Editing Peter J. Chelkowski (section)

==Biography==
He studied Oriental Philology at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and Theater Arts in the School of Drama in the same city in 1958. After he moved to London, he studied Islamic Middle Eastern History and Culture at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in 1962. Finally, He went to Tehran University to study Persian Literature and get PH. D. degree in 1968. In his graduate courses dealing with Islam in the contemporary world, he is primarily concerned with rectifying Western misconceptions of Islam both as a religion and in its various cultural forms.

In Iran he joined the faculty of NYU as a cultural historian of the Middle East in 1968. He also worked for a charitable organization called CARE Mission. This allowed him to cover Iran to and fro to the tune of some seventy thousand miles and to meet all classes of people in the country in a practical capacity.

He lived several years in Iran and acted the part of the foreigner in [[Ta'ziya|Ta’zieh]].

He has worked with Middle East Studies Association, Society for Iranian Studies, The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America.