Stanford Iranian Studies Program

Dr. Mahasti Afshar presents her recent translation of "Lament for Siavash" (Mage Publishers, 2024), the English translation of "Sūg-e Siavash" by Shahrokh Meskoob, originally published in Persian in 1971. The book is an exegesis of the story of the death of Siavash and his resurrection as Kay Khosrow in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, and its variant treatment across Iranian mythology, epic, religious, and...

Dr. Ali Ansari examines the arguments about the strength and stability of the Islamic Republic and argues that it is more fragile than many people believe. His talk assess the causes of this fragility and provides some trajectories for development going forward. Ali Ansari is Professor of Iranian History and Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews; Se...

Dr. Farzaneh Milani discusses the semiotics of the rainbow in Iranian literature as it reflects the societal struggles for freedom and women's rights in present day Iran. “In the name of the Rainbow Goddess,” said the nine-year-old Kian Pirfallak before launching his hand-made toy boat. The budding poet who wanted to become a robotic engineer was shot dead on November 16, 2022, during the Woman, L...

The transition from Qajar rule in Iran to that of rule by the Pahlavi dynasty set in motion a number of shifts in the political, social, and cultural realms. Focusing on masculinity in Iran, Dr. Sivan Balslev discussed her book, "Iranian Masculinities: Gender and Sexuality in Late Qajar and Early Pahlavi Iran," which interweaves ideas and perceptions, laws, political movements, and men's practices...

Professor Domenico Ingenito discusses his new book من از نهایت شب حرف می‌زنم / Io parlo dai confini della notte / I Speak from the Edges of the Night (Bompiani 2023, 800 pp.) offering a critical edition and Italian translation of Forugh Farrokhzad’s entire poetic production. Forugh Farrokhzad (1934-1967) is the first female Iranian poet who playfully renegotiated the formal rules and dominant imag...

What went awry with Iran and America? Based on Dr. Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet's book, "Heroes to Hostages: America and Iran, 1800-1988", this lecture pays attention to Iran’s Third World networks as it navigated the Cold War. It focuses attention on race relations and gender concerns in its coverage of diplomacy and reexamines the causes of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet is Walter...

A conversation with Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton about his story-telling process, and in particular the decision to write his longest story about Iran—as told by Parwiz Zafari and the Zafari family. The 54-part series was told in English and Persian over the course of six days leading up to the one year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini that sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom mov...

A conversation with Arian Moayed, an Iranian-born, Emmy and Tony-nominated actor, and co-founder of Waterwell, about his immigration story, his career as a director and producer, and his experience acting as an Iranian in the industry. About Arian Moayed : Through Waterwell (an award-winning community organizing art and education company in New York City), Arian helped create 7 Minutes, The Courtr...

A talk by the third recipient of the Zahedi Family Fellowship, Bita Mousavi. This event was organized on December 7, 2023. The 1960s were a period of both crisis—oil gluts, inflation, depleting foreign reserves—and state centralization for Iran. Using the papers of former Foreign Minister and Iranian Ambassador to the UK and US Ardeshir Zahedi, Bita Mousavi follows Iran’s negotiations with oil com...

An in-person talk by Dr. Kioumars Ghereghlou about the nineteenth-century Persian history writings of Muhammad Husayn Afshar Qiriqlu, an India-based Iranian merchant and historian. This lecture was organized on November 30, 2023. Nineteenth-century Persian history writing has attracted surprisingly little attention in modern scholarship despite the profound formalistic and substantive transformati...

On Wednesday, November 29th, 2023, Stanford Iranian Studies students had the opportunity to ask questions of Iranian-American NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli live from the International Space Station. Jasmin Moghbeli was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. She reported for duty in August 2017. The New York native earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering with info...

A discussion with Dr. Hamed Esmaeilion, Ms. Moniro Ravanipour, and guest Ms. Azadeh Heydaripour. Event was in Persian and hosted on October 26, 2023 at Stanford. The downing of the Ukrainian passenger flight 752 over the skies of Tehran on January 8, 2020 shook the world. All 176 passengers were killed, among them women, children, university students and academics. The passenger plane took off fro...

"Persian Cypress and the Blooms of Modernity" is Dr. Mandana Zandian's narrative of revisiting a collection of Dr. Abbas Milani's works, with a central theme of Modernity. It is presented in the form of a conversation with the author and has been edited accordingly. Modernity is an ongoing process without a clear beginning or end. The closer we come to the inception of this journey in our studies,...

October 5, 2023 Speaker: Bahram Grami A book talk about the acclaimed Iranian poet, Ahmad Shamlou, with Dr. Bahram Grami. Event is in Persian and was organized on Oct. 5, 2023. “The book 'Ahmad Shamlou, Behind the Mirror' is not a literary criticism, it is a step toward better knowing Ahmad Shamlou based on reliable sources. It is not a documentary for promoting or defaming him. While Shamlou shou...

Conversation with Marjane Satrapi and Abbas Milani, moderated by Sima Sabet. Event is in Persian. On September 16, 2022, in Iran, Mahsa Amini succumbed to beatings from the morality police because she had not worn her veil "well." Her death sparked a wave of protests across the country, which turned into an unprecedented women’s movement. One year later, Marjane Satrapi and Abbas Milani discuss he...

In 2014, Maestro Mohammad Reza Shajarian visited Stanford University. In collaboration with Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), he recorded a few test sessions using virtual acoustics of the Hagia Sophia. Recording and production of audio and video were made possible by the CCRMA team and the Icons of Sound Project. To watch the video recording of these test ses...

Social activists Sharmin Meymandinejad and Zahra Rahimi discuss their social work and founding of the Imam Ali Relief Society—one of the largest and most successful nonprofits to operate under the Islamic Republic—until it was dissolved by the Iranian government in 2021. This talk is in Persian. Imam Ali Relief Society was one of the largest nonpartisan non-governmental organizations in Iran. Foun...

"From a Personal Archive to a Book: Genealogy of Bagher Mortazavi’s Collected Papers and Published Books" In this book talk at Stanford University, Mr. Bagher Mortazavi discusses the years-long effort to accumulate internal documents and letters pertaining to the activities of the Party of the Toiling Masses (PTM) and his new book, "From Unity to Disintegration." The book is a documented history o...

The full ceremony of the 13th Bita Prize for Persian Arts honoring Homa Sarshar including Ms. Sarshar's acceptance speech and Q&A session with the audience. Homa Sarshar is a published author, award-winning journalist, writer, media personality, philanthropist, and a women’s rights activist. She is the author of five books and the editor of nine other volumes, including five volumes of the Ira...

00:00 Welcome Remarks: Dr. Abbas Milani 08:30 The Baha’i Archives at Stanford: Dr. C. Ryan Perkins 13:36 "Abdu'l Baha’s Journey Across America" by Hamid Mozaffari PANEL I 25:22 Moderator: Dr. Natalie Jean Marine-Street 30:13 Abbas Milani: “Abdu’l Baha at Stanford: An Archival Inquiry" 31:21 Shane Tedjarati: “Abdu’l Baha at Stanford: An Archival Inquiry" 50:21 Negar Mottahedeh: “Abdu'l Baha's Journ...

June 1, 2023 Speaker: Tomoyo Chisaka The second Zahedi Family Fellow lecture by the Spring 2023 Zahedi Fellow, Dr. Tomoyo Chisaka. Influential literature on Iran-US relations has assessed economic and security issues as having profound impacts on the rise and fall of Mohammad Reza Shah. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the ways that Iran's domestic institutions, particularly p...

The second Zahedi Family Fellow lecture by the Spring 2023 Zahedi Fellow, Dr. Tomoyo Chisaka. Influential literature on Iran-US relations has assessed economic and security issues as having profound impacts on the rise and fall of Mohammad Reza Shah. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the ways that Iran's domestic institutions, particularly parliamentary politics, influenced the...

May 11, 2023 Speakers: Pamela Karimi Discussion with Dr. Pamela Karimi about the work of several prominent contemporary women artists and their courageous acts of political activism in the streets of Iran. Following the tragic murder of Mahsa Amini, Iranian women took to the streets in large numbers to protest. Their bodies were the focus of these demonstrations, with women dancing and spinning th...

May 2, 2023 Speakers: Ladan Lari, Leila Pourhashemi, Abbas Milani, Kioumars Ghereghlou A discussion about "Never Invisible: An Iranian Woman’s Life Across the Twentieth Century" (Mage Publishers, 2023). Houri Mostofi Moghadam was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1919, descended on her mother’s side from Iranian royalty and on her father’s from a “God-fearing” family of scholars and government administrato...

April 21, 2023 A conversation with prominent Iranian-American business leaders Faraj Aalaei, Siavash Alamouti, Fay Arjomandi, Afsaneh Beschloss, Hamid Moghadam, and Shane Tedjarati about the role of dynamic entrepreneurship, the role of women in the future economy, and the impact of the Iranian diaspora on the transition to a future democratic Iran. The conference was moderated by Dr. Abbas Milani...