ABSTRACT
The history of anthropology and intercultural communication studies is much longer and extensive than the current literature indicates. This article looks at the life, times, and the works of Abu Rayhan Biruni, an Iranian mathematician, astronomer, historian, geographer and social scientist of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries who founded the discipline of anthropology and was the pioneer and forerunner of intercultural studies. A comparison is made between Biruni’s masterwork on the Indian culture and his universal history with the contemporary anthropological literature and intercultural studies.
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Hamid Mowlana
Hamid Mowlana (PhD, Northwestern University, 1963) is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C. He was the founding director of the Intercultural and International Communication Program at the same institution from 1968 to 2005. He served as the president of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) between 1994 and 1998 and is now an honorary president of that organization. He has received many national and international awards, including the International Studies Association (ISA)'s Distinguished Senior Scholar Award, His numerous books are translated into several languages. He has been a visiting professor in a number of universities around the world.