Agricultural Knowledge in Persian, 1200–1600

How, in what fields, and by whose authority, do premodern New Persian agricultural texts claim to transmit knowledge? Do the extant texts present evidence of belonging to a knowledge ‘tradition,’ and are there changes in the production of agricultural knowledge from 1200–1600 CE? Beginning with one focus text that seems to defy the idea of a tradition: the Ās̱ār va Aḥyāʾ, a partially surviving treatise attributed to Rashīd al-Dīn Fażlullāh Hamadānī (1247–1318), an elite figure in Mongol Iran and owner of significant agricultural holdings. The dissertation project involves reading independent treatises in particular—but also sections on agriculture from other genres—within a temporally and linguistically wider corpus in order to better understand how “authors” differentiated or integrated their approach within the multiple traditions they may have had access to. While in many cases the texts are available in published editions, this study will contribute detailed comparisons of text contents and will reconsider open questions with regard to the circulation and use of agricultural manuscripts. The project is particularly interested in the social conditions of the reproduction of literate agricultural knowledge and the representation of material technologies.