Robert Duncan McChesney (born May 10, 1944''Directory of Foreign Area Fellows'' (Foreign Area Fellowship Program, 1973), p. 131.) is a scholar of the social and cultural history of

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Academic career

Robert D. McChesney was born in Northampton, Massachusetts) and received his B.A. in 1967 and his PhD in 1973 from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. McChesney’s academic focus has been on the history Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan from the time of the Mongol conquest through the early 20th century. Much of his work has centered on the connection of social history and architecture and the Islamic charitable institutions that supported architecture. He has taken a particular interest in the works of Afghan scholar Fayz Muhammad, in particular his monumental history of Afghanistan, '' Sirajul Tawarikh''. McChesney has also written a translation of Fayz Muhammad's account of the 1929 Afghan Civil War. He has made frequent contributions to Encyclopædia Iranica. McChesney is held in high regard by his peers for his meticulous use of primary sources and fluency in several languages. He retired in 2007 as a professor of Middle Eastern Studies and History at the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. McChesney is also the director of the Afghanistan Digital Library, a project to create an online library of rare books from

. The project began in response to the destruction and looting of many library collections and private book collections during the several decades of war in Afghanistan in recent decades.

Works by Robert D. McChesney

Note: Works have been published under the names Robert D. McChesney, R. D. McChesney, and R. McChesney. *"' Abd-al-Mo'men b. 'Abdallāh." Encyclopædia Iranica. *" 'Abd-al-Qoddus b. Boltan Mohammād." Encyclopædia Iranica. *" 'Abd-al-Rahmān b. Soyunj." Encyclopædia Iranica *" Abu'l-Hasan b. Mohammad Amin Golestāna." Encyclopædia Iranica . *" 'Alāmārā-Ye Šāh Esmā 'Īl." Encyclopædia Iranica. *"Architecture and Narrative: The Khwaja Abu Nasr Shrine." Muqarnas, vol. 18 (2001) (Part One: Constructing the Complex and Its Meaning, 1469–1696) and vol. 19 (2002) (Part Two: Representing the Complex in Word and Image, 1696-1998). *" Badī'-al-Zamān Mīirzā." Encyclopædia Iranica . *" Bark Ardār Torkmān." Encyclopædia Iranica. *" Bokārī Ākund Mollā Mohammad-Šarīf." Encyclopædia Iranica. *"Barrier of heterodoxy?" Rethinking the Ties Between

and

in the 17th century" in Pembroke Papers 4 (1996), 231-67. *"Central Asia: Economy from the Timurids until the 12th/18th century," Encyclopædia Iranica. , 1992. *''Central Asia: Foundations of Change.'' Princeton&

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

: The Darwin Press, 1996. *"Central Asia in the 16th_18th centuries" Encyclopædia Iranica. , 1992. *''Charity and Philanthropy in Islam: Institutionalizing the Call to Do Good.'' (

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

: Indian University Press, 1995) *" Corās. Šāh-Mahamud b Mīrza Fāzel." Encyclopædia Iranica. *"Economic and Social Aspects of the Public Architecture of

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

in the 1560s and 1570s," Islamic Art, v. 2, 1987. *Written by Fayz Muhammad. Translated by R.D. McChesney. ''

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

Under Siege: Fayz Muhammad's Account of the 1929 Uprising''. ( Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1999.) *Fayẓ Muḥammad Kātib Hazārah’s Sirāj al-tawārīkh, The History of Afghanistan. Edited and translated by R.D. McChesney and M.M. Khorrami. Brill, 2016. 11 volumes. *"Fayz Mohammad Kateb." Written with A. H. Tarzi. Encyclopædia Iranica

*"Four Sources on Shah Abbas's Building of Isfahan," Muqarnas, v. 5, 1988. *" Mohammad-Ayyub Khan." Encyclopædia Iranica, 2003. *"Reconstructing Balkh: The Vakfiya of 947/1540." Studies on Central Asian History, ed. Devin DeWeese ( Bloomington 2001). *''Waqf in Central Asia: Four Hundred Years in the History of a Muslim Shrine, 1480-1889.'' ( Princeton:

, 1991.) *"Waqf and public policy: the waqfs of Shāh 'Abbās 1011-23/1602-14" Asian and African Studies v. 15, no. 2, (July 1981), 165-90 *"Zamzam Water on a White Felt Carpet: Adapting Mongol Ways in Muslim Central Asia, 1550-1650," in Michael Gervers and Wayne Schlepp, eds., Religion, Customary Law, and Nomadic Technology (

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, 2000).

References

External links

Robert D. McChesney’s Academic Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McChesney, Robert D. Living people 1944 births Historians of Central Asia Historians of Iran Historians of Afghanistan Princeton University alumni New York University faculty