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AIS Symposium 2023 schedule

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Day 1: Saturday, 21 October 2023

16:30 - 17:00

Presidential Welcome

  • Prof. Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet

Welcome and Opening: the AIS Online Symposium Committee

  • Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani
  • Dr. Niki Akhavan
  • Dr. Amir Moosavi

Session I, Day 1: 17:00-18:30

Panel 1/I/1: Art and Visual Studies

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Amir Moosavi Rutgers
  • Mandana Naviafar Duke University
    Radiographic Vision and Politics of Visuality in Radiograph of a Family
  • Negar Habibi University of Geneva
    The Splendour of Persian Art in Geneva: A Forgotten Heritage
  • Shima Boka Independent Scholar/University of Art
    Establishing a modern style in contemporary Iranian architecture as reflected in the writings of architect Vartan Hovanessian
  • Katy Shahandeh SOAS, University of London
    The Semiotics of Subversion: Iranian Women Artists Contesting Orientalist Tropes

Panel 2/I/1: Iran’s #MeToo Movement: Confluences of Power and Privilege

  • Maryam Zehtabi University of Virginia
  • Maryam Zehtabi University of Virginia
  • Yalda N. Hamidi Minnesota State University (MNSU) Mankato
    Rhetorical Listening to the Iranian #MeToo Movement in Diaspora
  • Dilyana Mincheva and Niloofar Hamoon McMaster University
    The Iranian #MeToo and the Double Bind of Iranian Feminism: Between Religion, the Global Gender Struggle and Liberal Feminism
  • Paria Rahimi Western University
    #Unveiling_the_Iranian_MeToo_in_Three_Acts: Symptomatic Reading of Iranian MeToo through the Lens of Political Economy

Session II, Day 1: 18:30-20:00

Panel 1/II/1: Alternative Visions of Modernity

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Robert Steele Austrian Academy of Sciences
  • Boshra Moossavi Independent Scholar
    The Idea of Heritage in Nineteenth-Century Iran: Nādir Mīrzā’s Account on Tabriz
  • Ida Meftahi Boise State University
    Rape on Lalehzar Street: Gendering Allied Occupation of Iran, 1941-1945
  • Pouran Lashini University of Texas, Dallas
    The Artistic Influence of Āshūrā in Iran Since the Nineteenth Century

Panel 2/II/1: Roundtable on the Conversion Caucus

  • Ruzbeh Hodiwala SOAS, University of London
  • Ruzbeh Hodiwala
  • Ana Maria Raietparvar Universidade Federal Fluminense
  • Benedikt Römer Bundeswehr University, Munich
  • Edith Szanto University of Alabama
  • Navid Fozi-Abivard Bridgewater State University
  • Ruzbeh Hodiwala SOAS, University of London

Session III, Day 1: 20:00-21:30

Panel 1/III/1: Iran and the World

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Rowena Abdul Razak Queen Mary
  • Denis Volkov and Mojgan Samadi HSE University
    The Modern Persian vs the New Soviet Man
  • Matteo Miele University of Florence
    An unofficial Chinese mission to Afghanistan in 1939
  • Sara Zanotta Università degli Studi di Pavia
    Iranian Constitutionalists in an Italian Archive

Panel 2/III/1: Social Expressions, from Discontent to Anger

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Janet Afary UC Santa Barbara
  • Marie Ostby Connecticut College
    Translating Iranian Anger
  • Pouya Nekouei University of Texas, Austin
    Gender and singing in Iran During the Pahlavi Period (1940 – 1960)
  • Navid Zarrinal Stanford University
    West Asia, Colonialism, and Intellectuals: The Origins of Iran’s Discourse of Misery
  • Farinaz Kavianfar École Pratique des Hautes Études - Université PSL
    Jami’s Golden Chain: The Role of Timurid Kingship in Human Felicity

Session IV, Day 1: 21:30-23:00

Panel 1/IV/1: Gender, Choice, and Power

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Lior Sternfeld Pennsylvania State University
  • Mary Elaine Hegland and Maryam Karimi Santa Clara University
    Widows’ Self-Sufficient Lives in an Iranian Village
  • Yasmine Ansari University of Edinburgh
    Contraception in Modern Iran
  • Razieh Araghi University of Michigan
    Translated Role Models for Iranian Women
  • Jim Bunton Des Moines Area Community College
    Trauma and Memory in Christian Iranian Women’s Memoirs

Panel 2/IV/1: Medieval Arts and Science

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Khodadad Rezakhani
  • Ali Olomi Loyola Marymount University
    A Persian Apocalypse: astral sciences, history writing, and identity formation in the Abbasid dynasty
  • Kaveh Niazi Independent Scholar
    A 13th Century Astronomical Compendium: Athīr al-Dīn Abharī’s Summary of Ptolemy’s the Almagest.
  • Seddigheh Kardan McGill University
    Passionate Scribe and Prudent Author: ʿAṭṭār-i Tūnī and His Identity
  • Márton Székely Eötvös Loránd University
    Beyond Dīvān and Tazkira: Ghaznavid Court Poetry in 14-15th Century Jungs

Session V, Day 1: 23:00-00:30

Panel 1/V/1: Self-Definition, Belonging, and Exclusion

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • James Gustafson Indiana State University
  • Kevan Harris University of California, Los Angeles
    Linguistic homogenization contra ethnic self-identification: New evidence from the Iran Social Survey
  • Mert Aydemir Bogazici University
    An Alternative Vision for Iranian Identity: The Case of Āsār-e ‘Ajam by Forsat al-Dowle Shirazi
  • Olivia Glombitza Autonomous University of Barcelona
    Salam Farmamdeh: Identity Prescription & Youth Mobilization Through Pop Culture
  • Mehrdad Rahimi-Moghaddam University of New South Wales
    Debating Azerbaijan’s Identity

Day 2: Sunday, 22 October 2023

Session I, Day 2: 17:00-18:30

Panel 1/I/2: Myths and Religions of Iran

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Khodadad Rezakhani
  • Gad Barnea University of Haifa
    The Significance of ṛtācā brzmniy in Xerxes’ Cultic Reform
  • Taylor Nasim Stone San Francisco State University
    Sacred Snake Blood: The Dualism of Serpent Symbol Context in the Shahnameh and Kurdish Folklore
  • Farmehr Amirdust Concordia University
    When Nothing Existed Except Darkness: Temporality In The Third Book Of Dēnkard

Panel 2/I/2: Illuminating the Neglected Gems: Unveiling Untold Aspects of the Kalīla wa Dimna

  • Hamed Nayyeri Adl University of Göttingen
  • Hamed Nayyeri Adl University of Göttingen
  • Hamed Nayyeri Adl University of Göttingen
    Fictionality of a Preface, its Features and Functions
  • Hossein (Kaveh) Kardgar University of Göttingen
    Kalīla wa Dimna in Nizami’s Romance Khosrow wa Shīrīn
  • Mohammad Golshan University of Göttingen
    Medical Hints in Kalīla wa Dimna

Session II, Day 2, 18:30-20:00

Panel 1/II/2: Politics: Discourses and Practices

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Niki Akhavan the Catholic University of America
  • Samaneh Oladi Virginia Commonwealth University
    Faith-based Activism in the Iranian Sociopolitical Discourse
  • Camron Michael Amin, Julio Borquez and Razieh Araghi University of Michigan-Dearborn
    Iran Specialists in the US Respond to the Muslim Ban, Covid, and Women, Life, Freedom
  • Parisa Delshad University of Valladolid
    "So, You Wanna Be Free?": A Rhetorical Analysis of Roya Hakakian’s Neoliberal Conceptualization of Freedom
  • Omer Carmi Tel Aviv University
    "There is No Such a Thing as Shooting an Arrow in the Dark" Khamenei's Concept of Flexibility

Panel 2/II/2: Qajar Images: History and Context

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Negar Habibi University of Geneva
  • Staci Scheiwiller California State University, Stanislaus
    Harem Politics and Photography: The Photographs of Khanom Bashi
  • Haleh Hajyasini University of Art, Tehran
    Emergence of Iranian Architectural Historiography in the Qajar Era
  • Hossein Nakhaei University of Pittsburgh
    Persian Pavilion and British Petroleum:

Session III, Day 2, 20:00-21:30

Panel 1/III/2: Historicizing the #MeToo Movement in Iran and Beyond: Cultural Productions and Digital Media

  • Claudia Yaghoobi UNC Chapel Hill
  • Claudia Yaghoobi UNC Chapel Hill
  • Esha Momeni University of California, Los Angeles
    Like a Wrapped Chocolate: The Islamic Republic’s Politics of Hijab and the Normalization of Sexual Harassment
  • Golnar Gishnizjani University of Turku
    Whose Voice Is Missing? MeToo Digital Storytelling on Instagram and the Politics of Inclusion
  • Yasamin Rezai University of Miami
    Mehdy Sedaghat Payam University of Maryland
    Exploring #MeToo in Iran: Computational Analysis of Twitter Data and Cultural Implications
  • Janet Afary University of California, Santa Barbara
    Patriarchalism, Male Abuse, and the Sources of the # Me Too Movement in the Muslim Middle East

Panel 2/III/2: Visual Culture and Representation

  • AIS Symposium Committee
  • Mira Xenia Schwerda University of Edinburgh
  • Navid Darvishzadeh Georgia State University
    Gilles Deleuze and Iranian Modern Cinema: Powers of the False and the Practices of Dissimulation
  • Maryam Zehtabi University of Virginia
    Hush! Girls Don’t Scream (2013) by Puran Derakhshandeh and the #MeToo Movement in Iran
  • Joanna Azami Ohio University
    Manijeh Hekmat's Women's Prison: An Unofficial Adaptation of Yilmaz Guney's The Wall
  • Asal Rashid Mahmoodi University of New South Wales
    "Vaghti Mard Gham Dare, Ye Kooh Dard Dare": Gheyrat’s Effects on the Lives of Iranian Men and Women

Session IV, Day 21:30-23:00

Panel 1/IV/2: Visualizing Women’s Histories in Iran from the Late Nineteenth Century until Today

  • Belle Cheves and Mira Xenia Schwerda
  • Amy Motlagh University of California, Davis
  • Belle Cheves Harvard University
    Sitting on the Peacock Throne: The Queen Mother and Kin(g)ship in the Naseri Era
  • Natasha Morris SOAS/Courtauld, University of London
    The Bibi-Lakkat Complex: Representations of Femininity and Female: Responses to Vice in the Ludic Arts of Qajar Iran
  • Mira Xenia Schwerda University of Edinburgh
    The Counterimage: Visualizing Resistance in Virtual and Physical Space
  • Claudia Yaghoobi UNC Chapel Hill
    Women's "Micro-rebellions" via Cultural and Artistic Productions

Panel 2/IV/2: Roundtable on Publishing in Iran

  • Laetitia Nanquette University of New South Wales
  • Laetitia Nanquette University of New South Wales
  • Laetitia Nanquette University of New South Wales
  • Farshad Sonboldel University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Mahdi Ganjavi Northwestern University
  • Borna Izadpanah University of Reading
  • Hosna Sheikholeslami Denison University