Iranian Studies Initiative (ISI) at NYU

Delighted to share the book cover for, The Intellectual Thought of Al-Ghazālī, published by Cambridge UP.

کانال علی میر سپاسی https://youtu.be/sh8c3ZCEWTo?si=XrzrGXonTsELEIj4

📆 Thursday, March 7, 2024 | 5 PM - 7 PM | Kevorkian Center Library
👉 Iran Connected and Disconnected: Contraband Mobility from Kurdistan to Tehran
🎤 Moslem Ghomashlouyan and Naor Ben-Yehoyada, moderated by Arang Keshavarzian
🎟️ Open to everyone with RSVP
🖇️ https://buff.ly/3wpOKWE

Next week, join us for a discussion led by Moslem Ghomashlouyan (University of Bern) with Naor Ben-Yehovada (Columbia) about how contraband mobility in Iran incarnates entangled multiscalar (dis)connectivities, drawing on his recent ethnographic fieldwork in a border village in Iranian Kurdistan.

We hope to see you there!

‼️ Event Reminder ‼️

🎬 This week we are hosting a film screening of "Alborz: We Climb Mountains", a new documentary by Maryam Sepehri. The event will take place this Thursday, February 8th, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

📽️ This is an in-person event which will take place at the Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts (address below). You can find more information about the event and register on the Kevorkian Center Website: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/neareaststudies/events/film-screening-of--alborz--we-climb-mountains-.html

📍 Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts
Gallatin School
1 Washington Place
New York, NY 10003

We hope to see you there!

Film Screening of "Alborz: We Climb Mountains" Film Screening of "Alborz: We Climb Mountains" Thursday, February 8, 2023 | 5PM - 7PM | Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts Register here to attend in-person 

Happy new year! We are grateful for last year’s incredible series of events – thank you to all who joined.

This year, we are commencing ISI’s Spring 2024 events with a film screening of "Alborz: We Climb Mountains", a new documentary by Maryam Sepehri. . The event will take place on Thursday, February 8th, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. This is an in-person event which will take place at the Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts (address below).
To register, please visit this link: bit.ly/ISI0208

Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts
Gallatin School
1 Washington Place
New York, NY 10003
We hope to see you there!

دوستان عزیز، از امروز تا چند هفته آینده می خواهم چند گفتگو را که من در کانال Persica انجام داده ام به شما معرفی کنم. این بحث ها به فارسی اند و بخشی از یک پروژه بزرگ‌تر در باره تاریخ و فرهنگ ایران و یک سری گفتگوهایی است که با متفکرین و محققان گوناگون انجام گرفته و در آینده انجام خواهد گرفت. من و همکار فرزانه حسین کمالی با همیاری دوستان دیگر این گفتگوها و پروژه پرسیکا را ایجاد کرده ایم. لطف کرده کانال YouTube ‌persica را مشترک شوید تا از گفتگوهای آینده خبردار شوید. https://youtu.be/bdGU4RtP8vg?si=RektvQqn6hdosfMh

The recording of the recent ISI event, "Iranian Literature in the Arch of Times: from Antiquity to Modernity, and from Revolution to Migration", is now available on YouTube.

We had a wonderful conversation with Kamran Talattof, Leila Zonouzi, and Austin O'Malley about the two volume collection of essays in “Routledge Handbooks of Ancient, Classical and Late Classical Persian Literature” and “Post Classical and Contemporary Persian Literature”.

Iranian Literature in the Arch of Times This event, "Iranian Literature in the Arch of Times: from Antiquity to Modernity, and From Revolution to Migration", took place on November 30, 2023, at New...

From Persia to Iran: A Modern Story-Workshops & Lectures - Farhang.org In a decisive turning point, in December1934, Iran’s government asked foreign missions in Tehran to desist from using the name “Persia” in favour of “Iran.” What were the political intentions and cultural consequences of such a diplomatic move? The conventional view explains the name chang...

We are excited to announce that the first ISI event of the Fall 2023 semester – 'A Book Talk: An Iranian Childhood: Rethinking History and Memory' – will take place on Thursday, October 12th, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

You can join the event in-person at the Kevorkian Center AND on Zoom.
To register for in-person attendance, use this link: https://bit.ly/NYU-ISI-An-Iranian-Childhood
To register for online attendance, use this link: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_W7Na4Uw6TqCVYFYXq8z9RQ

The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies is located at:
255 Sullivan Street
New York, NY 10012

We hope to see you there!

SOLIDARITY STATEMENT

Iranian Studies Initiative at NYU was proud to welcome author Hamid Dabashi, and discussants Leila Pourtavaf and Lior Sternfeld for a conversation on Dabashi’s new book, “Reversing the Colonial Gaze: Persian Travelers Abroad.”
Traditional historiography has centered on the moment with Europe and erased sites of cultural contact, ignoring the larger imagined geography. In response, Dabashi uses travelogues of 19th century Persian travelers to showcase transnational encounters beyond European ones, arguing that a global imagination exists outside of European modernity.
Leila Pourtavaf notes that the book is a critique of power, and the travelogues originate from an anti-colonial consciousness and emphasize the importance of transnational encounters outside of European modernity as a tool to educate people about global geopolitics.
Lior Sternfeld notes that one reason historians are drawn to travelogues is to understand the Orient on the ground. Rather than how many travelogues are characterized through the lens of discovering the West, he emphasizes how the book raises issues on home, exile, how being abroad changes the perception of home.
ISI and NYUKEVO would like to thank the speakers for an engaging talk. Copies of “Reversing the Colonial Gaze: Persian Travelers Abroad” are available for purchase for $25.

Happening now:
Book Talk: Reversing the Colonial Gaze: Persian Travelers Abroad with speaker HamidDabashi, and Discussants LiorSternfeld, and Leila Pourtavaf

Leila Pourtavaf notes the multi-global focus of Dabashi’s book in which the travelogues give space to various locations outside of Europe, stress the importance of transnational encounters, and are in conversation with multiple voices with Iran as its natural extension

Dabashi's book conveys how much we can learn from travelers in the Persianate world, says Lior Sternfeld, and “In many ways, this is the book that we didn’t know we had been waiting for”

On Thursday October 31, 2019, ISI welcomed Dr. Houri Berberian for her book talk on “Roving Revolutionaries: Armenians and Connected Revolutions in the Russian, Iranian, and Ottoman Worlds.”

Her book looks at the connected-ness between the Russian, Iranian, and Young Turk Revolutions, all which occurred between 1904 and 1911, which drew from and built on one another’s’ successes. These revolutions involved the participation of linguistically, religiously, and ethnically diverse imperial subjects: Armenians, who she refers to as the most “dynamic boundary-crossers” because they were minorities in all of these empires.

Berberian poses the question: What does a close reading and analysis of the sources tell us about how and why Armenians participated in and connect revolutions? She examines the stories of peoples and ideologies which illuminate our understanding of these revolutions and movements that were taking shape.

Berberian utilizes two approaches: a “Connected Revolutions” approach and “Global Context.” The Connected revolutions approach, applicable to the study of the early 20th century revolutions, is a systematic exploration of circulations of ideas, individuals, and objects. The Global Contexts approach looks at the transportation and modes of communication of the period and the role that it played in the respective revolutions: railways, stream ships, and telegraph and proliferation of periodicals and books, which had a profound effect on revolutionaries taking part in struggles.

Berberian emphasizes that these revolutions should be examined not in isolation from one another, and not through comparisons, but in connection with one another that had deep and wide-ranging ramifications across the world.

Her book seeks to bring Armenians out of the marginality, to tell a story that’s much more intriguing—the journeys across and within imperial frontiers, which make Armenians an ideal topic of scholarly inquiry.

She ended her talk by reminding us why Armenians took part in these revolutions. The fate of Armenian populations and the promise of social justice and harmonious existence fueled Armenian participation, which they viewed as part of the Armenian struggle within the Russian and Ottoman empires. They saw the revolutions as part of the same fight, which Berberian emphasizes, is why we should see these revolutions as connected.

ISI and would like to thank Professor Arjomand for a phenomenal presentation.
Make sure to stop by the Kevorkian Center to get your copy of "Revolution, Structure, and Meaning in History” for the discounted price of $35.

On Thursday, October 17, 2019, Iranian Studies Initiative and NYUKEVO welcomed Professor Said Amir Arjomand, who presented on his book: “Messianism and Sociopolitical Revolution in the Islamicate Civilization.”
Dr. Arjomand illustrated three factors in major instances of Islamicate revolutionary transformation: Muhammad’s constitutive revolution and the rise of Islam in seventh-century Arabia, followed by the Mahdist revolution and the unfolding of the millennial motive in Mahdism—the Islamic variant of political messianism.

Arjomand expanded on the ‘Struggle (jihād) in the Path of God’ as a distinctive process of revolution, and states that Jihad as the revolutionary process uniquely distinctive of Muhammad’s Constitutive Revolution made a permanent mark on subsequent revolutionary movements in the Islamicate civilization. Arjomand focused on two other distinctive factors: 1) the millennial spark that set in motion this revolutionary process in later instances of revolution, and 2) the structural pattern or model of revolution in tribal societies which he calls the Khaldunian Type in his forthcoming book.

Dr. Arjomand elaborated on the contemporary Shi`ite Messianism in occupied Iraq after 2003 and the Sunni reaction to it in the form of DA`ESH/ISIS. He posits the Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran as the crucial contemporary historical and geopolitical background to DA`ISH, venturing the counterfactual conditional that without it, subsequent Islamic radicalism would not have had its actual trajectory.

Finally Dr. Arjomand’s book argues that Mahdism was a tertiary feature of the Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran, the primary distinctive feature being Khomeini’s principle of the Mandate of the Jurist to rule on behalf of the Hidden Imam (velāyat-e faqih), whose clericalism stifled the millenarian features of the revolution as Khomeini’s charismatic leadership approached its end.

ISI and would like to thank Professor Arjomand for a phenomenal presentation.
Make sure to stop by the Kevorkian Center to get your copy of "Revolution, Structure, and Meaning in History” for the discounted price of $35.

On Friday, September 27, 2019, Iranian Studies Initiative and NYUKEVO welcomed speakers Duygu Demir, Sonal Khullar, and Hamed Yousefi, who presented their perspectives on artistic modernism in Turkey, India, and Iran, respectively, in the 1960s and ’70s, in a panel titled, “Modernisms in National Contexts: Perspectives on Modern Art from Turkey, Iran, and India.”

Our first panelist was Duygu Demir, a PhD candidate in History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture, at MIT, who presented on “Striving for Synthesis: Turkey's Syncretic Modernism in Mid-Century.” She posited that the modernism that Turkish artists in the 1960s, referred to as “children of the revolution,” collectively came to represent was syncretic, as they attempted to suture divergent artistic traditions under the unifying powers of a nation. She concluded that their artwork portrays formal and social complexities that shape our understanding of modernisms and emerging theories of the tensions between modernist art and the modernization of nation-states.

Our second panelist was Sonal Khullar, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Washington, who discussed various developments towards a global art history in the academy and museum over the past decade. She focused on the role of the artist as “citizen, alien” in twentieth-century India, an identity with historical and contemporary resonance. Khullar argued that the identity of artists as “citizen, alien,” suggests new directions for a comparative study of modernism.

Our final anelist Hamed Yousefi, filmmaker and PhD candidate in art history at Northwestern University, presented on, “Politics of Patronage: Abby Grey in the Context of Iranian Modernism.” He spoke on the transition in the history of Iranian modern art between 1959 and 1964, and traced the convergence of artistic creativity and official patronage under the rubric of Iran-US relationships, which facilitated Abby Grey's work in Iran during the Cold War.

ISI would like to thank speakers Duygu Demir, Sonal Khullar, and Hamed Yousefi, for contextualizing the artistic modernism in Turkey, India, and Iran, in the 1960s and ’70s, displayed at the “Modernisms” exhibition. Make sure you stop by at the Grey Art Gallery to experience the exhibition for yourself.

On the evening of September 12, ISI at NYU was proud to host a discussion on: U.S. Interventionism and the Perils of Iranian Diaspora Activism. Our panelists spoke on the recent meetings between Iranian opposition groups and U.S. government officials in the attempt to create the image of a solidified Iranian opposition that seeks the support of the U.S. in its alleged fight for human rights and democracy in Iran.

Our first panelist, Setareh Shohadadei, presented on the “ghost of Iranian identity” that haunts Iranians who are caught between two movements and two leaders: Mr. Rajavi, whose wife is the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, an organization trying to overthrow the Iranian government, and the ghost of Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

The second panelist, Journalist Abdee Kalantari presented on: Ethics and politics of Activism in Diaspora, and referred to two cases of what he calls: Politics of nostalgia and Politics of hijab. He explained that although the crimes of the Islamic Republic can act as a pretext for U.S. foreign intervention, diaspora activists should not be silenced in order to prevent Western intervention.

Saira Rafiee, the third panelist, presented on her topic: “From Death to America to Love Letters to Trump,” on the idea that Iranian propaganda relies on the domination of cultural prominence over policy reforms at the expense of democratically organized voices of disenfranchised workers, students, and intellectuals.

Lastly, our fourth panelist, Saharnaz Samaeinejad, elaborated on the tendency for Western media outlets such as BBC Persian to give excessive coverage to neo-liberal voices. She explained that the desire for self-preservation and preservation of the social fabric has driven most Iranians to regressive political nostalgia under the shadow of the neo-liberal factions, and that Iranian activism can be the most effective when the focus shifts to the social fate and solidarity with oppressed classes, as opposed to the individual fight for self-preservation.

ISI at NYU would like to thank our panelists for an interesting discussion and we hope you will join us for the rest of our events this semester.

On the evening of May 3, Iranian Studies Initiative (ISI) at NYU held a keynote lecture headed by Dr. Ervand Abrahamian on the topic of "Nostalgia for the Old Regime." His starting point is the belief that those who are nostalgic typically view the Pahlavi era as periods when Iranian state-building reached its peak. Many Iranians view Mohammed Reza Shah as a great nationalist leader, a man who put Iran on the map, a military vanguard who made Iran a militarily viable force in the Gulf, and a major influence on OPEC's price point for Iranian oil.

Abrahamian challenges the image of Mohammad Reza Shah as a national leader and anti-imperialist figure. He asks: is this purely based on mythology and false memory, or is the nostalgia based on substance?

Abrahamian expands on factors which contributed to the Shah’s image as an imperial power and the perceived grandeur of an international player. Abrahamian argues that OPEC prices rose due to the Arab embargo during the Arab-Israeli war, as opposed to political pressure imposed by the Shah. Abrahamian asserts that the regime was “piggy-backing” on the rise of the oil prices.

Discussants Negar Mottahedeh () & Naghmeh Sohrabi (), and participants in the audience provided pushback by raising the view that the factual basis for nostalgia hinges on social freedoms, and that media influences such as the popular Iranian show Man-o-To is not generating that nostalgia. Many view the Shah as an ethnic nationalist, more autonomous from the U.S. than is typically credited to him, and an important player in the 1971 Tehran agreement-- a precursor to the rising oil prices in 1973, which had a long-term influence in resource nationalism from the 1960s until 1979.

Iranian Studies Initiative (ISI) at NYU had the privilege of hosting Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer, who presented on, “Origins of the Safavid Empire in Iran: Sectarian Rupture or Continuity?” Her talk explored the intricate story behind the origins of the Safavids from a humble mystical order in northwestern Iran into an ambitious empire. She argued that the transformation of the Safaviyya order into a Shiite political entity was as a product of specific socio-political and religious dynamics of the so called “age of confessionalization.”
Both anti- and pro-Safavid/Shi’ite approaches have continuously served various political and religious agendas. She mentioned that, on the one hand, many in Iran have maintained the idea that the Iranians’ Shiite identity is as old as the history of Shiism itself. On the other hand, the narrative of abrupt shi’itization of the Safavids under Sheikh Junayd and eventually Iranian under Shah Ismail heavily shaped many Turkish nationalist historians’ accounts, which utilized this story to bolster anti-Iranian sentiments.
Her examination of the true origins of the Safavid Empire helped the audience understand not only the socio-political and religious characteristics of the era and its influence on this process, but also the spread of the Safavid sympathy (under the name of Qizilbash) among surrounding regions, mainly Ottoman Anatolia, Iraq, and Syria.
She concluded her talk with the idea that the emergence and the transformation of the Safavids was in fact a culmination of well-planned and articulated decisions, as well as acts and certain ad-hoc responses given to unforeseen time- and region-specific circumstances.

Ayse Baltacıoğlu-Brammer, our speaker for tonight presents: “Origins of the Safavid Empire in Iran: Sectarian Rupture or Continuity?”

Ayse states that the transformation of the Safaviyya order into a Shiite political entity was as a product of specific socio-political and religious dynamics of the so called “age of confessionalization.”

Ayse’s talked about the convoluted story of how the Safavids metamorphosed from a provincial mystical order in Northwestern Iran into a global Shi’ite empire.
Her aim is to convey a more holistic narrative incorporating sources from multiple sides in an integrative way, as opposed to employing ideologically charged and factually flawed interpretations of the origins of the Safavids.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Roham Alvandi for an interesting lecture and thought-provoking discussion and the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies for co-sponsoring the event.

In this lecture, Dr Roham Alvandi examined how both the Shah and his opponents sought to instrumentalize human rights in the international struggle that sparked the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79.


Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the Iranian student opposition abroad, developed contending narratives of human rights in Iran.

Alvandi elaborates on the various events that brought to emergence the language of human rights against the Pahlavi state.
He states that events such as the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, trial of Mossadegh, and 1953 suppression of demonstrations against university students in the Tudeh (Communist) party, brought into question the issue of human rights in Iran and were among the first few events which discredited the Shah and his regime.


In 1967, when the Shah visited Europe, he was greeted by a huge demonstration in Berlin. Afterwards, demonstrating against the Shah became mainstream among leftist activists, akin to protesting apartheid in South Africa, and other issues of the time.
This prompted the Shah, who held the belief that the West is in decline and a skeptical attitude towards the notions of democracy and liberalism, to host a conference on human rights in 1968, in order to create an Iranian nationalist narrative of Iranian human rights.

Alvandi states that “while Iranian students worked with Western human rights organisations to highlight the use of torture against political prisoners in Iran, the Pahlavi state responded by embracing a Third World narrative of human rights that emphasized state sovereignty at the 1968 UN International Conference on Human Rights in Tehran.”

Alvandi ended his talk by concluding that the above events made the Shah susceptible to human rights criticism and served as the motive behind his launching of a liberalism campaign to combat it.

hosted Dr. Roham Alvandi tonight, February 28, 2019 in collaboration with the Iranian Studies Initiative at NYU.

Dr. Roham Alvandi began his lecture on, “Human Rights and the Global History of the Iranian Revolution."

Dr. Roham Alvandi is the author of "Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War" (Oxford University Press, 2014), which was selected by the Financial Times as one of the best history books of 2014