January 21, 2009 update: Please if you are an Afshar person from Iran e-mail me! I want to talk with you. I want to learn about the Afshar people.  I am a student of anthropology and did a project on the Afshar. Please copy this address below and e-mail me.  I will not send you any spam.

What is my biggest research need? I need to learn what language the Afshar people speak. I found this recording on the internet. Can you listen to it and tell me if it is Afshar language? Click on this links below. Please if you can listen to it all and tell me what it is about.

Click to play Afshar audio. Recording is about 30 minutes long.

OR

Right click here to save recording. File is mp3 and is about 29 megs in size.

Who am I? My name is Jim Smith. I am a student of anthropology. I am from America. Some refer to my country as the Great Satan. But I do not want to talk about politics on the website. I am sorry if the actions of my country causes problems for people. I believe many of our political differences can be solved if we talk to one another. So this project I hope will help get people from Iran and people from America to become friends and realize that as humans we have much in common.

Why this project? To complete my studies in anthropology I had to do a project. I have traveled a lot but many of my American friends have never left America. I believe each culture of the world can learn much from other cultures. My idea in this project is to try to meet people from a ethnic group that is very different than my own. I chose the country of Iran which is a country very different than my county. And I chose the ethnic group Afshar because I know almost nothing about them. During this project I want to show that the internet can be used to meet people and learn about their culture and how they think.

How will I do this project? I will make a simple website announcing that I want to meet Afshar people. I will advertise my website. I will wait and see if Afshar people want to meet me. I will write on this website what I learn and record the conversations I have with Afshar people. I will post on this website each step of the project so that others can learn how to do anthropological study of an ethnic group without even leaving their home.

What language will I use? Since I do not speak Farsi language or Afshar language I will do this project in English. I have read about how many young people are learning English in order to use the Internet. So I will try to write this webpage in easy to understand English.

Who are the Afshar? Here is some information I found on the web....

Afshar Sub-Tribe Kerman The tribes of Kerman consist of different Clans and immigrants who, after the Arabs conquest, moved from the west to the south-east of Iran. Therefore the Sub-Tribes and tent-dwellers settled in Kerman Province are actually a combination of Balooches, Kurds, Arabs and indigenous people. There are about 40 Sub-Tribes, 191 Clans and 230 migratory Families in the neighborhoods of Kahnooj, Baft, Sirjan, Jiroft and Bam counties. Afshar Sub-Tribe, one of the largest at the time of Safavid Shah Tahmasb, and now live in an extensive area stretching from the south-west of Rafsanjan towards the south-east of the Kerman-Bam highway. Their center of trade is at Baft. Their winter residence is Balook Orzooyeh and the summer residence is Balook Aghtae. The tribes of Kerman are originally Turks and speak in Turkish, but due to contacts with tribes of other areas, Farsi words have penetrated their mother tongue. Animal husbandry is their main activity. They also engage in handicrafts. Handmade materials of the Afshar Sub-Tribe are of a high quality, and are known throughout the country. Products like: carpets, ornamental weaving (jajim), gelim, panniers (khoorjin), satchels chanteh), Shiraki, Salt containers (namakdan), spoon holders (Ghashoghdan), and other necessary household goods made by the tribesmen and tribeswomen bring them a considerable sum of money. Soft wool, obtained from their sheep is amongst the best there is and enjoys world renown.

This information below was sent to us by German tourist to Iran 1999.  He took a book published in Iran about different nomads and showed it to a tour guide and said take me to as many of these tribes as you can.  In Southern Kerman province near the boarder of Fars province they came upon some tents of some Afshar nomads.  The name of this area is Boshu. Below are some photographs from this trip.

After the trip I looked on the internet and found some crazy information about the Afshar.  I do not think the Afshar is another name for 20 million Azeri people.  There might be Afshar people in the North of Iran near Tabriz but these Afshar in the South are a very disctinct tribe. According to what the tour guide found out these Afshar speak a kind of Turkish closer to Qashqai Turkish than Azeri that is spoken in the North. 

I would love to find out more about the Afshar of Kerman Province and Fars province.  I would love to meet an Afshar person.  Please e-mail me at afshar@nomadplace.com

The person who took these photos gives up rights to them.  You can use them for the positive promotion of nomadic cultures.

Pictures of the Afshar

This old man told us a folk story about the Afshar people and he told it in his native Afshar language.  It was not hard for us to find Afshari people who spoke in Farsi which our guide could then interpret for us. 

Timeline of this project:

March 2, 2004 - I did an internet search and decided upon the Afshar Nomads of Iran as the focus of my project.

March 10, 2004 - I got approval for this project.

March 11, 2004 - I e-mailed several people who I thought might help me in this project.

March 25, 2004 - A friend gave me the e-mail address of a German tourist who had travelled to the Afshar in 1999. I e-mailed the man.

April 20, 2004 - The man sent me a video of his trip to visit the Afshar.

May 1, 2004 - I captured the below pictures from the video and began making this website.

May 10, 2004 - I located a recording in the Afshar language and asked the people who made it if they could put it on the web. They did and now I have a link to it.

May 18, 2004 - The person who hosts this webpage offered to put my material on the internet. If you don't have such an offer of a host you can easily make your own free page by following the instructions at www.geocities.com

May 20, 2004 - I posted this website onto the internet. The waiting begins to meet a Afshar person.

June 1, 2004 - I moved the site to its present location and added a tracker from www.extremetracking.com so I could see how many people were accessing my page and especially if people from Iran were coming.

Now I will wait until I meet an Afshar person. Please e-mail me!!!!! afshar@nomadplace.com

August 1, 2004. Here is a record of how many people are visiting my site. In June I got 25 unique visitors to my site. July it was 41.

Sept 23, 2004 - I received my first e-mail from an Afshar person. It was in English and the IP address seemed to indicate the e-mail came from California in the USA. I sent an e-mail asking where the person lives and if they can speak Afshar language.

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 21:48:32 -0700 (PDT) Show All Headers
From: XXXXXX Afshar <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@yahoo.com> [Add | Block]
Subject: Hi
To: afshar@nomadplace.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My last name is Afshar and I found your site most intriguing. I also have an interest in Anthropology and have always wondered about my family's name. I don't have any resources or history here XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX but I might (big might) be able to help you out if you have any questions pertaining to... oh I don't even know.

An interesting tidbit: my full last name is XXXXXXXXXXXXX... it means "from the XXXXXX of Afshar." Afshar comes from the word feshar which means force/pressure: physical.

Just something to talk about at the water cooler.

Arash Afshar

Sept 30, 2004 - I received my second e-mail from a man with the last name of Afshar. It was in English and the IP address showed it came from a state in the USA North East. On October 5 I sent a reply asking him a few questions and asking where he lives and if he speaks Afshar langauge. Here is his e-mail with his personal information left out.

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@hotmail.com> [Add | Block]
To: afshar@nomadplace.com
Subject: About Afshars
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 13:27:40 -0400

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I visited your website and found it very interesting. Feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions I can help you with.

Regards,

XXXXXXXXX. Afshar

October 1, 2004 - People ask me how I can find out information about people who e-mail me. In your e-mail program choose "show all headers" or in Outlook open the e-mail and choose "view" then "options". There it will show you info like this...

Received: from XXXXXXX@netscape.net (EHLO netscape1755.com 81.240.254.103 [81.240.254.103] (may be forged))
by mail.ziplip.com with ESMTP id KPH1KKEMNXFXAEBVBXLVP5CGCND4OGKKBRL2DZAC
for <>; 27 Aug 2004 05:38:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: MR JAMES INE <XXXXXX@netscape.net> [Add | Block]
To: afshar@nomadplace.com
Reply-To:XXXXXX@netscape.net
Subject: URGENT RESPONSE
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:39:23 +0200

The 81.240.254.103 in the first line is the IP address of where the e-mail came from. Then I open this website.... http://www.dnsstuff.com/

There I copy the IP address 81.240.254.103 into first blue box on the left. Then it gives me this result.

Country: BELGIUM

ARIN says that this IP belongs to RIPE; I'm looking it up there.

Using 54 day old cached answer (or, you can get fresh results).
Hiding E-mail address (you can get results with the E-mail address).

% This is the RIPE Whois server.
% The objects are in RPSL format.
%
% Rights restricted by copyright.
% See http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/pub-services/db/copyright.html

inetnum: 81.240.0.0 - 81.241.255.255
netname: BE-SKYNET-ADSL1
descr: Belgacom Skynet SA/NV
descr: ADSL Access
country: BE
admin-c: SN2068-RIPE
tech-c: SN2068-RIPE
rev-srv: ns.ripe.net
rev-srv: ns1.skynet.be
rev-srv: ns2.skynet.be
rev-srv: ns3.skynet.be
rev-srv: ns4.skynet.be
status: ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by: SKYNETBE-MNT
changed: ****@skynet.be 20030825
source: RIPE

route: 81.240.0.0/14
descr: SKYNETBE-CUSTOMERS
origin: AS5432
notify: ***@skynet.be
mnt-by: SKYNETBE-MNT
changed: ****@skynet.be 20021202
source: RIPE

role: Skynet NOC administrators
address: Belgacom SA de droit public
address: ANS/ROC/RNO/IEC - Batiment TGX
address: Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 27
address: B-1030 Bruxelles
address: Belgium
phone: +32 2 202-4111
fax-no: +32 2 203-6593
e-mail: ****@skynet.be

From that I can tell that the person's e-mail server is in Belgium. Usually only contact information for the person's internet service provider is given.

October 10, 2004. In Aug I had 34 different people visit my site. In September it was 38.

October 20, 2004 My site tracker shows that as of today I have gotten these visitors from these countries below. As you can see 54% of my visitors come from the USA. But I was happy to see that 7% come from Iran. (12 actual visitors.). I am trying to prove that I can meet and learn from tribal people without using someone who speaks their language. I know if I put some Farsi on this site I would get some e-mails. But I don't speak Farsi.

.com United States 54 33.33%

.eu Europe 14 8.64%

.ir Iran, Islamic Republic of 12 7.40%

.se Sweden 12 7.40%

.tr Turkey 10 6.17%

.uk United Kingdom 8 4.93%

- Unknown 8 4.93%

.de Germany 5 3.08%

.ca Canada 5 3.08%

.au Australia 4 2.46%

.nl Netherlands 3 1.85%

.mx Mexico 2 1.23%

.ch Switzerland 2 1.23%

.ru Russian Federation 2 1.23%

.bh Bahrain 1 0.61%

.qa Qatar 1 0.61%

.hu Hungary 1 0.61%

.at Austria 1 0.61%

.tg Togo 1 0.61%

.sg Singapore 1 0.61%

.cz Czech Republic 1 0.61%

.ae United Arab Emirates 1 0.61%

.dk Denmark 1 0.61%

.kr Korea, Republic of 1 0.61%

.yu Yugoslavia 1 0.61%

.es Spain 1 0.61%

.it Italy 1 0.61%

.jp Japan 1 0.61%

.pk Pakistan 1 0.61%

.bg Bulgaria 1 0.61%

.ng Nigeria 1 0.61%

.fr France 1 0.61%

.in India 1 0.61%

.ph Philippines 1 0.61%

.tw Taiwan, Province of China 1 0.61%

Nov 28, 2004 - I received my third -mail from a man with the last name of Afshar. It was in English and the IP address showed it came from Canada. Here is what he wrote....

The langauge spoken in the recording is persian( farsi) and i am an afshar,
well at least it is my last name and i speak the langauge farsi and the
langauge spoken is in a accent that i dont have.

(From this it seems the recording on this site is in Farsi but with a different accent. Perhaps an Afshar accent that this person in not familiar with?)

Nov 30, 2004 - So far 312 different people (or internet sessions) have accessed this website. 16 from Iran. But no Afshar person from Iran who speaks English has e-mailed me. Shall I be discouraged?

Jan 5, 2005 - I got this e-mail from an Iranian Azeri speaker who seems to indicate that this recording is not a unique language called Afshari. I have still met no Afshar person from inside of Iran via this website.

----- Original Message -----
From: Vahid xxxxxx
To: afshar@nomadplace.com
Sent: 06 Jan 05, 3:42 PM
Subject: an Azerbaijani-Iranian

Hello,

I am an Azerbaijani-Iranian. I saw your page at http://www.nomadplace.com/afshar/ and wanted to say that I can understand the Afshar Turkish dialect (almost 100%). Let me know if you need any help.

Cheers, --Vahid

July 2, 2005 FINALLY!  I JUST MET AN AFSHAR PERSON FROM IRAN!!!  I waited 14 months from when I posted this site and hearing from an Afshar person in Iran.  This person is not a nomad however and in his address information it appears he works in a University. Maybe he can introduce me to a nomadic Afshar person.  Here is his e-mail.

Dear Smith
my name is Mehdi,i am from Tabriz(Iran),i am afshar but we live in
city and i know some information .
Regards

July 24, 2005 This man seems to indicate that the language of my cassette in Afshar is understood by Azeris in Iran.  The question remains.... Do the Afshar people speak a language that is different that the huge Azerbaijani speaking population of Iran?

 

Subject:   Afhsars From:   "Okhtai " <okhtai*****@hotmail.com> Date:   Sun, July 24, 2005 1:34 pm To:   afshar@nomadplace.com Priority:   Normal Options:   View Full Header | View Printable Version | Add to Addressbook

Dear Mister, I am an Azerbaijanian from the Country callen Iran. Afshars and Azerbaijanians are turkish, our culture and language is 100% turkish. One of the greatest Afshars, was Nadir Shah Afshar also known as "persian" Napoleon

July 24, 2005 This Turkish Afshar person could understand the recording. He puts a link where this project is being discussed. 

 

Subject:   Afshar From:   "U. U." <*****@yahoo.de> Date:   Sun, July 24, 2005 1:40 pm To:   afshar@nomadplace.com

Hello! I'm a Turk living in Germany. I listened to your Afshar recording, it is Turkish (Avshar Turkish) and NOT Farsi! The man is telling a tale, it starts like this: "Bir adam iki oglu var idi..." (There was a man with two sons…) I'm talking about this issue in this forum, feel free to join us: http://www.politikcity.de/forum/showthread.php?t=2860 Please tell me more about your project. Bye

February 10, 2006. This Afshar from Turkey explains where I can meet Afshars in Turkey.  Maybe I should go and meet some?

Dear Mister,

my name is Turan from germany. I am a avsar from Turkey living in germany. 
Avsars(AFSHAR) are 100% turkish. Today in Iran  live more than 20 million of turks, called 
Azeri, Afshar, Qacar, Baxtiyari, Turkmens, Özbek and so on.
In Turkey are also a big population of avsars in Adana, 
Kayseri(Sariz;Tomarza,Pinarbasi), Maras(Göksun,Afsin,Türkoglu...); Kars, 
Denizli, Malatya, Bingöl, Erzurum and so on.
But i want to underline that all these groups are TURKISH.
You can visit these website to see the activitis of the turkey avsarturks 
http://www.avsarlar.org/.

bye

May 31, 2007.  This Afshar person living in the USA sent me an excellent short history of the Afshar people.

Hello Jim:

I came across your web page on the internet.  I am not aware of the nomadic
Afshars near Kerman.  My ancestry through my mother's family and my father's
maternal ancestry is Afshar.  In fact that is their last name.  We trace our
ancestry all the way back to Nader Shah Afshar's uncle in the 18th century.

There are a lot of people in Iran (and even some in the US) with the Afshar
last name.  It's a safe bet they are all from King Nader's clan. I was under
the impression that the Afshar clan was from the Khorasan region to the
Northeast and not Kerman and that's why the city of Mashhad was Nader Shah's
capital.  

My family is from Azerbayjan and I have been lead to believe that they were
settled there by King Nader and were given land and a fiefdom so that they
could defend the border against the Ottomans.  I believe some more from the
Afshar clan were settled near the border with the ottomans in Urumieh.
Hence, everybody in my family speaks Azari and not the other Turkic
dialects.

Good luck.
A

Wow.  On June 14, 2007 I finally meet my first Afshar person from Kerman area. This is the ethnic group I wanted to meet.  This took 3 years!!!  The e-mail came from Iran and I replied and am waiting for a response.

 

From:   "Mehrad ******" <**********> Date:   Thu, June 14, 2007 9:39 pm To:   afshar@nomadplace.com

Dear Friend   I think I found your website very late, but if you really need to have contact with a real afshar from kerman area  with a lot of knowledge about my family, so I am here.   you can email me or contact me via ******************************   Best regards   Mehrad

On August 19, 2007 I heard from this Afshar person in Turkey saying there are 2 million Afshar in Turkey.

Dear Sir 
  I was very pleased to see someone who is interested in our society and culture. I
am an Afshar livin in Turkey in Kayseri. There are aptoximetly two million afshars
livin in turkey .Bu where not nomads . My people are relatively well educated than
average.I will be pleasd to get mail from you
   
  Yours sincerely

On September 20, 2007 I got this interesting history lesson from an Afshar person in Turkey.  This could explain why several Afshar people in Turkey have found my site.

Dear Sirs,

afshar are one of the Turkmen group
They came to Turkey from Turkmenistan in front of mongols

untill 19. century they were living in turkeyfrom adana to long villey
on 19.. century otomon empire made an aggreement between british empire to plant
cotton in Adana (near Mediterranian sea)
but afshar dont want to habite they requested to migrate.
after some wares between ottomon empire about 0,5-1 million afshar migrated to Iran
Other afshar distributed all over Turkey and and most of them now lives in their
villages

They spek Turkish (not azerish Turkish) and they are alevish

January 6, 2008 I heard from another Afshar person from Turkey.

if u want to knowledge about afshar plz contact with me

I think I lost all e-mail from Jan 10 to Feb 28, 2008.  Because I put my normal e-mail address visible as a link in this page it has been harvested by SPAM companies and I get about 10 spam messages a day.  My mail box filled up.  So if anyone else does a project like mine make sure you put your e-mail address in a way where it does not get mostly spam.

January 21, 2010  I changed the e-mail address to an image to avoid spam.  I also found a new recording that was made by and Afshar person and I made a link to download it or listen to it.