Jamsheed K. Choksy

Distinguished Professor at Indiana University, Jamsheed Choksy is a leading interpreter of the Zoroastrian religion, its communities, and how Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism interacted to reshape politics and societies in Iran, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. He is also an internationally recognized expert on the history of Iran. Choksy utilizes more than two dozen languages to probe those cultures and has conducted fieldwork in Bahrain, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, and UAE among other countries. His fieldwork, writings, and lectures explore the impact of morality on human societies and politics, why existence is viewed as a struggle between good and evil, and what roles people play in the universe.

Choksy has been a Junior Fellow at Harvard University, NEH Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Mellon Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and Guggenheim Fellow. He also has held grants from the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Religion. He has been a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (London), American Numismatic Society (New York), and Explorers Club (New York). He is an elected member of the Cosmos Club (Washington, DC). Choksy served on the US National Council for the Humanities by Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation.