Persian Manuscripts and the History of Central Asia from the XVIII century to the Present

1 Visiting Professor position

(Deadline March 28^th, 2025 13:00 )

Profile

The visiting professor will be responsible for conducting reasearch on the recent history (XVII century to the present) of crucial areas of Central Asia, taking into account cases in which fundamental historical develoments are attested by unexplored documentation in manuscripts. The aim is to evidence the interplay and crosspollination between historical analysis, on the one hand, and the research on its documental codicological basis, on the other. Special attention will be devoted to the largely unexplored field of the historical information which can be retrieved from the insepection of Persian manuscripts, with the aim of grounding current historiographical reconstructions on the certain evidence that written documentation, insufficiently studied so far, can provide. The research activity will also substantial contribute to highlighting the importance and preserve the integrity of a kind of historical documentation which belongs to the area cultural heritage at risk, because of the unstable social and political context of the repositories (libraries, archives) in which the documentarion is currently stored. The visting professor will benefit from the interaction with researchers pertaining to the various research units of IMT and will present the results of his/her research in periodical seminars that can be profitably attended by researchers and students of different areas of research.

Duration

12 months

Gross amount

19.000,00 €

Activity

The visting professor will select a special case of the recent history of Central Asia whose historical reconstruction rests on unexplored documentation available in Persian manuscripts. The research activity will comprehend: (i) making the selected documents available to an audience of non native speakers of Persian and of non experts of Persian codicology, by way of a parallel Persian-English translation and a close analysis of the selected documents; (ii) collecting the relevant documentation in a digital archive, in which the scans of the manuscripts and the historcial information retrievable from them can be inter-linked; (iii) disseminating the material basis of the research and its scholarly output in a digital library that can both foster further histroigraphical reseaarch and prevent the loss or dispersion of the studied documentation.

Formal requirements

Expertise in Persian codicology, paleography and archival studies; mastery of the methods of historical research on Central Asia in modern and contemporary times;
access to relevant documentation
familiarity with the techniques of digitization, archiving and digital dissemination of documents

Specific requirements:

Fluency in Persian language; advanced knowledge of English
basic acquaintance with Italian

Application

Applications must be submitted through PICA website only using the link at the bottom of this page.

Please note that for the submission of applications on PICA website, login via SPID IS NOT AVAILABLE at the moment - Please register using the alternative methods

Si segnala che per la presentazione delle candidature sul sito PICA al momento NON E' DISPONIBILE il login tramite SPID - Si prega di effettuare la registrazione secondo le modalità alternative

Job Research Unit:

DYSCO

Job Contract Type:

Contratto di lavoro autonomo

Full call