Areas of Interest
- Literature and Culture of the Persianate World (1500–1900)
- Contemporary Culture and Politics of Iran
- Digital Humanities
- Visual Studies
Education
PhD. Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley. Thesis: “Bâzgasht-i adabî (Literary Return) and Persianate Literary Culture in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Iran, India, and Afghanistan.”
M.A. Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.
B.A. Political Science, Columbia University.
Academic Career
2021-- Deputy Director for Academic Affairs. Oriental Institute. Czech Academy of Sciences.
2017-- Researcher. Oriental Institute. Czech Academy of Sciences
2016–2017. Kluge Fellow. US Library of Congress.
2015–2016. Distinguished Visiting Professor (Middle East Chair). History and Political Science Departments. US Naval Academy.
2013–2015. SSRC Transregional Fellow and Visiting Scholar. Roshan Institute for Persian Studies. University of Maryland.
Other Academic Activities
Projects
Selected Presentations
- “The Multiple (Trans)National Legacies of Bidel,” University of California, Los Angeles, December 18, 2020.
- “Literary Nationalism and the Idea of Bazgasht in Modern Iran,” Cambridge University, November 5, 2020.
- "A Macro-Analytical Approach to the Persian Tazkirah Ecosystem," Eighth Biennial Convention of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, Tbilisi, Georgia, March 15-18, 2018.
- "A Transregional Persianate Library: Tazkirah Production and Circulation in the 19th Century," Middle East Studies Association conference, Washington, DC, November 18-21, 2017.
- "Mapping a Persian Literary Sphere," Library of Congress, Washington, DC, November 17, 2017.
- “The Return of the Masters: Connections, Contestations, and the Redrawing of Persian Literary History,” Library of Congress, Washington, DC, October 25, 2016.
- “Mapping the Persian Tazkirah, 1700–1900,” The World of Tazkirah Conference, UC Irvine, February 5, 2016.
- “Demarcating Persianate Worlds: The Persian Tazkirah, 1700–1900,” UCLA International Asia Institute, October 15, 2015.
- “Migrations and Movements of Persian Poets, Secretaries, and Litterateurs in the Nineteenth Century,” The Global 19th Century: Contiguities, Connections, and Detachments Conference, University of California, Riverside, February 25–26, 2015.
- “Abd al-Qâdir Bîdil and the Writing of Persianate Literary History in Central Asia and Beyond,” Interrogating Change: Central Asia between Timelessness and Mutability Conference, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, October 17, 2014.
- “Rivalry and Debate on the Margins of Bâzgasht in 19th Century India,” International Iranian Studies Conference, Montreal, Canada, August 2014.
Conferences Organized
- Interrogating Change: Central Asia between Timelessness and Mutability. October 17, 2014. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Co-organizer)
- The Wide World of Persian: Connections and Contestations. May 2-3, 2014. Library of Congress, Washington DC and Roshan Institute for Persian Studies, College Park Maryland.
Memberships
Association for Iranian Studies (AIS)
The Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS)
Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
