Welcome to the Digital Toolbox for Iranian Studies and related fields, a weekly updated research repository that currently lists 825 digital resources.

Hermes Media 3 Farsi Typewriter, courtesy of Amir Mesbahi
The Hermes Media 3 Farsi typewriter, photograph from the private archive and by the courtesy of type designer/typographer & researcher Amir Mesbahi.

The toolbox aims at collecting all available digital resources that are relevant to Iranian Studies & related fields of study. It may help you to find:

  • primary sources & academic literature
  • manuscripts & objects in digital archives & collections
  • historic maps, coinage, linguistic corpora
  • academic publications & institutions
  • podcasts, blogs & academic communities
  • and useful apps for your research

Last updated: 16 February 2023 (Updates come every Thursday)

Latest toolbox entries

  • nuṣūṣ (Nuṣūṣ presents a corpus of digitized Arabic texts that are not contained in other corpora. It started as a collection of early Sufi and related texts, and now includes early works on kalām, falsafa, and Christian theology. It offers access to the text, search in the corpus, its metadata, and author biographies)
  • LexiQamus (linguistic analysis tool for analyzing Ottoman Turkish, it can be used to decipher difficult to read words, offers search results from dictionaries, and variant spellings)
  • Beyond Sharia: The Role of Sufism in Shaping Islam (bases at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, the blog of this research programme “examines the emergence, flourishing and lasting appeal of non-conformist movements in Islamic intellectual history from the tenth century to the present day”. Its authors are also currently writing some very promising Phd theses)
  • Journal of Religious Minorities under Muslim Rule (hosted by Brill)
  • ČISTĀ – Studies in the History, Cultures and Religions of the Iranian World (Edited by Shervin Farridnejad and Touraj Daryaee)
  • Ancient Mediterranean Digital Project (based on the catalogue part of her dissertation, Tzveta Manolova is creating an “open-access database on ship representations of the Mediterranean basin broadly covering the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age periods”. She provides annotated commentary “that covers both the technical and contextual aspects of the objects”, her own drawings and photogrammetry models)
  • View more…

Weekly recommendations

View past weeks

Anthropology and Culture 

Launched by eminent Iranian anthropologist Nasser Fakuhi, this extensive Iranian science blog/online magazine offers articles by many different authors from various fields from the Humanities.

vajehh

A multi-functional dictionary and thesaurus that allows for looking up the correct spelling of words, their synonyms, related words and terms, the Persian equivalent of foreign words, and even to search the Ganjoor poetry database for verses that relate to your search)

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تاریک‌خانه‌ی تاریخ

Tārīkḫāne-ye tārīḫ (the darkroom of history) presents one historic photograph every Tuesday. Suggestions are always welcome!

  • Kurdish women at a weaving loom in Iran (taken before 1895)

    Kurdish women at a weaving loom in Iran (taken before 1895)

    Please note: For now, this post about an early photograph is still a draft or perhaps more an idea for a research topic. In the course of time, it will be expanded into a blog post that traces the background story of the photograph. If you are interested in writing a blog post about this…

  • Sheikh Bābā Saʿīd Barzanǧī and his dervishes
    Sheikh Bābā Saʿīd Barzanǧī and his dervishes

    The image shows Sheikh Bābā Saʿīd Barzanǧī (sitting) with his followers/derwishes (as he was a Sheikh of the Qaderiyya order). He was hanged in 1914 in Kahrīze by the Ottomans on the charge of having cooperated with Russian forces and offering support to Christians. Born in the village of Ġous̲ābād ca. 1856 (I found two…

  • The Shah Mosque (the Soltāni Mosque) in Tehran
    The Shah Mosque (the Soltāni Mosque) in Tehran

    Please note: For now, this post about an early photograph is still a draft or perhaps more an idea for a research topic. In the course of time, it will be expanded into a blog post that traces the background story of the photograph. If you are interested in writing a blog post about this…

From the blog

  • در آستانه‌ی باب گفت‌و‌گو
    بحران روایت در ادبیات عامه‌پسند آلمانی درباره‌ی ایران و دفاعیه‌ای از جستار‌نویسی به عنوان یک گونه‌ی ادبی مناسب‌تر برای گزارش دادن از ایران
  • Hari, hurra!
    In ehrwürdigem Gedenken an Devreş, der, wie ich vernommen habe, nun seinen Weg zu Hak in einem neuen Gewand fortsetzt. Dieser Text lag jahrelang in der Schublade. Eine denkwürdige Begegnung mit Devreş im Café Kotti am Kottbusser Platz in Berlin, es muss wohl im Jahr 2015 gewesen sein.
  • سحر سفر
    در شب‌های مه‌آلود بی‌پایان
  • Im Rosenhag: Die Weise von der Rose und der Nachtigall
    Von Land zu Land geht eine bittersüße Mär vom Vogel der bei Mondlicht anstimmt tausend Lieder.
  • A digital toolbox for Iranian Studies and related fields
    A research repository for finding sources, literature, and more.
  • سماع
    Samāʿ: Ein Gedicht und eine Klaviermelodie zum Gedächtnis der Tradition.
  • Triptychon: Unter dem Rauch
    Drei Sonette über die Dächer der Seelenschmiede, die wir Stadt nennen.
  • Heimatlektüre
    Gedanken über Fremdsein und Rastlosigkeit.
  • A look back and ahead
    A few editorial musings about the past and future of the Digital Toolbox for Iranian Studies, upcoming changes and plans.

Disclaimer

vezvez-e kandū is a an independent research project to advance academic and public knowledge in the field of Iranian Studies. This blog is not funded by and not affiliated with any political or religious institution, group, party or movement. Any links shared on this blog or mentions of names are not endorsements.