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Theatre in Prison
Apr 17 2014 - 18:30
A brief historical overview of theatrical performances in prison, particularly in Iran. The presentation is based on an essay.
You can contact the Iranian Studies Program for a copy of the essay after the event has occurred.
Nasser Rahmaninejad, a foremost, celebrated Iranian artist started his career in theatre in 1959 Iran. In response to the authoritarian cultural policies and harsh censorship of the Shah’s regime, he founded his alternative, independent theatre group, Mehr in 1966.
His group, which later changed its name to Iran Theatre Association, became very influential in the field, ...
This Was a Town of Kindness Once: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz
Apr 8 2014 - 18:30
Dick Davis is Professor Emeritus of Persian at Ohio State University, where he was chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from 2002 to 2012. He has written scholarly works on both English and Persian literature, as well as eight volumes of his own poetry. He has been the recipient of numerous academic and literary awards, including the Ingram Merrill and Heinemann awards for poetry, and a Guggenheim Fellowship; his publications include volumes of poetry and verse translation chosen as books of the year by The Sunday Times (UK) 1989; The Daily Telegraph (UK) 1989; The ...
Shahnama Illustrated Manuscripts in the Digital Age & The Idea of the Shahnama in Contemporary Arts
Apr 1 2014 - 18:30
Charles Melville is Professor of Persian History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Pembroke College. He has a BA (Hons.) in Arabic and Persian from Cambridge (1972), an MA in Islamic History (SOAS, 1973) and a PhD on the Historical seismicity of Iran (Cambridge, 1978). His main research interests are in the history and historiography of Iran in the Mongol to Safavid periods (14th-17thcenturies), and the illustration of Persian manuscripts. Recent publications include:
“The illustration of history in Safavid manuscript painting”, in Colin P. Mitchell (ed.) New Perspectives on ...
Culture Wars and Dual Society in Iran
Mar 13 2014 - 18:30
Houchang Esfandiar Chehabi is a Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. He has also taught at Harvard University, UCLA, and the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of Iranian Politics and Religions Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran under the Shah and Khomeini (1990); principal author of Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the last 500 years (2006); co-editor, with Juan J. Linz, of Sultanistic Regimes (1998); co-editor, with Vanessa Martin, of Iran's Constitutional Revolution (2010); and co-editor, with Farhad Khosrokhavar and Clément Therme, ...
Bita Prize for Young Persian Artists: Dena Taherianfar
Mar 12 2014 - 19:00
For the past seven years, we have been giving an annual award, named the Bita Prize for Persian Letters. The winners have been some of the most prominent Iranian writers, poets, vocalists, and playwrights of our time—from Simin Behbahani and Mohammad Reza Shajarian (the first the poet laureate of the people and the second the country's most beloved vocalist), to Bahram Beyzaie (the eminent film-maker and playwright) and Mahshid Amirshahy (the acclaimed writer and translator). Beginning this year, with the generous support of Ms Bita Daryabari, we are launching a second award, this time ...
The Psychology of Dictatorship
Mar 11 2014 - 18:30
Fathali Moghaddam is Professor, Department of Psychology, and Director of The Conflict Resolution Program, Department of Government, Georgetown University. He is the Editor of ‘Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology’ (American Psychological Association).
He was educated from an early age in England, and worked for the United Nations and McGill University before joining Georgetown. He returned to Iran in 1979 and was researching there during the hostage taking crisis and the early years of the Iran- Iraq war. His most recent books include ‘The Psychology of Dictatorship’ (2013), ‘ ...
Days of Revolution: Political Culture and Process in an Iranian Village
Feb 13 2014 - 18:30
Mary Elaine Hegland is professor of anthropology at Santa Clara University. Her areas of focus include women and gender, political anthropology, Shia Islamic ritual and politics, resistance and revolution, social and cultural change, and the anthropology of personal philosophies and life histories. Hegland has conducted anthropological fieldwork in Iran, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Afghanistan, and among Iranians and Pakistanis in the Santa Clara Valley. Her most recent publication is DAYS OF REVOLUTION: POLITICAL UNREST IN AN IRANIAN VILLAGE, Stanford University Press, 2014.
Lecture in English
A Flawed Chapter in Modern Iranian Historiography: The First Century of Iran and Islam
Dec 5 2013 - 18:30
Zakeri finished his Ph.D. studies in Near Eastern History at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City in 1987. The title of his Dissertation was Sasanian Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: the Origins of the 'Ayyaran and Futuwwa (an expanded revised version of this was published, Wiesbaden 1995). He taught medieval and Islamic history courses at the University of Utah (1984-1987). Working as a Research Fellow at the University of Frankfurt, he prepared the results of a research project published as Persian Wisdom in Arabic Garb: 'Ali b. 'Ubayda al-Rayhani (d. 219/834) and his Jawahir al-kilam wa ...
My Promised Land
Nov 21 2013 - 18:30
Sahar Delijani was born in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran in 1983, the same year both her parents were arrested due to their political activism against the Islamic regime. In 1996, when she was 12 years old, her parents decided to move to Northern California to join her mother’s family. Delijani was registered in a middle school, starting from 7th grade.
Her works have appeared in a wide range of literary publications and journals including The Battered Suitcase, Tryst, Slice Magazine, Prick of the Spindle, Perigee, Border Hopping, Berkeley Poetry Review, and Sangam Review.Delijani was nominated ...
The Glories of Ancient Iran: Its Use and Abuse in the 19th and 20th Century
May 2 2013 - 18:30
Touraj Daryaee is the Howard C. Baskerville Professor in the Historyof Iran and the Persianate World and the Associate Director of the SamuelJordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture at the University of California, Irvine. His recent book is the Oxford History of Iran, Oxford. His last work was abook co-athored with Iraj Afshar called: Scholars and Humanists: The Letters of S.H. Taqizadeh and W.B. Henning (1933-1966).
