent for the English language. In ‎‎1959, he emerged from the national competitions held at Ramsar as Iran's top ‎student in English. Between 1960 and 1963, Bashiri studied English Language and Literature at ‎Pahlavi University (present-day Shiraz University) and in 1963 graduated at the ‎top of his class. While studying at Pahlavi, he also worked as a regional reporter ‎for the Kayhan Daily in the Fars province and taught English at the British ‎Council in Shiraz and English literature at Pahlavi University.‎

In 1964, Bashiri left Iran to study English Literature in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and, in 1966, he traveled ‎to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to continue his education. In 1968, he received his M.A. degree in General Linguistics from the University ‎of Michigan and, in 1972, his Ph.D. in Iranian Linguistics from the same ‎University. Bashiri's dissertation is based on Ibn Sina's concept of Existence ‎‎(budan). He shows that the Persian verb budan (to be) has its own syntax. This ‎syntax in the context of the concept of Becoming (shodan) expresses transition, ‎and in the context of Doing (kardan) expresses action.‎

In the United States, too, in addition to studying linguistics, Bashiri taught Persian ‎at the University of Michigan and trained Peace Corps volunteers in Vermont, ‎New York, and New Jersey. In 1972, he was employed as a Visiting Assistant ‎Professor of Iranian and Turkish Languages and Literatures at the University of ‎Minnesota. During his early years at Minnesota, he used the theoretical ‎framework that he had developed in his dissertation as the base for writing ‎Persian for Beginners. This book, which has been revised four times, is available ‎in both English and Russian languages. Bashiri was promoted to Associate ‎Professor in 1977 and to Professor in 1996.‎

‎Bashiri is currently a professor of history at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

. Professor Bashiri's courses at Minnesota include Iranian history (from ancient to ‎modern times), Persian Literature (poetry and prose), and Iranian Languages and ‎Linguistics. He also has developed and taught courses on the history of the ‎peoples of Central Asia and Afghanistan. In 1980, he was recognized as one of ‎the College of Liberal Arts' Distinguished Teachers.

Bashiri has traveled extensively in Iran and Central Asia, including stints as a visiting scholar in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

 and Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

. Bashiri has also worked closely with the Tajik division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

While teaching at the University of Minnesota, Bashiri also taught and carried ‎out research at other universities including the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, the ‎University of Texas at Austin, the State University of Kyrgyzstan, and the ‎Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan. ‎

Finally, while carrying out research and teaching, Prof. Bashiri has also ‎been involved in the administration of his home University. Between 1975 and ‎‎1979, he was the head of the Middle East Studies Department and later the ‎South Asian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota. Several times ‎between 1987 and 2005, he was the Chair of, first, the Russian and East ‎European Studies, and later the Slavic and Central Asian Languages and ‎Literatures. He also has been active in College committees, especially in relation ‎to curricula. In 2005, he was both the Head of the College of Liberal Arts ‎Assembly and the Head of the Executive Council of the College. Currently, he is ‎the Interim Director of the Institute of Linguistics, English as a Second ‎Language and Slavic Languages and Literatures.‎

Bashiri is married to Carol L. Sayers and together they have three children and five grandchildren. His hobbies include writing realist fiction, fishing, and painting Central Asian ‎and Iranian rural life.‎

Partial list of published works

Books:‎

Resources


External links



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