Adam Benkato is a scholar of Old and Middle Iranian languages spoken over a thousand years ago.
His main focus is Sogdian, which was used throughout much of Central Asia, and Middle Persian, the predecessor to modern Persian. Benkato is currently leading an international project to photograph and translate Middle Persian documents and make them available online.
“Area studies have terms where people know what you mean, but there isn’t a clear definition that everyone agrees on,” said Benkato. “Iranian studies is huge. It includes the politics of the modern nation-state of Iran, classical Islam, the Iranic group of languages, and ancient history.”
Geopolitical tensions risk scholarly collaboration
Typically, the most robust area studies programs reside at universities in their home regions. Though Iran has a relatively well-educated population, Moallem noted that state censorship limits academic and artistic freedom. That makes it especially important for UC Berkeley, the world’s top public university, to provide space for critical and independent scholarship.
There are issues in the United States as well. Moallem noted that influential figures often represent Iran and Iranians based on their own political agendas.
“Iranians are sometimes subjected to stereotypes of either the model minority or the backwards, religious fanatic,” lamented Moallem. “In that sense, it's really important to have a program that is thoughtful about the history, culture, and displacement of Iranians.”
Moallem warned that the West’s “desire to liberate Iranian women” undermines domestic reformers. Even supportive-sounding organizations can deprive Iranians of their own agency.
“There has been a consistent movement by women in Iran to change the law and create more social justice,” said Moallem. “They are so impressive, yet we are constantly constructing Iranian women as imprisoned, never considering their achievements. It has created this us/them dynamic. We need to host creative and academic spaces where these voices can come together and engage with each other.”
The U.S. and Iran have had a tense relationship for decades, and that dynamic is only intensifying. Scholars are often caught in the middle. In June, an executive order placed strict restrictions on who is allowed to travel to the U.S. from Iran, including those on student visas. Amid a nationwide decline in international college students, Iranian students experienced the most significant drop, with 86 percent fewer studying in America than in 2024.
“It's pretty much impossible to bring Iranian students here, and that's a real shame,” said Benkato. “In my field, there are several Iranian institutions where they can learn ancient languages, so they often come with pretty good training. Now, we can’t offer them admission, we can’t guarantee they will get a visa, and we can't necessarily pay them enough. So, we're missing out on a lot of potential from very bright students.”
Benkato noted the difficulty in simply communicating with Iranian colleagues. He can’t travel to Iran to meet other specialists or get grants for projects that involve them. He noted that even Iranian researchers based in Europe are hesitant to come to the United States.
“It slows things down,” said Benkato. “We should have partnerships with relevant Iranian institutions, and we can't. It affects the future of the field and the kind of scholarship that can get done.”
Resourcing the field
UC Berkeley’s Iranian studies program began in 1961, when the campus hired Walter Henning, the most prominent scholar of ancient Iran at the time. UC Berkeley established a strong legacy in the field with additional hires, but after a wave of retirements in the early 2000s, it appeared that the faculty wouldn’t be replaced. Then, in 2016, Iranian-American philanthropist Bita Daryabari endowed a new faculty chair (currently held by Benkato), rejuvenating the program. The most recent hire was the poet Solmaz Sharif in 2023.
Though Benkato is clearly fascinated by language, the primary motivation for his research is to gain a greater understanding of regions’ historical trajectories.
“The texts preserved in ancient Iranian languages are a window into societies that are not well-documented,” said Benkato. “These documents teach us how societies and religious movements flourished and declined. They give us a real picture of how everyday people got their food, exchanged rations, and made small-scale transactions. It really fleshes out our picture of the ancient world.”
Many historical documents from ancient Iranian history have been lost to time and humidity. UC Berkeley holds the largest accessible collection of Middle Persian documents in the world — around 300 documents, which represent approximately 20 percent of all known items from that period.
Benkato is currently supervising a team of postdoctoral and undergraduate students who are photographing Middle Persian documents at the Bancroft Library’s Center for the Tebtunis Papyri. Moallem praised other campus institutions like the Center for Race and Gender, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, and the Townsend Center for the Humanities for providing lectures, visiting scholars, and research opportunities. UC Berkeley also maintains global partnerships with archaeological dig sites in Greece, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — perfect for fulfilling Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures fieldwork requirements for Ph.D. candidates.
This ecosystem is a big draw for graduate students. UC Berkeley is one of the very few places in North America that trains students in ancient Iran. Now, there is a desire to expand instruction on modern Iranian history and make space for a larger graduate student cohort.