Journey and Encounters: The History of the Zoroastrians of Iran and Its Challenges

The material includes the slides, text, and poster related to the event held on 9 January 2026 at the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute for Iranian Studies within the University of Toronto. The event was a lecture delivered both in person and online as part of the Zoroastrian Studies Seminar Series, organised by the institute and open to all, specialists, enthusiasts, students, and the general public alike. During the lecture, Dr Vassalli introduced the TRAVELS project and addressed the key methodological challenges in studying the history of Zoroastrians between the 18th and 19th centuries. He focused particularly on the central issue of the scarcity of local Zoroastrian sources, contrasted with the abundance of European-origin materials that often reflect a Eurocentric and at times prejudiced perspective. The core of the lecture explored strategies to overcome the Eurocentrism inherent in these sources by adopting a critical approach to their interpretation and broadening the literary and documentary framework.