But will they study Xenophon and Herodotus? Southern California contains the largest number of Iranians outside Iran, with the Census showing 101,000 and community leaders arguing for 600,000, most of whom came after the 1979 Khomeini revolution. (Other estimates have this population between 150,000 and 250,000.) We are a long way from the Persian peddler in Oklahoma!See our previous poston Iranians in Southern California.
With the aid of $2-million endowment, the University of California, Irvine will establish a center for Persian studiesand culture (Jennifer Delson, LAT). “Beginning this fall, the center, to be administered by the School of Humanities, will sponsor research grants, lectures and workshops and offer classes in Persian studies and language.”
“Ultimately, founders hope that the center will become a nationally prominent source of scholarship and a community resource” (Marla Jo Fisher, OCR).
Done properly, any ethnic studies center can offer significant intellectual enrichment in scholarship and education. Unfortunately, the programs are more often become captured by the political passions of the funders or the ethnic/racial group involved. See Daniel Pipesfor examples of Middle East Centers. And let’s remind ourselves once more of Ward Churchill,the Colorado con-man.
Let us hope the UCI endeavor will be a model of how to do it right. After all, nuclear Iran needs to be dealt with, and we need every resource we can muster for that purpose. See Michael Ledeen’swork. And, besides, we are all lovers of Montesquieu’s Persian Letters, are we not?
