Afterword to Persianate Pasts, National Presents: Persian Literary and Cultural Production in the Twentieth Century

What is the relevance of Persianate as a category analysis in world wherein even literature continues to be framed literary history discrete nations? First coined by historian Marshall Hodgson 1974, initially referred cultures such Georgian, Armenian, Chaghatay, Urdu, and Ottoman, which were heavily influenced lexically culturally Persian without themselves being related linguistically. Gradually, an additional meaning was grafted onto “Persianate,” referenced Judeo-Persian that linguistically but diverse, bearing multiple alphabets, religions, identities. These two meanings—the first grounded cultural affinity second linguistic origins—complement each other ensure concept reducible neither language nor identity.