Academic Profile
Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi is Professor of Historical Studies, History, and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. He was the founding Chair of the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto-Mississauga (2004-07) and has served as President of the International Society for Iranian Studies (2008-10). In addition to serving as Editor-in-Chief of Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (2001-2012), a Duke University Press journal, he was the Editor of Iran Nameh (2011-2015). He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Iran Namag, a bilingual quarterly of Iranian Studies, and is the coeditor of the Iranian Studies book series published by Routledge. With a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago, he is the recipient of two Outstanding Teacher awards from Illinois State University (1996 and 2001).
Tavakoli’s areas of specialization encompass Middle Eastern History, Modernity, and Nationalism. He is the author of two books, Refashioning Iran: Orientalism, Occidentalism and Nationalist Historiography (Palgrave, 2001) and Tajaddud-i Bumi [Vernacular Modernity] (in Persian, Nashr-i Tarikh, 2003). He has authored articles on “Early Persianate Modernity,” “Historiography and Crafting Iranian National Identity,” “Narrative Identity in the Works of Hedayat and His Contemporaries,” “Orientalist Studies and Its Amnesia,” “Eroticizing Europe,” “From Patriotism to Matriotism: A Tropological Study of Iranian Nationalism, 1870-1909," and “Anti-Baha’ism and Islamism.” Among others, his Persian language articles have appeared in Iran Nameh, Nimeye Digar, Rahavard, I‘timad-i Milli, and Mihr Namah. He holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in History from the University of Iowa, and a 1988 PhD in History from the University of Chicago.
Tavakoli’s areas of specialization encompass Middle Eastern History, Modernity, and Nationalism. He is the author of two books, Refashioning Iran: Orientalism, Occidentalism and Nationalist Historiography (Palgrave, 2001) and Tajaddud-i Bumi [Vernacular Modernity] (in Persian, Nashr-i Tarikh, 2003). He has authored articles on “Early Persianate Modernity,” “Historiography and Crafting Iranian National Identity,” “Narrative Identity in the Works of Hedayat and His Contemporaries,” “Orientalist Studies and Its Amnesia,” “Eroticizing Europe,” “From Patriotism to Matriotism: A Tropological Study of Iranian Nationalism, 1870-1909," and “Anti-Baha’ism and Islamism.” Among others, his Persian language articles have appeared in Iran Nameh, Nimeye Digar, Rahavard, I‘timad-i Milli, and Mihr Namah. He holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in History from the University of Iowa, and a 1988 PhD in History from the University of Chicago.
Scholarly Interests
Current Position
Professor of History, Historical Studies & Near and Middle Easte,
University of Toronto