Columbia University Seminar on Iranian Studies

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SEMINARS

SEMINAR ON IRANIAN STUDIES

******************************

The second meeting of the 25th consecutive year of the Columbia University Seminar on Iranian Studies for the academic year 2012‐2013 will take place on: Thursday October 11, 2012, 5:30pm at the Faculty House of Columbia University.

Our speaker will be:
Professor Richard Bulliet of Columbia University, who will lead the discussion on the topic of 'The Rise and Fall of Nishapur.' 

Abstract:

The talk will discuss why one of the paramount cities of the medieval Muslim world arose in Nishapur in the period 750-­1000, and why it declined in the eleventh century and was then mostly abandoned in the century following. A topographical reconstruction of the city and analysis of its local histories and biographical dictionaries will provide the primary documentation.

Bio-Notice

RICHARD W. BULLIET is in his thirty-­seventh year as Professor of Middle Eastern History at Columbia University where he also directed the Middle East Institute of the School of International and Public Affairs for twelve years. His most recent scholarly work is Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran: A Moment in World History (2009). His earlier books include Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers (2005); The Case for Islamo-­Christian Civilization (2004); Islam: The View from the Edge (1994); Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period (1979); The Camel and the Wheel (1975); and The Patricians of Nishapur (1972). He has also written five novels, the most recent of which is The One-­Donkey Solution (2011); and is co-­author of a world history textbook, The Earth and Its Peoples (5ed. 2009).

To reach the Faculty House:

Enter the Wien Hall Gate on 116th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive. Walk past Wien Hall, then turn right to the Faculty House.