Oklahoma State University Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies

The OSU IPGS summer 2025 newsletter is out now! Click through to the link below to read the note from our outgoing Director, see highlights from our 2025 IPGS Symposium on Natural Resources & Development in Iran and IPGS Lecture Series, and learn more about the IPGS Faculty Grant recipients. We look forward to welcoming you back to campus soon!

https://global.okstate.edu/globalstudies/ipgs/about-ipgs/ipgsnewsletter_summer2025.pdf

IPGS at OSU is thrilled to be partnering with universities across North America to present a Conference on Global Iranian Diaspora Studies in May 2026 in Toronto, Canada! We seek to bring together scholars contributing to transnational and multidisciplinary Iranian Diaspora Studies, with a particular interest in South-South relations across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. Please see the call inviting speakers, pre-organized panels, and creatives to submit abstracts for presentation of original work on topics related to the Iranian diaspora, broadly construed.

The deadline to submit abstracts is May 30, 2025. Send your title and 250-300 word abstract, a 100-word bio, and contact information to: [email protected] (include "Conference on Global Iranian Diaspora Studies 2026" in the subject line of the email). We hope to see you in Toronto!

The 2025-2026 Call for Proposals is now open! IPGS Faculty grants are open to all current OSU faculty and are designed to stimulate and support research, course development, and extension activities about Iran and the Persian Gulf. See the full call for proposals on our website and apply by May 1, 2025! https://global.okstate.edu/globalstudies/ipgs/grants.html

Join us April 8 for our final IPGS Lecture of the semester!
Water resources and projects are understood as hydrosocial territories—complex spatial configurations encompassing people, institutions, water flows, hydraulic technologies, and the biophysical environment, all interconnected through the governance and control of water. This talk will explore how social movements and environmental activists in Iran resist centralized water governance associated with development projects, advocating for social and ecological interests. Currents of Resistance to the Policies of Water Governance in Iran
Dr. Elham Hoominfar
April 8, 2025 | WWC 108
4:30pm Reception
5:00pm Lecture

Join us Thursday, March 27 as we celebrate Nowruz 1404 with an afternoon of “eid didani” — a tradition of visits to friends and loved ones to welcome spring and the new year.
All are welcome and light refreshments will be provided!

IPGS Nowruz 1404 Eid Didani
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Wes Watkins Center, Room 201
Drop-in from 4:00-6:00 pm

OSU Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies wishes you and yours a healthy and joyous Nowruz! We hope you will join us on March 27 for an Eid Didani in WWC 201 to welcome spring and the new year! Drop in anytime between 4:00-6:00pm. Nowruz Pirouz!

Join us on Thursday, March 13, as we welcome Dr. Amir Moosavi and hear about his forthcoming book, Dust that Never Settles: Literary Afterlives of the Iran-Iraq War, from . Although sometimes called “a forgotten war” by pundits, The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) was the longest two-state war of the 20th century. Since 1980, it has inspired thousands of literary, cinematic, and artistic works. This talk explains why, three and half decades after its conclusion, this war remains a major topic for writers of Persian and Arabic fiction, and how Iranian and Iraqi writers have transformed the literatures of this war from authoritarian propaganda into literatures of mourning and resistance, with connections to some of the biggest social and political challenges the two countries face today.
🗓️March 13, 2025 4:30 reception, 5:00 lecture

What is the history of development in Iran? How have Iran’s natural resources, economy, and society been impacted by development projects? The Iranian & Persian Gulf Studies Program at Oklahoma State University is pleased to host a Symposium on Natural Resources and Development in Iran on February 25, 2025. Bringing together five historians and social scientists working at the cross-sections of development, environment, political economy, culture, and society in Iran, the symposium will examine how Iran’s resources — especially water, oil, and natural gas — have been targets of national and international development projects from the mid-20th century to today, with far-reaching impacts. These research presentations are complemented by a short film screening and discussion with the director. Altogether, these sessions seek to advance our understanding of the intertwined histories of natural resources development and modernity in Iran. This symposium is free and open to the OSU community. Please see the schedule on our website at the link below and join us on February 25th!
https://global.okstate.edu/globalstudies/ipgs/ipgs_symposium-2025.html

We are looking forward to a full semester of events at OSU Iranian & Persian Gulf Studies. Join us this spring for lectures, film screenings, and more. Stay tuned for all the details here and on our website!

Come warm up with us at IPGS Chai Chat! Join us on Thursday afternoon, January 30 for an informal gathering to get to know one another over Iranian tea and sweets.

Thursday, January 30, 2025
Room 201, Wes Watkins Center
All are welcome: Drop-in anytime between 4:00 – 6:00 pm

‎شب یلدا مبارک 🍉 Yalda Mobarak! Yalda Night, known as Shab-e Yalda or Shab-e Chelleh, is a cherished Iranian cultural celebration on the longest night of the year (the winter solstice) that marks the victory of light over darkness.

OSU IPGS sends you and your loved ones our best wishes that the coming days will shine brighter and longer with the light of hope and good will.

Wishing you & yours a happy Yalda Night!

Join us on Thursday, November 14 for a film screening and discussion with Dr. Persis Karim, the Chair and Director of Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University. A professor in Comparative and World Literature, Dr. Karim has been a vanguard in the study of literature by Iranians dispersed around the world. As the founding director of the first Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, Dr. Karim embarked on this documentary film project to poetically narrate the story of a community of Iranian Americans who have made the San Francisco Bay Area their home over the past five decades. The film seeks to expand our understanding of Iranian immigration — what it means to leave home and country and live through the episodes of turbulent histories of dissent, revolution, war, and separation — and reinvent oneself in a new place, country, and culture.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thursday November 14, 2024
WWC 110
5pm reception
5:30pm film screening and talk-back