Dear Zoroastrian friends from North America!
My name is David Knaute, PhD student in social anthropology in France
(CEIAS/EHESS: http://ceias.ehess.fr/document.php?id=1535). I am very much
honoured to introduce myself to you, especially to those who have not yet heard
about my research project on Zoroastrianism. I have lived for one year in
Pakistan in 2009-2010 and I am now living in Paris where, besides my job in the
human rights sector, I am preparing a PhD thesis on the Zoroastrian diaspora,
with a focus on Zoroastrians from Pakistan.
Besides Pakistan, I had the opportunity to meet Zoroastrians in India, Dubai,
France, United Kingdom… However, as part of my thesis, I am looking at the
diaspora in North America, where many Zoroastrians of Pakistani origin are
settled. North America may also be the most interesting place to study in order
to understand the transformations of the Parsi/Zoroastrian identity in the
context of the diaspora.
I finalized in March 2011 a report on Zoroastrians from Pakistan, and this is
what I would like to share with you today. The report was prepared for the
Parzor Project directed by Mrs Shernaz Cama in Dehli, India (see
http://unescoparzor.com/images/documents/karachi.pdf).
Concerning Zoroastrians from North America, I am currently preparing a global
survey on Zoroastrian websites which of course means that I am looking at the
many Zoroastrian websites in North America (I already got in touch with many
website managers to discuss about this project which will be completed by the
end of 2011).
Now, I would like to take an important step in my research, which is to discuss
directly with Zoroastrians living in North America and originating from
Pakistan… I am already in contact with a few of you, but the present
questionnaire aims at obtaining multiple views about the perceptions of
Zoroastrians in a more formal way. Of course, I hope to be able to meet some of
you face-to-face at the occasion of visits in North America (I will for instance
meet a few Zoroastrians during a short visit to Boston in June 2011).
In order to disseminate the questionnaire, I am sending this message to you as
you are in charge or engaged in running a Zoroastrian website, and I hope you
may be able to forward this message to all the Zoroastrians originating from
Pakistan you may know in your State/Province or elsewhere in North America.
I am sure that before forwarding this message to some of your Zoroastrian
friends, most of you would have some questions to ask, comments to make or
information to send out to me. Please feel free to do so and write to me at the
following email address: dknaute@yahoo.fr.
I hope this message fulfills its intended purpose, which was to introduce myself
and kindly solicit your collaboration to disseminate the questionnaire and
progress in my research (in addition to replies from Zoroastrians originating
from Pakistan, I also welcome replies from Zoroastrians originating from India,
Iran and/or living in UK/Australia/New-Zealand/Dubai, etc). Last but not least,
I would like to thank you as well as all the Zoroastrians who have not only
supported me but also, indeed, introduced me to a wonderful religion and
culture.
