SOAS PhD Survey: ‘Zoroastrians-By-Choice’ And ‘Zoroastrians-By-Birth’

PhD student, Ruzbeh Hodiwala, has been conducting research on the ‘Zoroastrians-By-Choice’ and their interactions with ‘Zoroastrians-By-Birth’, under the supervision of Dr. Almut Hintze, the Zartoshty Brothers Professor of Zoroastrianism, and Dr. Arshin Abid-Moghaddam, Professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies at SOAS, University of London. Ruzbeh has began researching the ‘Zoroastrians-By-Choice’ since 2015 and has been conducting interviews across Europe and the USA with ‘Zoroastrians-By-Choice’ and those who officiate their Sedreh-Pushi/Navjote. 

‘Zoroastrians-By-Choice’ denotes those born to both non-Zoroastrian parents, and therefore are legally assigned a non-Zoroastrian identity at birth, and later voluntarily chose to identify as Zoroastrians by undergoing a Sedreh-Pushi/Navjote ceremony. This includes those who were compelled to accept a non-Zoroastrian identity, and have chosen to revert to Zoroastrianism by undergoing a Navjote ceremony. Individuals born into a family where both or at least one parent was born Zoroastrian are referred as ‘Zoroastrian-By-Birth’. 

The doctoral project aims to study the socio-cultural and religious beliefs and practices, motivations and ethno-cultural identity of ‘Zoroastrians-By-Choice’ and examine the challenges of their interactions with ‘Zoroastrians-By-Birth’. The project’s geographical focus is on North America and a few countries in Europe. 

Ruzbeh’s doctoral work is supported by scholarships from organisations including Zartoshty Brothers Scholarship (ZTFE and FEZANA); SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Scholarship for Zoroastrian Studies; and Pirojsha Godrej Foundation, (Mumbai), amongst others. He has launched two anonymous online surveys (currently open) which will provide valuable insights into contemporary Zoroastrian communities. He looks to the Zoroastrian Community to support his project by completing one of the two Surveys, which is limited to North America and parts of Europe. Data from other regions will be analysed and used for other academic and non-academic platforms. You could visit one of the following links to complete the survey:

Survey II: For Zoroastrians-By-Birth: https://forms.gle/mBkyDgsfar6jYhzd7

Survey I: For Zoroastrians-By-Choice: https://forms.gle/bJcEsyJmAm6mkpuT9  

For details and guidance on the survey, e-mail: ruzbeh_hodiwala@soas.ac.uk. The survey is best viewed on a large screen and can take up to 20 minutes to complete. For further details on the project, log on to: www.neozoroastrianproject.com