7Berkeh – Raheleh Bahador: “The Persian Gulf is the heart of Iran; and Ahmad Eghtedari is the heart of the Persian Gulf.” It was based on this statement by Shafiei Kadkani, one of the greatest literary figures of Iran, that the conference held in Gerash on the Persian Gulf National Day, on April 29th, was named “The Persian Gulf, the Heart of Iran”. It was a memorial for Professor Ahmad Eghtedari (1925-2019) known as “The Father of Persian Gulf Studies”, and an occasion to introduce the cultural prize in his name, the biennial Ahmad Eghtedari Prize, among his lovers from every age and social class. It was Dr. Eghtedari’s wish to allocate this prize to students, scholars and authors who have written a treatise, a scholarly article or a research book about the Persian Gulf and the southern regions of Iran, with the aim of continuing Persian Gulf researches. Read the Call for Entry here.
Dr. Sadegh Rahmanian, Dr. Eghtedari’s trustee, was the first lecturer of this event. He introduced Professor Eghtedari as the “nurse” of Iran and said: “nursing Iran, he was not an Iranologist but an Iran worshiper. He is the lover of Iran and its culture and history.” He asserted that this award is an opportunity to pay attention to a bigger and more significant topic, namely, the concept of Iran and Fars: “our perspective toward the Persian Gulf and the south of Iran, Fars and Hormozgan is a cultural one. Eghtedari tried to change Gerash into the center of researches related to the culture and history of the South.”
Dr. Ahmad Joulaei Bushehri, a member of the art faculty of Bushehr and Tehran Azad University, was the second lecturer of the conference. He called Dr. Eghtedari “an anthropologist who worked in the field of culture as a national heritage.”
Dr. Ebrahim Abbasi, a professor of political sciences in Shiraz University, was the key speaker of the conference. He stated that Dr. Eghtedari’s research and works are referenced even in Arabic countries of Persian Gulf. After a thorough review of the large body of Persian Gulf studies, he tried to situate Dr. Eghtedari’s research in this vast body of literature. Dr. Abbasi characterized Eghtedari’s writings with four features: “firstly, he decentralized the historical and geographical research about the Persian Gulf, developing scientific research of local history focused on the southern regions of Iran; secondly, he was an anthropological researcher; thirdly, the style of his writings are friendly and free from conflict; and fourthly, his writings never lose their worth by the passage of time”.
After a short clip about Dr. Eghtedari’s life, Amir hossein Nobahar introduced the website eghtedariprize.ir designed for introducing Dr. Eghtedari’s life and works as well as the prize.
“This prize is meant to carry out Dr. Eghtedari’s will,” Mohammad Khajehpour said while introducing the biennial Ahmad Eghtedari Prize, “the prize covers all the southern provinces of Iran from Khuzestan to Makran beaches in Sistan and Balouchestan. The opening time to receive the researches is from 2022 to the end of March in 2024. The Jury would introduce at least five candidates at the last phase. The candidates will be introduced on Dr. Eghtedari’s death anniversary next year, and the winners are announced and awarded in a special ceremony on the Persian Gulf National Day.” As Khajepour announced, having a scientific and innovating outlook and as well as scientific structure and language are among the features and conditions obligatory for those works that will be accepted. “By receiving various researches, we are hopeful to have a treasure of Persian Gulf studies in Gerash,” Khajehpoor concluded.
See pictures of this conference here.
