iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Invisible East Digital Corpus 2.0 now live! Highlights of new features: 1️⃣: Live Corpus Explorer ✨Visualise 515 texts in multiple language ✨Select “types” & disaggregate btw administrative, legal & literary documents. ✨Toggle Sub-types Check: bit.ly/4vGpbu5

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Invisible East Digital Corpus

Invisible East is a research programme on the 8th-13th century Islamicate world in Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

And it's out today, after 10 years of work on the first interdisciplinary volume dedicated to pre-Mongol Balkh: one of the greatest medieval cities of all times ! Details here: bit.ly/3SsZEG8 @BloomsburyBooks

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Delighted to be speaking at the fantastic Aix-Marseille University about Orientalism, the Silk Roads and Hidden Histories of Afghanistan and the Iranian world on Wednesday 3 June at the kind invitation of Prof Arietta Papaconstantinou and her @European Research Council project team !

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Delighted Invisible East Digital Corpus has won 2025 Digital Humanities award in 1 category! Thanks to all who voted for us. We dedicate this to people of Bamiyan, Ghorband, Panjshir, Firuzkuh, Ghur, Qom area, & other places from which our texts stem @arezouazad.bsky.social @dhawards.bsky.social

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Looking forward to discussing my dear colleague and friend Yossi Rapoport's new book, Becoming Arab (Princeton, Oxford, 2025): Join us if you are in London on Wed 20 May at 5 pm at Queen Mary University of London: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/yossef-rap... @invisibleeast.bsky.social

eventbrite.co.uk

Yossef Rapoport Book Launch: Becoming Arab:

Yossef Rapoport, Becoming Arab: The formation of Arab Identity in the Medieval Middle East (Princeton UP, 2025)

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Rachel Bridgewater @rachelbridgewater.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

🎉The first 3 books have now published in The Islamicate East series, edited by @arezouazad.bsky.social, Hugh Kennedy and Teresa Bernheimer🎉 @invisibleeast.bsky.social Find out more at edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-the-i...

3 book covers: The Warehouse of Bamiyan, Persian World Histories in the Mongol Era and The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

A great launch at the home of @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social for our Programme Director @arezouazad.bsky.social's latest volumes in @edinburghup.bsky.social's Islamicate East series. The assembled guests enjoyed an overview of 'The Warehouse of Bamiyan - Economic Life in Medieval Afghanistan' 1/2

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Rachel Bridgewater @rachelbridgewater.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

New on the blog - Pejman Firoozbakhsh and @arezouazad.bsky.social on the enduring fascination of the Barmakids, and on what this newly translated story cycle has to tell us. #MedievalSky euppublishingblog.com/2026/04/07/q...

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Q&A: The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids - Edinburgh University Press Blog

Tales of courtly intrigue, moral testing, romance and reversals of fortune from a rare Persian manuscript…

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

New on the @edinburghup.bsky.social blog: @arezouazad.bsky.social discusses her latest book with Pejman Firoozbakhsh. Enjoy a fascinating taster of stories from this translation of the Akhbār-i Barmakiyān in @bodleian.ox.ac.uk's manuscript Ouseley 217: bit.ly/BarmakidsQandA #Barmakids #Persian

Image comprises of a book cover. The background is teal, with a rectangular white frame around a colourful artwork which appears to show people sat on the floor or standing, having discussions and possibly playing instruments. The title of the book is in large white print 'The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids' with the subtitle in yellow 'Stories from a Forgotten Persian Manuscript'. The cover also includes the series name 'The Islamicate East' and the credits 'Translated and annotated by Pejman Firoozbakhsh and Arezou Azad'.

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Our Programme Director, @arezouazad.bsky.social, was honoured to deliver the Heshmat Moayyad Lecture at the University of Chicago yesterday. Arezou presented research from our team, as well as the latest books in The Islamicate East series with @edinburghup.bsky.social. 1/3

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Register now for Monday's virtual launch of @arezouazad.bsky.social's latest titles with Pejman Firoozbakhsh 'The Warehouse of Bamiyan' & 'The Rise and Fall of the Barmakids': bit.ly/TorontoBookLaunch New in The Islamicate East series for @edinburghup.bsky.social #Bamiyan #Barmakids #Afghanistan

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

A little preview of our forthcoming book!

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

This document features in the latest launch on our digital corpus - as well as in November's Document of the Month, 'A History of Two Iranian Festivals: Nawrūz and Sada' by Simone Cristoforetti: bit.ly/NawruzandSada. #digitalhumanities #medievalsky #BamiyanPapers #NewPersian

Photograph is of a document lying on a black background. The document has tears, marks and folds and has New Persian script written in black ink. There is a shelf mark on the right hand side.

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

I am absolutely thrilled about this recognition and grateful to @OxLifelongLearn for being such an incredible supporter of our work to showcase the 'little people' with huge voices in medieval Islamicate lands. @invisibleeast.bsky.social @mideastmedieval.bsky.social

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

#Teachers! We're developing a schools programme, based on our research, aimed at 11-18 year-olds, and would love your input! Do you teach #silkroads, the #middleeast, or want help adding more diverse topics to your #curriculum? Take & share our survey: forms.office.com/e/bV8bQW63wd #history #edusky

forms.office.com

Microsoft Forms

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Hugely proud of invisibleeast.bsky.social and grateful to @oxfordlifelonglearning.bsky.social for nominating us for Academic Excellence OLLIE award! Each team member made a unique contribution but today I single out programme manager Hayley Smith (in pic) for her enthusiasm & professionalism !

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

So true @rachelbridgewater.bsky.social ! Do pick one up at the EUP stand if you haven't already, @imc-leeds.bsky.social goers!

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Fantastic event at sides of 'Treasured' exhibition on heritage challenges for scholars, hosted @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social under stewardship of @richove.bsky.social, @wetpaint63.bsky.social with panel: Xa Sturgis, Silke Ackermann, Maja Kominko, Ahmad Mohammed, Nabi Saqee. Photo: Matthew Weait

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

It's a beautiful Spring day in #Oxford & we wish our followers a happy Naw Rūz/Nowruz! Nabi Saqee writes on references to #Nowruz in the #Bamiyan Papers, as well as special Nowruz traditions in #Afghanistan, in our blog: bit.ly/IENowruz #persiannewyear #digitalcorpus #documents #medievalsky

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Our very own Mateen Arghandehpour on BBC 4's In Our Time this Thursday 13 March at 9 am UK time to talk about Cyrus the Great! Tune in here: buff.ly/jsH4kRd

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BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Cyrus the Great

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

I enjoyed writing about Maryam ... 🌷

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

New jobs out: a postdoc & PhD on Persianate manuscripts and Afghanistan studies . Check them out! @invisibleeast.bsky.social

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

🎉 #meettheteam who have been reading, transcribing and translating documents written in #Persian! We took a moment today to celebrate their incredible achievements 💪 📅 Tomorrow sees the third release of 270 more #documents on our #digitalcorpus. 🔍 Explore now at www.invisible-east.org #skystorians

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Great to be at the Department for Continuing Education @ox.ac.uk today for our team meeting. Might have spotted some patches of blue sky in Oxford this morning! #springiscoming

Brick buildings pointing up into a blue sky, with wispy clouds!

Garden coming to life with some yellow blossoms, gnarly tree, with buildings in the background beyond the lawn.

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

‼️Fancy doing #Afghanistan-related research in beautiful Paris? 2 new job opps for PhD scholarships (Persian pre-modern mss) post-docs (open field). Historical #Khurasan included! bit.ly/42Mh9EB & bit.ly/3CAD86B. Deadlines: Mar & Apr 25 @Inalco @invisible_east

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Contrat Post-doctoral/ Assistant de projet sur la thématique "Art, histoire et patrimoine de l'Afghanistan et de sa région" | Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

January is here, and here in Oxford that means endless grey skies and rainy days… It's not always easy to see the bright side, but this medieval poem written across four of the Bamiyan Papers (bit.ly/Panegyricpoem) might help inspire a new positive attitude to our gloomy weather on #blueMonday 🧵

Part of Persian language panegyric poem, written in Arabic script on fragment of paper.

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

#meettheteam 👋 who have been working hard digitising #documents ready for the second release onto our Digital Corpus tomorrow. Give a 👏 to Edward Shawe-Taylor and Mateen Arghandehpour and mark your calendar 📅 ready to explore 800 new documents! #medievalsky #digitalhumanities #skystorians

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Delighted to share our #Document of the Month - bit.ly/DocofMonthJan25 - a fascinating exploration by @eds-t.bsky.social of an early calligraphic signature! Find this - and 800 brand new treasures - in the second release on our Digital Corpus today 🎉 #digitalhumanities #medievalsky #skystorians

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Ed Shawe-Taylor @eds-t.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Check out the Invisible East Document of the Month! This month is a piece I wrote about an interesting calligraphic signature on a 12th-century Persian document. This blog has been adapted from an article I've been working on for a forthcoming Invisible East publication.

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

📢The second release of an additional 800 #documents is now live on our #digitalcorpus! 🔎Need some help unlocking these treasures? Join us for a walk through how to search the #IEDC at bit.ly/IEDChowto #digitalhumanities #medievalsky #sykstorians

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

An honour & inspiration to be at #INALCO today, to discuss with colleagues the complicated nexus between heritage protection & historical, textual & linguistic research in conflict societies, with diaspora communities & other groups in #Armenia, #Iran, #Afghanistan, and Central Asia. #skystorians

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

🌟 The dust has settled from the holiday season, and many of us are back to work after spending some quality time with loved ones. As we all know, family reunions rarely go without a bit of argy-bargy... 🧵 1/10

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Invisible East @invisibleeast.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

📣 Hear from Dr Roxana Zenhari in the next in the 'Rethinking History: Returning to Archives and Documents' series, convened by @arezouazad.bsky.social & Mohamad Tavakoli. 🗓️ This Thursday, 12pm EST/5pm GMT. 🔗 Registration essential: bit.ly/Rethinking_History #archives #documents #history

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Arezou Azad @arezouazad.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Happy yalda night. Yalda marks the shortest day and longest night of the year in Iranian and Persian culture, and celebrates longer days ahead. Pomegranates and many other lovely things are had!

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