Voices from Zoroastrian Iran is the result of an oral studies research project that maps the
remaining Zoroastrian communities in Iran. Volume II covers the city of Yazd and surrounding
villages where Zoroastrians continue to live. Most of the interviews recorded from this region
are in Zoroastrian Dari and can be found at the SOAS ELAR website.As in Volume I interviews
included in this book cover a range of topics including views about the religion what it has
been to like to live as a member of a religious minority in Iran since the Revolution of 1979
and accounts of religious education festivals and ceremonies surrounding rites of passage.
Elderly residents in the villages are a rich source of memories from earlier times before
younger people left the rural areas for the cities and emigration abroad became commonplace.
These have been illuminated by colourful descriptions of village life in the 1960's contained
in Mary Boyce's Notebooks (held at the Ancient India and Iran Trust Cambridge). Her portrayal
of shrines and fire temples the gardens flowers trees fruit and vegetables that were grown
and the way in which the land was farmed and water distribution was managed informs the
interview summaries contained in Appendices A and B. These shorter interviews were conducted
in the form of a verbal questionnaire and give a more general insight into what is left of
Zoroastrian village life today. A demographic survey of the Zoroastrian population of the Yazd
Mahalleh as well as maps of this area drawn in 2007 are included. A general overview of the
Zoroastrian religion and society together with an account of devotional life is contained in
Chapters 1-3 in Volume I and pertains to both books.The full unedited interviews have been
made available online in digitised format in the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) at SOAS
(https: www.elararchive.org dk0460 ).
