Iranist - Iranian Studies in North America

Iranian Studies in North America

The first major American Iranianist was Columbia University professor A. V. Williams Jackson (1862-1937), a scholar of Indo-Iranian languages who is known for producing a grammar of the Avestan language. During the 1950s Richard Frye developed Iranian Studies at Harvard; Iran specialists were also found at several other North American universities including the University of Chicago, Princeton University, UCLA, and the University of Toronto. The Society for Iranian Studies (now the International Society for Iranian Studies) was founded by a group of Iranian graduate students in 1967 and began producing a journal, Iranian Studies. The field expanded considerably during the 1970s, with a number of Americans having served in the Peace Corps in Iran taking up academic positions. Close relations between Iran and the US facilitated the growth of academic programs as well as the Asia Institute in Shiraz and the American Institute of Iranian Studies.

The 1979 revolution initially reversed this trend; American academic centers in Iran were closed and their assets seized. Over the past three decades, lack of funding and the difficulty of research travel to Iran have been major obstacles to Iran scholars based in North America. Nevertheless, the field has seen some important achievements such as the monumental Encyclopedia Iranica project led by retired Columbia professor Ehsan Yarshater. In recent years several new centers for Iranian Studies have been established, notably at the University of California-Irvine, the University of Maryland, and Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Iranian Studies "initiatives" have been launched at the University of Toronto, New York University, and the University of California-Santa Barbara.

• The American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS)
• Columbia University, Center for Iranian Studies
• Concordia University, Centre for Iranian Studies
• Foundation for Iranian Studies
• Harvard University, Iranian Studies
• ILEX Foundation
• International Society for Iranian Studies
• Iran Heritage Foundation America
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Iranian Studies Group
• New York University, Iranian Studies Initiative
• Ohio State University, Middle East Studies Center
• San Francisco State University, Persian Studies
• Quinnipiac University, Center for Iranian Research and Analysis
• Stanford University, Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies
• University of Arizona, Persian and Iranian Studies
• University of California-Irvine, Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture
• University of California-Los Angeles, Iranian Studies
• University of California-Santa Barbara, Iranian Studies Initiative
• University of Chicago, Iranian Pre-Historic Project
• University of Maryland, Roshan Center for Persian Studies
• University of Texas at Austin, Center for Middle Eastern Studies
• University of Toronto, Iranian Studies Initiative
• University of Virginia, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures
• University of Washington, Persian and Iranian Studies