*Professor Benkato is on sabbatical for the academic year 23-24*
I'm currently an Associate Professor, and holder of the Bita Daryabari Presidential Chair in Iranian Studies, in MELC. Before coming to UC Berkeley, I worked in Germany at the Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
My research investigates a wide variety of textual and audio sources through the lenses of material philology, sociolinguistics, and archive studies. Although my training was largely in philology and dialectology, I’ve developed interests in a number of other fields and methodologies, including sociolinguistics, codicology, postcolonialism, and aural/sonic studies.
I work with a variety of languages and textual traditions, particularly various Iranian languages and Arabic dialects. On the Iranian side, most of my research thus far has dealt with Sogdian, Middle Persian, New Persian, and Chorasmian. I’ve also carried out fieldwork on Yaghnobi, an endangered Iranian language of Tajikistan. On the Arabic side, I work primarily with northern African dialects, especially Libyan ones, as well as on the historical and modern dialectology, and sociolinguistics, of Arabic generally. My other main research focus involves the historical religion Manichaeism.
I regularly teach the Iranian languages of antiquity and late antiquity; most recently Old Persian, Middle Persian (Manichaean, Zoroastrian, Inscriptional), and Sogdian. These seminars are typically for graduate students, but advanced undergraduates with experience in ancient languages have enrolled in the past.
Please reach out to me if you may be interested in coming to Berkeley to work with me on topics such as Iranian philology and historical linguistics, Arabic (socio)linguistics and dialectology, late antique Iran & Central Asia, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, or anything else in my areas of research.
Recent Courses:
MELC 118: Writing Systems of the World
MELC 156: Sociolinguistics of the Middle East
MELC 160: Religions of Ancient Iran
Special Topics: Colonialism in North Africa
Online Projects:
philology, sociolinguistics, archive studies, sound studies, Iranian languages, Arabic dialectology, Manichaeism, late antiquity
