The Zoroastrian Diaspora
What is the distinctive Zoroastrian experience, and what is the common diasporic experience? The Zoroastrian Diaspora is the outcome of twenty years of research and of archival and fieldwork in eleven countries, involving approximately 250,000 miles of travel. It has also involved a survey questionnaire in eight countries, yielding over 1,840 responses. This is the first book to attempt a global comparison of Diaspora groups in six continents. Little has been written about Zoroastrian communities as far apart as China, East Africa, Europe, America, and Australia or on Parsis in Mumbai post-Independence. Each chapter is based on unused original sources ranging from nineteenth century archives to contemporary newsletters. The book also includes studies of Zoroastrians on the Internet, audio-visual resources, and the modern development of Parsi novels in English. As well as studying the Zoroastrians for their own inherent importance, this book contextualizes the Zoroastrian migrations within contemporary debates on Diaspora studies. John R. Hinnells examines what it is like to be a religious Asian in Los Angeles or London, Sydney or Hong Kong. Moreover, he explores not only how experience differs from one country to another, but also the differences between cities in the same country, for example, Chicago and Houston. The survey data is used firstly to consider the distinguishing demographic features of the Zoroastrian communities in various countries; and secondly to analyse different patterns of assimilation between different groups: men and women and according to the level and type of education. Comparisons are also drawn between people from rural and urban backgrounds; and between generations in religious beliefs and practices, including the preservation of secular culture.
The Zoroastrian Myth of Migration from Iran and Settlement in the Indian Diaspora
The Qesse-ye Sanjan, previously misinterpreted and cast aside as a quasi-historical chronicle, is here rediscovered as a fully-formed religious composition that can tell us a great deal about Zoroastrian values in particular and the nature of religious self-representation in general.
Parsis in India and the Diaspora
The Parsis are India's smallest minority community, yet they have exercised a huge influence on the country. This book, written by notable experts in the field, explores various key aspects of the Parsis, spanning the time from their arrival in India to the twenty-first century.
Contemporary Zoroastrians
The contemporary Zoroastrians are, arguably, the world's smallest religious-ethnic group. In this book, Writer examines the two major constituent groups, Parsi and Iranian Zoroastrians and analyzes the diversity as well as the unifying features specific among them. Writer enhances her theoretical framework with extensive interviews with the living community, conducted on three continentsóAsia, Europe, and North America. Contents: Historical Background. Zoroastrian Antecendents; Parsi Migration and Acclimation in India; The Zoroastrians of Iran. Disparate Cultures: Parsi and Iranian Zoroastrians; The Contemporary Political Mileux: Iran and India; Present Day Community Shibboleths and Legal Precedents. Intermarriage; Conversation; The Parsi Pancyayat Case Suite No. 689 of 1906 in the High Court of Bombay; Zoroastrians in the Old Countries The Parsis of India and Pakistan: An Introduction; The Parsis of India; The Parsis of Pakistan; Iranian Zoroastrian Refugees; Zoroastrians of the Diaspora. The Zoroastrians of North America: USA and Canada; The Zorastrians of Great Britain; Contemporary Zoroastrians: An Unstructured Nation? Maps throughout.
Exile and the Nation
In the aftermath of the seventh-century Islamic conquest of Iran, Zoroastrians departed for India. Known as the Parsis, they slowly lost contact with their ancestral land until the nineteenth century, when steam-powered sea travel, the increased circulation of Zoroastrian-themed books, and the philanthropic efforts of Parsi benefactors sparked a new era of interaction between the two groups. Tracing the cultural and intellectual exchange between Iranian nationalists and the Parsi community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Exile and the Nation shows how this interchange led to the collective reimagining of Parsi and Iranian national identity—and the influence of antiquity on modern Iranian nationalism, which previously rested solely on European forms of thought. Iranian nationalism, Afshin Marashi argues, was also the byproduct of the complex history resulting from the demise of the early modern Persianate cultural system, as well as one of the many cultural heterodoxies produced within the Indian Ocean world. Crossing the boundaries of numerous fields of study, this book reframes Iranian nationalism within the context of the connected, transnational, and global history of the modern era.
