دانشنامه زاگرس

Zagros Encyclopedia, the First Popular Encyclopedia

The Zagros Encyclopedia is published as the first popular encyclopedia in the field of cultural studies, linguistics, and anthropology.

The language of this magazine is Persian.

Introduction

Persian speakers and literate Iranians have been more or less familiar with encyclopedia and encyclopedia-like sources since ancient times. In the modern era and after the arrival of modernity and its manifestations in Iran, at least elites have been familiar with encyclopedias that were compiled and published in a new way in the West. It has been said that Abbas Mirza, the Viceroy of the Qajar Empire, had a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica in his book collection and, with his limited familiarity with English, he sometimes referred to it and read most of its technical and military content. Even a few articles from the same encyclopedia were translated into Persian during his time.

After the establishment of higher education courses in Iran and the establishment of schools for this education in the Qajar era and the early Pahlavi period, such as the Dar al-Fonon, the Madrasa of Politics, Law, Agriculture, the Higher School of Education, and the University of Tehran, familiarity with a greater number of reference sources, including the use of encyclopedias, increased. Students sent abroad also became closely acquainted with the use of such sources in Western universities. In short, the expansion of the scope of these acquaintances brought about the crude and initial ideas of compiling an encyclopedia in Persian, signs of which can be seen in the Qajar era, at the Nasseri Translation House, at the Dar al-Fonon, and at the Ministry of Education. After that period, several attempts were made in this direction, but why all these efforts did not reach the desired end and a national encyclopedia was not compiled in Iran, perhaps it is a tearful story whose pathology can help other activists to be more familiar with the experiences and take a more conscious step on this path in the future.

History and Goals

The Zagros Encyclopedia Foundation began its work in Farvardin 2018 with the donation of a residential unit by Mr. Mehrdad Molaei (founder). The Zagros Encyclopedia Foundation considers its mission to document, collect, and classify existing sciences and information with the aim of producing and promoting reference resources in the form of encyclopedias and encyclopedia dictionaries and making knowledge accessible to all segments of society, and it tries to play a pivotal role in the country in the field of producing and promoting general and specialized encyclopedias. Adhering to scientific standards of encyclopedia writing and utilizing the country's top professors and scientists in producing and reviewing articles are among the foundation's basic principles.

The Zagros Encyclopedia Foundation does not view scientific and research activities as profit-making, considers the interests of stakeholders important, and avoids parallel activities. Creating synergy and continuous improvement of quality in encyclopedia production and promoting organizational learning and a culture of teamwork will always be the focus of all foundation activities.

The main goals of the Zagros Encyclopedia are as follows:

·          Promoting research and study in the fields of ethnography and humanities;

·         Promoting knowledge and literature and raising the level of scientific and literary study and information in society;

·          Producing general and specialized encyclopedias on approved topics;

·         Cooperation with domestic and foreign universities, research and cultural institutions;

·         Utilizing modern technology in compiling encyclopedias;

·          Practicalization and creation of a link between the field of theory and the field of application;

·         Support for researchers and writers;

·         Education and promotion in general and specialized areas of the subjects studied;

Goals of the Zagros Encyclopedia in compiling the vocabulary:

Collecting vocabulary in order to preserve the native language in the studied dialect geography;

Studying and examining vocabulary used in neighboring dialects and accents;

Using the scientific method to record vocabulary;

Expanding the scope of study and research and the studied geography;

Avoiding providing definitions of language, dialect, and scientific linguistic terms due to creating scientific, social, and ethnic challenges;

Avoiding any separatism and linguistic, cultural, and ethnic separation in order to achieve a correct understanding of the subject under study.