Peter J. Chelkowski

Peter J. Chelkowski, is the prominent Polish orientalist teaching at New York university, who has written extensively about the development of religious dramas in Iran.

Peter J. Chelkowski
Occupation	Professor and Author

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’zieh.

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

PUBLICATIONS

• Mirror of the Invisible World (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975)
• Ta`ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran (New York: NYU Press, 1979)
• Eternal Performance: Taziyeh and Other Shiite Rituals (Seagull Books; Illustrated edition, 2010)
• Studies in Art and Literature of the Near East in Honor of Richard Ettinghausen ed. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1974)
• Staging A Revolution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran, co-authored with H. Dabashi, (London: Booth-Clilborn Editions, 1999)
• "Community Process and the Performance of Muharram Observances in Trinidad" co-authored with F. Korom, The Drama Review, vol.38 (2), Summer, 1994
• "Islam in Modern Drama and Theatre," Die Welt des Islam, Leiden, 1984
• "Narrative Painting and Painting Recitation," Muqarnas, Leiden, 1989

HONORS

• Golden Dozen Teaching Award, New York University, 1989, 1996
• First Prize Award for Mirror of the Invisible World, American Association of University Presses
• Smithsonian Folklore Studies Fellowship
• Hoover Institute on War, Revolution, and Peace Fellowship
• Social Science Research Council Fellowship

Source

• Peter J. Chelkowski's Personal Website
• Dr. Mohammad Sadegh Farbod, The book of Iran; Religious mourning ceremonies in Iran, p. 41