2020 Election

Having read the role description, responsibilities and person specification, I am confident that I will make a strong candidate for the post. This is because I have several years of research and teaching experience concerning gender and violence within the Iranian context and the diaspora community as well as Sharia Law. I am the Director of Childhood Studies Programmes in the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, and have experience managing a team and taking part in strategic decision making. Additionally, I have experience of organising national and international conferences with my colleagues from the Centre in Gender and Violence Research. I am also the co-editor of the Journal of Gender-Based Violence.

Why this role?
The Centre for Gender and Violence Research is a key international site for teaching and researching gender-based violence. Being a member of the Centre since 2006, I have first-hand experience of exchanging innovative ideas, making impactful decisions and research dissemination events. I believe my knowledge and research experience within the Iranian and Muslim context, Sharia law, and diaspora community will add a new and exciting dimension to the existing expertise of the members of the Council. I will be able to contribute to the strategic decision-making not only to enhance the standards of scholarship of the Association of Iranian Studies further but also, to promote the ethos of the Association concerning the promotion of the free exchange of ideas and freedom of expression.

Research Interest
Having an interest in gender-based violence within the Iranian context and diaspora communities, I have conducted comparative qualitative research on perspectives of Iranian Muslim students in Iran and the UK to gender-based violence, focusing on both, structural violence as well as domestic abuse. Additionally, I have carried out research on the impact of Sharia law on domestic violence court cases in the Iranian judiciary system. Both of these research projects have resulted in peer-reviewed publications. Since then, I have published research papers on rape and sexual violence, theorising the normalisation of rape in Iran. Being the director of Childhood Studies Programmes in the School for Policy Studies, I have a research interest in children’s rights and the discourses of universalism vs. cultural relativism. I am currently writing a research proposal with colleagues, aiming to conduct a comparative research on Iran, Ghana, and the UK looking at Education and Gender-Based Violence.
I have already built a strong network with our international colleagues through a number of research activities, edited book, and joint research papers. The above research, publication, and administration experiences as well as my extended network, can bring a new dimension into the Council and enhance the presence of the Association within the global platform. I will also benefit immensely from my counterparts’ expertise.

With great pleasure I present my candidacy for the AIS Council for your kind consideration.
Despite the many uncertainties of this time, marked by a pandemic to which our academic environments are not immune either, the very broad field of Iranian Studies is constantly growing, thanks to the endless efforts of experienced scholars and younger generations, who develop already consolidated disciplines and combine them with new and promising perspectives. In this context, Iranian Studies are facing different challenges we all must meet together. I conceive of these challenges as opportunities to promote our field and expand its boundaries.
Should I be honoured with being chosen a member of the AIS Council, I will propose our colleagues to discuss, among others, the following common strategies:
Firstly, we must work together to implement the diversity and inclusiveness policy in every activity in which the AIS is involved. As Program and Conference Chair of the Thirteenth Biennial Iranian Studies Conference (AIS 2020) in Salamanca, I have worked hard to apply this policy since the very beginning of its programming, but there is still more we all can do.
Secondly, we must envision how to integrate and profit from the growth and renewed interest in our field. Scholars of related disciplines, and of sometimes tangent topics in different fields, frequently acknowledge the importance of Iranian Studies as a key to fully understanding their areas of research. I am fully convinced of the necessity of attracting those scholars to the AIS membership, and of integrating them into the AIS main events, thus mutually benefiting from a truly multidisciplinary dialogue.
Thirdly, we must try to bridge the transnational gap within the field, and to foster collaboration with colleagues not only belonging to very prestigious academic institutions, but also to universities and research centres all over the world that must do their best, often under unfavorable circumstances. In this regard, we can see the problems of mobility due to the pandemic as a motivating force to establish fruitful, online networks in which researchers from more countries may participate.
Fourthly, AIS openly stands for academic freedom. Should I be chosen a member of the AIS Council, I will definitely contribute to support and implement the functions of the Academic Freedom Task Force (AFTF) of the AIS, and will also be in permanent contact with AIS members concerned with issues of academic freedom, which is, I firmly believe, a core element of the AIS mission.

I am a historian of late antique/early medieval Iran and an active member of the Association, having participated in its conferences and meetings since 2006 and being very interested in its goals and potentials. I hope that my experiences and interests can help further the Association’s plans for its future.
I have witnessed the Association’s growth in the past two decade, its effort in being ever more inclusive, and growing with the demands of time. This has included the name change from ISIS to AIS as a response to the unfortunate rise of the Islamic State, and its timely decision during the current session to take more serious measures in including the disenfranchised voices, most importantly the voices of women scholars. It seems to me that in our currently world, with ever increasing awareness of the rights of BIPOC and structures of power that often rules academia and with which many of us just comply, there is much more work that needs to be done in being more inclusive.
Coming from a pre-modern background, I also witness the need for such changes on an every day basis in my field. While in the early modern and modern fields there has been a much greater awareness of the need to be inclusive, I feel that the same consciousness is often less considered in my field. This is partly due to the prominence of methodologies and approaches that dominate the pre-modern fields. However, I believe that a mission of the Association can be to educate our fellow members in thinking beyond these norms and structures.
As a member of the council, I would like to advocate for a new approach among the members of the Association who are scholars of the ancient and medieval periods. As a council member, I would help create structures within the Association to help the field become more effectively welcoming to women, people of colour, immigrants, and those from disadvantaged background in their activities, panels, and projects. These methods should range from changing rules and regulations to both consider the reality of these fields, as well as expanding the opportunities to create an inclusive environment in which non-traditional methodologies are given their due attention. It can also include encouraging a reconfiguration of the Conference panels to better reflect the subjects which graduate students and other young scholars are in fact researching and to suggest means of curbing the dominance of certain approaches, favouring established structures that contribute to exclusion of scholars, in order to present more inclusive panels. I believe that by initiating such structures within the Association, we can also inspire the emulation of the same ethos within academia at large, and eventually within the institutions of higher education. In this way, the Association can also act as a place for its members to not only be inclusive within the context of the biennial meeting, but also to boost enrollment, training, and promotion of the work of the less represented groups within the larger academic setting.
I hope that alongside the president and other members of the council, I can be part of the much needed and welcomed change within our Association and within the larger academic setting of Iranian Studies.

I am honored to be nominated to the AIS council. I have been a member of the association for over a decade. I joined at the beginning of my Ph.D. program at the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, where I graduated in 2014. Over the years, I have attended every biennial conference and presented at each one. Being an active member of this association has dramatically influenced the way I view scholarship, academic activism, and the importance of academic communities in developing a field of knowledge. I have always tried to be at the AIS community’s service by being on committees, contributing to the journal, and promoting the scholarship and public visibility of the AIS in my institutions and communities.
If elected to the council, I would like to suggest establishing a mentoring mechanism which will benefit Ph.D. students and candidates, and junior scholars in their journey to establishing themselves as scholars of Iranian Studies. I know that I benefitted immensely from such unofficial mentorship. I believe that instituting it can help future generations just as much. I would also like to help bring Iranian Studies scholarship to a closer conversation with the general public. It seems like in the past four decades every year brings more significant challenges, so accordingly, now I believe that our voices should be part of the global conversation about Iran, Iranian history, Iranian culture, Iran’s history and relations with the U.S., Europe, the Arab Middle East, and the Persian Gulf, for example. Our involvement can influence public perceptions and educate audiences we haven’t considered. Creating an outreach database on our website will allow those who seek from the media, scholars who can talk, and inform the public on some issues. An active AIS blog can promote this, as well.

As a member of the Association of Iranian Studies since 2012, I have been highly encouraged by some of the recent initiatives to make our association more inclusive and to renew its commitment to defending academic freedom in the face of attempts to stifle freedom of inquiry and expression.
I was particularly encouraged by the circulation last year of a members’ petition for gender equality and diversity in all AIS events, which resulted in the adoption of a new Diversity and Inclusiveness Policy by the AIS Council. The Council’s recent decision to create a standing Committee for Academic Freedom is another positive step and a clear indication of the importance of these issues. While I share the association’s broad objective of promoting scholarship on Iran at the international level, I am particularly aligned and committed to the aims of these recent initiatives. As a Council member, I would continue to support and champion the meaningful implementation of these efforts as well as advancing further work in support of their goals.
As a member of the AIS’s Academic Freedom Task Force (2019-2020), I was involved in drafting a series of recommendations to the AIS Council for the formation of a new, standing Committee of Academic Freedom. I would value the opportunity to work toward the realization of some of those recommendations by serving on this subcommittee. I would also work to ensure the principles of inclusiveness, diversity and equity are promoted and effectively implemented by the AIS. My previous work on diversity in academic spaces includes serving on the board of the International Faculty Association at Seoul National University, and participating in the drafting of the university’s second annual Diversity Report (2018). I appreciate the responsibility and commitment that would come with serving on the Council; I view this work as a priority and I am prepared to devote the time necessary to attend the meetings, to contribute to the work of oversight and policy development, and to serve on the Council subcommittees.

I’ve been a member of AIS for over 8 years, and it’s been very rewarding to be a part of an organisation that understands the needs of a student (and scholar) of Iranian studies. Its strong sense of community and high academic standard have been essential pillars in my journey as a student. I would like to show my appreciation and contribute to this organisation by using my professional and personal experiences to assist and promote our graduate students body. I am currently a DPhil student at the University of Oxford where I work on the role of the Tudeh Party in British policy during the British–Soviet occupation of Iran during the Second World War. I recently submitted my thesis and will be defending sometime in the future. I did my BA in History at the School of Oriental & African Studies and an MA in Middle East & Mediterranean Studies at King’s College London. I was born and grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Becoming deeply interested in Iran, I decided to pursue modern Iranian history as a passion and a vocation. I learnt to read Persian and continue to improve my reading for sources. Among other pursuits, I am particularly interested in the Iranian Left and their position in international politics. I have contributed to academic journals and to edited books, as well as participated in several conferences. As such, I am well aware of the many pressures a PhD student faces, especially if they want to pursue an academic career afterwards. Due to my own experiences, I am deeply concerned about the issue of mental health among graduate students, and have been a vocal advocate for more peer support and openness about the anxieties and stresses that face any PhD or Masters student. 2020 has been an eventful year to say the least. With the Covid-19 pandemic and the great waves of protests surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, it has become necessary to make active stands for our scholarly community to make it more inclusive, open and engaged. I am keen to start conversations around such issues and would like to create virtual spaces for students to contribute and have their say. As a dedicated and experienced graduate student, I will work hard to ensure frankness, transparency and awareness are ensured.

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Washington, where I am writing my dissertation, “Marriage across the ‘Color’ Spectrum: Making Commitment Palatable in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Using ethnographic research methods, I examine white marriage in contemporary Iran through the framework of the relationship between state, law, and society. I hold an M.A. from CSU Long Beach and a B.A. from UC Irvine, both in Anthropology. At the UW, I have volunteered at various community events hosted by the Persian Studies Program. While at CSULB, organized and participated in panels on a range of disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities. At UC Irvine, as Cultural Chair of the revamped Iranian Student Group, I worked closely with the newly established Persian Studies Center to promote student involvement and participation in the center’s campus events. I also helped establish the foundations and framework for annual Iranian culture shows. As an interdisciplinary junior scholar in the diaspora and an ethnographer of Iran, I am committed to working toward increased visibility of Iranian Studies at academic institutions. If elected to the AIS council, I will propose social and academic activities and events that excite and engage undergraduate students. Furthermore, as I know that many of my peers struggle with establishing connections with scholars that have shared research interests, I will offer organizing networks of scholars according to discipline or sub-fields/section of study to facilitate network-building for junior scholars. Finally, if elected to AIS, I will strategize ways to bridge the conversation between scholars who conduct research in the diaspora and those that conduct research in Iran, as this dialogue is critical to moving Iranian Studies debates forward.

I am a “student.” I am a student who experienced 14 years of holding this title at the university level while several other titles came and went, ranging from Lecturer and Visiting Scholar to Visiting Professor. I am a student who enjoys being a student and can represent this title for a canonical association of his area of study.
In 2020, I received my Ph.D. in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Tehran and started my second Ph.D. in Islamic Studies at McGill University. In 2017, I joined Yale University as a visiting scholar at the Department of Religious Studies. During my stay at Yale, until 2019, I made several contributions to the projects on Iranian Studies. These include, but are not limited to, organizing a multi-session workshop in Persian Calligraphy at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization (NELC), contributing to Ghani Collection for Yale Iranian History Internet Archive (YIHA), serving as a Teaching Fellow for NELC, and holding individual tutoring sessions for Ph.D. students in the Department of History of Art. During my graduate journey at the University of Tehran, I had the privilege of teaching as a Lecturer and Visiting Professor in Persian Literature for three years, leading undergraduate courses on Iran’s literature and history. In 2015, I was honored to join the Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Farhangistan-i Zaban va Adab-i Farsi), one of Iran’s most prestigious institutes for Iranian Studies.
I have learned, taught, worked, and lived in both Iranian and Western academia in recent years. I have always been keen to strengthen the pillars of the bridge between these two environments, and joining the AIS council would enable me to do so. Iranian and Western academia need to be associated, and the Association of Iranian Studies has been crucial in linking them in the past years. I have experienced various difficulties trying to bring these two ends of the spectrum together. I have also faced many obstacles on my route between them and am eager to bring my experiences to the AIS council. I am closely connected with the students and young scholars and artists inside Iran and am excited to attract them to AIS and to expand AIS network to broader communities.
I have studied in different scholarship fields, from Civil Engineering to Persian Literature and Islamic Studies, and have always been intrigued in interdisciplinary research. AIS biannual meetings bring together a wide range of students and scholars whose studies are centered on Iran and the Persianate world. I believe I can represent students and scholars from diverse areas of interest and speak on their current interests, needs, and professional orientations. My experience and education equipped me with the skills essential to developing creative solutions to face potential obstacles, especially in this challenging time.