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November 30, 2004
Writing of History
You have heard the expression "History is written by winners" I am sure (I like the Jon Stewart show twist on that: "how do you like to read a history-book written by a bunch of losers?":)).
Anyway, I think this statement is not very accurate. History is not written by the winners, it is written by the people who know how to write! Might sound silly, might even sound like a pun, but it is the truth!
All those "Barbarians" who attacked Europe in the Antique times and Middle Ages were winners: they won the battles, and they even won the long term struggles (Bulgarians successfully captured and kept the land from the Byzantines). However, history was written by the loser in the war! So, I want to request an official abandoning of this expression in favour of the truth! History is written by those who can write and is read by those who can read what was written (I admit, it is not as catchy, but so what! If you repeat it enough times, it will eventually catch on: it's hard work...).
Now, my point from this seemingly pointless suggestion is to provide a background for my analysis of the current blockbuster (what the hell does that term suppose to mean) Alexander. Of course, we all realise that following the glowing success of Troy and its accurare (sic.) portrayal of the famous epic, people are not going to take the Hollywood depiction of history very seriously, but we still need to have some consideration for history, don't we?
So, stay tuned (!!) for the Alexander bash, coming up after these messeges from our sponsors...[Your add here!]
Posted by Khodadad at 01:05 AM | Comments (4)
November 23, 2004
Violence Watch!
Speaking of violence, I think I am turning into a violence watch dog! Ruff! Visit this one.
Posted by Khodadad at 11:52 PM | Comments (3)
November 22, 2004
Google Bomb
Legofish has proposed the creation of a Google Bomb about the Persian Gulf matter. Google Bomb is a page that shows up as the top google choice when a certain keyword is used for the search. The way it works has a lot to do with how google search is done. You can read more about it here.
Anyway, if you are interested, make a link to Legofish's Arabian Gulf google bomb. Make sure your are only using this kepyword, Arabian Gulf, for the link, otherwise it would not work.
Posted by Khodadad at 06:00 PM | Comments (2)
November 21, 2004
More Persian Gulf
Interesting news piece from the NY Times about the action taken by the government of Iran against the National Geographic.
This article claims that NG has defended their use of Arabian Gulf AND "occupied by Iran" labels for the islands. However, I am yet to see any words from NG on the island matter. They did not include anything in their reply to my email, and nothing is mentioned in their website's explanation section either. Fascinating indeed!
Posted by Khodadad at 12:35 PM | Comments (2)
November 19, 2004
Idea of Iran
I have been asked about "Iran" "Persia", "Persian", and "Farsi" many times before. I can say that I have my own particular ideas about these terms and their use, like everyone else.
But if anyone is interested in this subject and wants to know the origins of the term Iran and Iranian and their cultural and historical meaning, I suggest reading this book:
Gnoli, Gherardo. The Idea of Iran: An Essay on its Origins, Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Roma, 1989.
Posted by Khodadad at 06:34 PM | Comments (2)
November 17, 2004
Killer Beasts
I am feeling rather uneasy and depressed about this particular event. I am not sure who the beasts who commit these crimes are. The killing of someone like this is by no means justifiable.
Of course, let's not forget that senseless violence is apparently a universal trend. Look at this one too.
Posted by Khodadad at 01:11 AM | Comments (7)
November 12, 2004
Sea of Baluchestan
National Geographic Society is about to release its latest edition of World Map. As you know, NG is a very influential society and much of the knowledge of Americans, and many others, about the world comes from the pages of their publications.
In the latest edition of these maps, Persian Gulf is changed to the "Arabian Gulf"! This, as we all know, is an inaccurate name and opposition to it has nothing to do with national pride, but owes more to academic correctness. Changin the name is like changine The Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of Texas. Furthermore, the name Arabian Sea for the longest time was applied to the Red Sea, while Persian Gulf (Sinus Persicus) has been the term in use at least since the time of Strabo!
The reasoning behind this deliberate action is the attempts by the Arab nations around the Persian Gulf to reduce the name to "the Gulf" (like calling the Mediterranean Sea , "THE SEA") and then to the Arabian Gulf, because of their political purposes.
It is also obvious that National Geographic cannot do much about it. They were probably given a large sum of money by various interest groups linked to UAE, Qatar, Kuweit and KSA to publish these new maps, and they cannot refuse all that. I nontheless encourage everyone to spread the word here and email NG and complain and refuse to buy their new maps.
However, I think here, offense is the best defense: since the Persian Gulf is being changed to the Arabian Gulf, I am going to call the Sea of Oman with a new name: the Sea of Baluchestan. The reasoning fits: Baluchestan (the Iranian and Pakistani one) occupies more of the coast of the Sea of Oman than Oman itself does! So, Sea of Baluchestan it is, and I am going to use it in my writings from now on! Viva Sinus Persicus and the Sea of Baluchestan!
Update: wow, this is getting more interesting! Apparently, the maps also include the phrase "occupied by Iran" under the name of the Greater and Lesser Tonb and Abu Musa islands! This is really funny! One of the UAE emirates, Ra'as Al Khaima, has been just claiming these islands without ANY real legal reason! They just say they want it. The ancestors of the Sheikhs of Ra'as Al Khaima were a group of pirates in the Persian Gulf/Sea of Baluchestan area and were known as the Javaasem and Ghavaasem. They were from Minab, in southern Iran, and they used the Tonbs, Abu Musa, and Ra'as Al Khaima (it means "head of the tent"!) as their temporary refuge after the sea raids.
When petroleum was discovered in the area, some of the Javaasem moved to Ra'as Al Khaima and took residence there. Then, when the British formed the UAE, they forced the Iranian government to sign away the Emirates in 1973 (prior to that, UAE, as well as Bahrain and Qatar, were officially part of Iran). However, since the Javaasem owned land in Minab, the Shah of Iran refused to sign Ra'as Al Khaima away, reasoning that it would mean that a foreign government owns part of the soil of Iran.
It is ironic that exactly this little emirate that actually cannot lay legal claim to its mainland is now claiming three islands that have belonged to Iran for the time immemorial, based on the claim that their pirate ancestors used them as their raiding base! Really, if that holds true, then Tunis can claim Malta and Mallorca and Ibiza as well, since Barbarosa, the famous Tunisian pirate, used these as his raiding stops as well!
Posted by Khodadad at 03:24 PM | Comments (4)
November 10, 2004
Being Funny in Persian
I went to a talk by Firoozeh Dumas, the author of Funny in Farsi, last night, and bought her book as well. I am glancing over it now and it seems to be an average book, well written in the "book club" sense of the word, each sentence bearing obvious signs of instruction. That, the apparent lack of authenticity in popular fiction, asks for another discussion all together.
Anyway, a point the author was making was that her book seems to be the only humourous book by a Middle Eastern author and about the Middle East (or West Asia, but let's not be PC here!). She was told by agents that they did not expect humourous works from the Middle Eastern authors, and that people do not get attracted to such works, much prefering tales of oppression and such.
Her answer has been that not everyone in the Middle East is tense (and intense!) and not all women are oppressed and not all men are oppressors.
I too was shocked about this suggestion. They did not expect humour? Wow, it is interesting. I consider myself a pretty funny person, as far as my word plays and dry sense of humour is concerned. Humour is part of my daily life, and all the people around me. Indeed, living under an oppresive regime or in closed society almost automatically means that humour and jokes are going to be used as a way of releasing frustrations! I don't know anyone who tells more jokes than my mom and dad (my mom is the official joke teller of parties!). So, this is culture shock par excellance!
Indeed, the Persian language (I did ask her why she used "Farsi" instead of Persian!) with its vast vocabulary and poetic heritage, makes it quite easy to be funny! Word plays are so easy to make, and the 1200 years of spoken New Persian means that almost every word has at least two meanings, so the humour of people like my dad is quite common as well.
So, the next time you read a funny book about/by a Middle Easterner, don't be amazed, it is probably even funnier in their own language!
Posted by Khodadad at 11:53 PM | Comments (1)
November 07, 2004
Indo-European Studies Conference
UCLA is one of the few universities in the world that has bothered to offer a proper programme in Indo-European Studies and through the presence of world class IE specialists, presents students with a credible PhD programme.
One of the best things about this programme is the IE Conference that takes place every year in November. This year, the 16th UCLA IE Conference took place this weekend, and I enjoyed it as usual. Despite the fact that I am a Histoy PhD student, I still love IE studies and hang out around that department a lot.
One aspect of this whole thing is that IE Studies seem to be dominated by linguists. Although papers concerned with prefixes, roots, inflections, and such are very important, still they make for a better reading than presentation! Listening to them can sometimes be extremely exhusting and confusing. I enjoy the papers about archaeology, mythology, or historical matters much better, as well as literature. Victor Mair this year talked about the Tarim Basin mummies which are fascinating, and my own professor, Stephanie Jamison, had a great talk about the Poet of the Gathas ("poet formerly known as Zoroaster" as she calls him!!!:)). Here is a programme of the talks.
Another event was a one day class offered via UCLA Extension in which my friend Prof. Touraj Daryaee had a great presentation about the state of the research on the Sasanian Empire (my field too, yeepee!). Prof. Elizabeth Carter and Prof. Holly Pittman, both well known archaeologists of Iran, also made great presentations. It was enjoyable and interesting, especially looking at the audience!:))
In short, this has been a busy weekend!:))
Posted by Khodadad at 12:14 AM | Comments (2)
November 03, 2004
Orwell
Congratulations all!
Wellcome to 1984, with a 20 year delay.
I love the Big Brother.
Pathetic Sideblog Replacement!
Posted by Khodadad at 06:46 PM | Comments (3)