 Encyclopædia Iranica Volume XVI | |
| Author | 1300 named contributors |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Iranistics andGreater Iran studies |
| Genre | Referenceencyclopedia |
| Publisher | Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation,Brill Academic Publishers[1] |
Publication date | 1985–present |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | 45hardback volumes planned; 16 volumes or 15 volumes and 6 fascicles as of October 2020[update].[1] |
| Website | iranicaonline.org |
Encyclopædia Iranica is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritativeEnglish-languageencyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization ofIranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
TheEncyclopædia Iranica is dedicated to the study of Iranian civilization in the widerMiddle East, theCaucasus,Southeastern Europe,Central Asia, and theIndian subcontinent. The academic reference work will eventually cover all aspects ofIranian history andculture as well as allIranian languages andliteratures, facilitating the whole range of Iranian studies research from archeology to political sciences. It is a project founded byEhsan Yarshater in 1973 and currently carried out atColumbia University's Center for Iranian Studies.[2][3] It is considered the standard encyclopedia of theacademic discipline ofIranistics.[4]
The scope of the encyclopedia goes beyond modernIran (also known as"Persia") and encompasses the entireIranian cultural sphere, and far beyond. Relations of the Iranian world with other cultures (China, European countries, etc.) are also covered.[5][6] The project is planning on publishing a total of up to 45 volumes.
Ehsan Yarshater was the founding editor ofEncyclopædia Iranica from 1973 through 2017. The current editor-in-chief is Elton Daniel. The editorial board includes Mohsen Ashtiany, Mahnaz Moazami, and over 40 consulting editors from major international institutions doing research in Iranian studies.[7] Former long tenured editors include Ahmad Ashraf, Christopher Brunner, Habib Borjian, Kioumars Ghereghlou, Manuchehr Kasheff, Dagmar Riedel and Houra Yavari. A growing number (over 1,300 in 2016) of scholars worldwide have contributed articles toEncyclopædia Iranica.[8]
In 1990, Ehsan Yarshater established the Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation (EIF), which serves to promote the cause of theEncyclopædia Iranica and to ensure its continuation.[9] Over the years, Columbia University's Center for Iranian Studies (also founded by Yarshater) continued to coordinate and edit theEncyclopædia, while the EIF substantially sponsored the work.[10]
The foundation provides the full text of many entries (up to fascicle XVI/3) for free on the iranicaonline.org website.
Following Yarshater's retirement as director of the Center for Iranian Studies in 2016, a dispute began to emerge between Columbia University and the EIF as Columbia unilaterally decided to enter into a contract withBrill, an academic publisher, which subsequently published fascicles 4 and 5 of volume XVI in 2018 and 2019; the EIF protested the move.[11] In 2019, Columbia University sued the EIF, seeking, among other things, a finding that the EIF owns neither a copyright nor an exclusive trademark right in the encyclopedia.[12] EIF countersued alleging that Columbia, as well as Brill and Elton Daniel, breached EIF's copyright in the encyclopedia, infringed, diluted, and counterfeited its trademarks, converted EIF property, and committed various acts of unjust enrichment and unfair competition.[13] On July 31, 2020, the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order against Columbia, Brill and Daniel, enjoining them through October 8, 2020 from publishing additional fascicles.[14] EIF also sought a preliminary injunction against the defendants, but such relief was not entered by the court.[15] Columbia and Brill subsequently published fascicle XVI/6 on October 19, 2020.[16]
As part of the dispute, there are now conflicting accounts as to the current state of the Encyclopædia Iranica. While Columbia has published fascicle XVI/4 through XVI/6, covering topics between "Kešaʾi Dialect" and "Khorasan XIV", by EIF's count volume XVI only covers topics falling alphabetically between KA and KE.[17] EIF considers fascicles XVI/4 through XVI/6 "counterfeit fascicles".[17]
On June 1, 2023 the Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation and Columbia University settled their lawsuit with undisclosed terms.[18]
In a review of Volume III,Richard W. Bulliet callsEncyclopædia Iranica "not just a necessity for Iranists [but] of inestimable value for everyone concerned with the history and culture of the Middle East".[19] Ali Banuazizi, though, notes that its focus is on Iran "as perceived, analyzed, and described by its most distinguished, mainly Western, students".[20] In 1998, the journalIranian Studies devoted a double issue (vol. 31, no. 3/4) to reviews of the encyclopædia, coming to 700 pages by 29 authors on as many subjects.[21] Professor A. Banuazizi, praised that the encyclopaedia "will be judged as the most significant contribution of our century to the advancement of Iranian studies as a scholarly enterprise".[22]
Many foundations, organizations, and individuals have supportedEncyclopædia Iranica. The encyclopaedia has been sponsored since 1979 by theNational Endowment for the Humanities, as well as theAmerican Council of Learned Societies,Union Académique Internationale,Iran Heritage Foundation, and many othercharitable foundations, philanthropic families and individuals.[23]
On March 25, 2007, theAssociated Press released a news report aboutEncyclopædia Iranica, claiming that it is "U.S.-backed".[24]Encyclopædia Iranica published an official response, saying the report was "inaccurate and libelous", that while the National Endowment for the Humanities supports the encyclopedia, the Endowment is "an independent federal agency whose many projects are reviewed and decided upon by independent panels of scholars", not the U.S. Government, and that only a third of the encyclopedia's budget is supplied by the Endowment, not half, as the Associated Press had claimed.[25]
As of July 2015, the online version of theEncyclopædia Iranica has almost 7,300 entries, of which about 1,100 entries are only available on the Internet.[26] The following is a list of printed volumes, current as of October 2020[update].[26]
| Beginning and ending entries | Publication year | Volume number | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| ĀB – ANĀHID | 1985 | I | |
| ANĀMAKA – ĀṮĀR AL-WOZARĀʾ | 1987 | II | |
| ĀTAŠ – BEYHAQI | 1989 | III | |
| BĀYJU – CARPETS | 1990 | IV | |
| CARPETS – COFFEE | 1992 | V | |
| COFFEEHOUSE – DĀRĀ | 1993 | VI | |
| DĀRĀ(B) – EBN AL-AṮIR | 1996 | VII | |
| EBN ʿAYYĀŠ – EʿTEŻĀD-AL-SALṬANA | 1998 | VIII | |
| ETHÉ – FISH | 1999 | IX | |
| FISHERIES – GINDAROS | 2001 | X | |
| GIŌNI – HAREM I | 2003 | XI | |
| HAREM I – ILLUMINATIONISM | 2004 | XII | |
| ILLUMINATIONISM – ISFAHAN VIII | 2006 | XIII | |
| ISFAHAN IX – JOBBĀʾI | 2008 | XIV | |
| JOČI – KAŠḠARI, SAʿD-AL-DIN | 2011 | XV |
In addition, the following fascicles of volume XVI have been published:
