Parse: An Exploration of Critical Topics in Iranian Studies

The 65th  episode of Parse is an excerpt of talk given by Maryam Ghorbankarimi titled “ Rakshan Banietemad’s Social Realism”.      Maryam Ghorbankarimi is a lecturer in film practice at Lancaster University. She completed her Ph. D. in film studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2012 and her dissertation was published as a book entitled A Colourful Presence; The Evolution of Women’s Representat...

The 64th  episode of Parse is an excerpt from a talk given by Geoffrey Haig titled “Corpus-based Approaches to the Typology of Iranian Languages”.    Geoffrey Haig is professor of linguistics in the Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Bamberg in Germany. His research is empirically oriented, with a focus on corpus-based approaches to language typology, and language contact in the Western...

The 63rd episode is an excerpt of a talk by Hamed Goharipour titled A Metropolis on the Screen: Urban Transformations, Characters, and Conflicts in Iranian Cinema.  Hamed Goharipour is an Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at the College of Wooster in Ohio. He received his Ph. D. in Environmental Design and Planning at Kansas State University. Goharipour’s research interests include the relation...

The 62nd episode of Parse is an excerpt of talk given by Masoumeh Hashemi titled Control, Digital Censorship and Totalitarianism:  The State Monopolization of Video-on-Demand Platforms in Iran.      Masoumeh Hashemi has an MA in film studies from the University of Concordia and is a researcher at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema there. She is currently working as a translator and researcher at...

The 61st episode of Parse is an excerpt of talk given by Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari titled From Golden City to Felestin: The Onomastics of Cinema Halls in Tehran.    Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari received his Ph. D. in Linguistics from Allameh Tabatabaee University in Tehran (2003), and is currently an associate professor in the Department of Performing Arts, University of Tehran. He has published extensivel...

The 60th episode of Parse is a lecture given by Amir Ganjavie on Iranian movies in international film festivals and the intersection of politics and arts surrounding their inclusion at these festivals.   Amir Ganjavi, who has a Ph. D. in communication and culture from York University, is a Toronto-based writer, cultural critic, festival director, community activist, and filmmaker.  To watch the fu...

The 59th episode of Parse is an excerpt of a lecture given by Razak Khan. Razak’s thesis revisits the question of desire and the making of poetic subjectivity in the Persianate literary archives of South Asia. It examines the nom de plume, life and poetry of Dagh Dehlvi, Munni Bai Hijab and Mir Yar Ali Khan Jan Sahib in the Persianate milieu of nineteenth-century Delhi, Rampur, Calcutta and Hydera...

The 58th episode of Parse is an excerpt of a talk given by Farshid Kazemi the new and emerging horror genre in Iranian cienma.   Farshid Kazemi is Sessional Lecturer at the School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University. He holds a PhD in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Edinburgh with a thesis on Iranian Cinema and Psychoanalysis. His research interests combine...

The 57th episode of Parse is an excerpt of talk given by Khatereh Sheibani on pioneer female directors, writers, and producers in Iranian cinema.   Khatereh Sheibani is a researcher of Iranian cinema and Persian literature. She has established Persian studies at York University, Canada, where she is currently teaching courses on Persian literature and culture, Iranian cinema, and Middle Eastern ci...

The 56th episode of Parse is an excerpt of talk given by Claudia Yaghoobi which focuses on the Iranian-Armenian poet and artist Sonia Balassanian’s works, Yaghoobi argues that Balassanian treats writing (and art generally) as a medium which allows her to write the impossible, namely the 1915 Armenian Genocide.    Claudia Yaghoobi is a Roshan Institute Associate Professor in Persian Studies at the...

The 55th episode of Parse is an excerpt of a talk given by Fatemeh Keshavarz the potentially undesirable implications of the category “women poets.” in light of the ongoing and extensive current research on Iranian women poets. In this presentation, Kehsavarz discusses the poems of Parvin Etesami, Ahmad Shamlou, Forough Farrokhzad and Simin Behbahani in order to explore the pros and cons of gender...

The 54th episode of Parse is an excerpt of a lecture given by Kaveh Askari on his 2022 book, Relaying Cinema in Midcentury Iran which offers a transcultural history of cinema’s circulation. It draws from multi-sited archives of films, distributor memos, licensing contracts, advertising programs, and audio recordings. The talk specifically focuses on the second chapter of the book, “Circulation Wor...

The 53rd episode of Parse is an excerpt of a lecture given by Roshanak Kheshti. This talk explores the question of diegetic film sound in diasporic Iranian cinema through Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night , Mitra Tabrizian’s Gholam and Bahman, and Ghobadi’s No One Knows About Persian Cats.     Roshanak Kheshti is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and affiliate faculty in the...

The 52nd episode of Parse is an excerpt of a lecture given by Ahoo Najafian on the feminine voice in classical Persian poetry in the complicated network of contexts, including looking at the past through the lens of present, knowing the poets through the gaze of male authors, and composing poetry through the seemingly fixed structure of classical Persian poetics. Najafian focuses on three poets, n...

Join host, Yasamin Jameh, in learning about the Arabic documents from early Islamic Khurasan. These documents demonstrate that Khorasan, located in the east of the Abbasid Empire, was the center of innovation in documentary practice and administration.   The 51st episode of Parse is an excerpt of a lecture given by Professor Geoffrey Khan where he describes the Arabic documents from early Islamic...

Join host, Yasamin Jameh, in learning about the role of the fire temple in the Zoroastrian religion.  The 50th episode of Parse is an excerpt of a lecture given by Ervad Dr. Ramiyar Parvez Karanjia where he argues how the veneration of fire in the Zoroastrian fire temples is definitely not a direct worship of fire. Zoroastrians worship god in fire temples through the medium of fire. Hence it is wr...

Join host, Yasamin Jameh, in learning about how the ancient Zoroastrian religion interpreted earthquakes.  The 49th episode of Parse is an excerpt of a lecture given by Samra E. Azarnouche on how the religion of ancient Iran, Zoroastrianism, addressed the phenomenon of earthquakes. Zoroastrianism was developed in a geographical area heavily affected by earthquakes and addressed this phenomenon in...

Join host, Yasamin Jameh, in learning about the role of the fire temple in the Zoroastrian religion.  The 48th episode of Parse is an excerpt by a lecture given by Laudan Nooshin. In this presentation, Nooshin will draw on current research on the sounds of Tehran to explore this entanglement and in particular the nature of historical soundspaces with their layered sonic archaeology. Where do such...

The 47th episode of Parse is a lecture given by Shabnam Golkhandan on the works of three prolific Iranian painters of the Qajar period, Sanī al-Mulk Ghaffārī Kāshānī, Abu Torāb Ghaffari Kāshānī and Mirzā Mehdī Khan Dzulfaqārī.    Shabnam Golkhandan is an Art historian and archivist, currently in charge of the Tavakoli Archives in Toronto. Golkhandan is also a doctoral candidate at the Department o...

The 46th episode of Parse is an excerpt from a presentation given by Nima Jamali on inheritance in the Zoroastrian legal tradition. This lecture was part of the Zoroastrian Studies Symposium in honour of Ervard Dr. Jehan Bagli which took place at U of T on September 9th, 2023.  Nima Jamali is a former post-doctoral fellow at Elahe Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies where he worked on...

The 45th episode of Parse is an excerpt of a presentation given by Ted Good on curiosity and identity in the Denkard. This lecture was part of the Zoroastrian Studies Symposium in honour of Ervard Dr. Jehan Bagli which took place at U of T on September 9th, 2023.  Ted Good received his BA in 2010 from the University of North Texas, where he studied philosophy, religion, and anthropology. From ther...

In this episode, join host, Yasamin Jameh, in learning about forgiveness and mercy in Zoroastrian societies.   The 44th episode of Parse is an excerpt from a presentation given by Dr. Jamsheed K. Choksy on forgiveness and mercy in Zoroastrian societies. This lecture was part of the Zoroastrian Studies Symposium in honour of Ervard Dr. Jehan Bagli which took place at U of T on September 9th, 2023. ...

Join the host, Yasamin Jameh, for an exciting episode, a lecture given by Dr. Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo on Avestan Footnotes.    The 43rd episode of Parse is an excerpt of a presentation given by Dr. Andrés-Toledo as part of the Zoroastrian Studies Symposium in honour of Ervard Dr. Jehan Bagli which took place at U of T on September 9th, 2023.  Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo is the FEZANA Professor o...

Join the host, Yasamin Jameh, for an exciting episode, a lecture given by Dr. Enrico Raffaelli on the dialogue between Zoroastrianism and Judaism.    The 42nd episode of Parse is an excerpt of a presentation given by Dr, Raffaelli as part of the Zoroastrian Studies Symposium in honour of Ervard Dr. Jehan Bagli which took place at U of T on September 9th 2023.  Enrico Raffaelli is Associate Profess...

Welcome back to the 5th season Parse ! Join the host, Yasamin Jameh, for an exciting episode, a lecture given by Dr. Jesse Palsetia on the Parsis of India.   Palsetia gave this lecture as part of the Zoroastrian Studies Symposium in honour of Ervard Dr. Jehan Bagli which took place at U of T on September 9th, 2023. Palsetia gives a brief history of the Parsis, an ethnoreligious group of the Indian...