Hi all,
Before Russian became the lingua franca across Central Asia following Russian and later Soviet colonisation, the language most widely used in the region was Persian.
In fact, the word Turan, which appears in the title of this podcast, has Persian linguistic and literary origins — something we’ll be talking about today. We’ll look at Persian influences in Central Asia, how the language spread across such faraway lands, why Persian culture became so fashionable, and how this influence eventually faded. We’ll also examine what traces of Persian influence can still be found in the region today.
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Joining us is Ruben Nikoghosyan, a lecturer in Middle, Classical, and Modern Persian language and literature at the Ferdowsi School of Persian Literature, which he founded. Previously, he was a visiting lecturer at the Department of Armenian Studies at Isfahan State University in Iran.
I hope you will enjoy this one.
Have a great end of the week!
— Agnieszka
