Eden Naby (born 1942) is an Assyrian-Iranian cultural historian of
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and the Middle East. She was born in the once important
Assyrian village of
Golpashan, located outside
Urmia
Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an al ...
in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Eden Naby has conducted research, taught and published on minority issues in countries from
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
to
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
. Her work on
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and on the
Assyrians stands out in the field of cultural survival. She was married to
Richard Frye (1975) and they had one son, Nels Frye.
After graduating
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...
in 1964 for her
undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...
, she served in the
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F ...
in Afghanistan, and after receiving her
PhD (1975,
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
) she taught at
Pahlavi University
Shiraz University ( fa, دانشگاه شیراز ''Dāneshgāh-e-Shirāz'', formerly known as Pahlavi University دانشگاه پهلوی ''Dāneshgāh-e Pahlavi'') is a public university located in Shiraz, Fars, Iran, established in 1946. ...
in Shiraz, Iran from 1975-1977. In 1980, she led a
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
''
60 Minutes'' team for the first ever filming of the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. She was featured in ''Charlie Wilson's War'' (2008) with
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hur ...
.
Naby has devoted her time since 1979 to establishing endowments at United States universities to promote the preservation of Assyrian archives, publishing, and lectures. While limited in principal, these endowments, especially at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, lay the basis for the preservation of research materials, especially in diaspora. Naby has taught as a visiting scholar at various universities including Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Wisconsin - Madison, and University of Massachusetts - Amherst.
Among her writings are many articles in the ''Assyrian Star'' (2001–2007) aimed at eliciting knowledge about
Assyrian culture
The culture of the Assyrians is both distinct from those of neighbouring ethnic groups as well as ancient. Many Assyrians (estimates of fluent speakers range from 500,000) still speak, read and write various Akkadian-influenced dialects of Eastern ...
from knowledgeable members of the community. She has also mounted three exhibits (Harvard, 1998, 1999, Boston Public Library 2005) using Assyrian family photographs and the Harvard archives to illustrate 19th-20th century Assyrian history. In 2014, she curated “Animating the Word: The Calligraphic Legacy of Iran’s Religious Minorities” Tally Beck Contemporary Gallery (New York) (A calligraphy exhibit from Iran’s Zoroastrian, Jewish, Assyrian and Armenian communities.)
As contributing editor on modern Assyrians for the ''
Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encyc ...
'', she is responsible for dozens of entries on the Assyrians.
Naby's charitable fund, Naby-Frye Assyrian Fund for Cultural (NFAFC), has been the leading supporter of the Mesopotamian Night programs mounted annually to raise funds for the Assyrian Aid Society. The NFAFC has supported several endeavors to promote the vernacular Aramaic spoken by Assyrians through the publication and dissemination of children's books and videos.
Select bibliography
“Abduction, Rape and Genocide: Urmia’s Assyrian girls and women,” in Hannibal Travis, ed. The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies (New York, Routledge, 2018) pp. 158-177.
"The Assyrians and Aramaic: Speaking the Oldest Living Language of the Middle East “ http://catedra-unesco.espais.iec.cat (8 March 2016)
*"Theater, Language and Inter-Ethnic Exchange: Assyrian Performance before World War I." Iranian Studies, Volume 40, Issue 4 September 2007, pages 501 - 51
*"The First Kurdish Periodical in Iran", International Journal of Kurdish Studies Vol. 20, nos. 1&2 (2006) pp.215–233
*"Ishtar: Documenting the Crisis in the Assyrian Iranian Community", Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, no. 4, (December 2006), pp 92–102
*"Honey and Vinegar: Attitudes toward Iran's Assyrian Christians". 2006.
*"The Assyrian Diaspora: Cultural Survival in the Absence of State Structure," in S. Mehendale and T. Atabegi, Eds. Central Asia and the Caucasus: Transnationalism and Diaspora (Routledge, Keegan, Paul, 2005) pp.214–230.
*Introduction The Well of Ararat by Emmanuel Varandyan. Belmont, Massachusetts: Armenian Heritage Press/National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, c2005
*"Almost Family: Assyrians and Armenians in Massachusetts," Armenians of New England: celebrating a culture and preserving a heritage ed. Marc A. Mamigonian. (Belmont, Massachusetts: Armenian Heritage Press, 2004), p.43-52.
Selected book titles
*(with Michael E. Hopper) The Assyrian experience: sources for the study of the 19th and 20th centuries: from the holdings of the Harvard University Libraries (with a selected bibliography). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard College Library, 1999.
*(with Ralph Magnus) Afghanistan: mullah, Marx, and mujahid. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1998, rpt. 2002.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naby, Eden
1942 births
Living people
People from West Azerbaijan Province
Iranian Assyrian people
American people of Iranian-Assyrian descent
American expatriates in Afghanistan
Temple University alumni
Columbia University alumni