CSI Monday Majlis: András Barati
Monday, 18 May 2026 at 17:00
DYNASTIC RIVALRY AND BUREAUCRATIC CONTINUITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ISFAHAN
Event details
Abstract: This talk presents two hitherto unpublished Persian royal decrees, offering a rare documentary window onto the resilience of Iranian administrative culture amid dynastic rupture. Both decrees pertain to the same appointee, yet they were issued by representatives of two rival dynasties: Ja?far Khān Zand in 1785 and Ja?far Qulī Khān Qājār in 1788. Read against the turbulent backdrop of Isfahan, a city that changed hands no fewer than six times during these years, the decrees illuminate the contrasting strategies of self-representation employed by the two rivals and the way in which local officials navigated political upheaval.
Bio: András Barati is a post-doctoral researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, affiliated with the project Entangled Charters of Anatolia (1200-1300). He earned his PhD in Iranian Studies from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, where he specialized in the study of medieval and early modern Persian state documents. His dissertation on archival documents from the ?stān-i Quds-i Ra?awī of Mashhad received summa cum laude. His research focuses on Persian diplomatics and the administrative history of the Persianate world. He authored the monograph Exercising Authority and Representing Rule, published by Brill.
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Organiser
Centre for the Study of Islam