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Standing Faculty

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet

Associate Professor of History

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead Scholar. She completed her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in history at Yale University. Her book, Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 (Princeton University Press, 1999) discusses Iranian nationalism and analyzes the significance of land and border disputes, with attention to Iran 's shared boundaries with the Ottoman Empire (later Iraq and Turkey), Central Asia, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf region. Her book is being translated into Persian by Kitabsara Press, Tehran, Iran.

Professor Kashani-Sabet teaches courses on various aspects of modern Middle Eastern history, including ethnic and political conflicts, gender and women's issues, popular culture, diplomatic history, revolutionary ideologies, and general surveys. She is finishing a book entitled, Conceiving Citizens: Women, Sexuality, and Religion in Modern Iran (forthcoming, Oxford University Press, 2010) She is also completing a book on America 's historical relationship with Iran and the Islamic world entitled, The Making of the 'Great Satan': A History of US - Iranian Relations (under contract with Princeton University Press). In addition to her academic work, Professor Kashani-Sabet has written several fictional pieces. Her first novel, Martyrdom Street , will be published by Syracuse University Press in 2010.

Dr. Kashani-Sabet has directed the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006. She is a member of the Association of Iranian American Writers.

For media inquiries, please contact the Office of University Communications:
Ms. Jacqueline Posey
215-898-6460
jposey@pobox.upenn.edu

Persian Sample Chapter of Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 (PDF)

"New Horizons: Commentaries on Modern Iran" Working Paper Series

Selected Academic Articles

  • "The Politics of Reproduction: Maternalism and Women's Hygiene in Iran, 1896-1941," International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES), February 2006. Nominated by IJMES for the Berkshire Article Prize.

    • "The Politics of Reproduction: Maternalism and Women's Hygiene in Iran, 1896-1941" (PDF)

  • "Hallmarks of Humanism: Hygiene and Love of Homeland in Qajar Iran," American Historical Review, October 2000.
  • "Picturing the Homeland: Nationalism and the Geographic Discipline in Iran," Journal of Historical Geography, October 1998. Translated into Persian as "Jughrafiya-yi Vatan," Guftugu (Tehran, Iran), 1999.
  • "Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran," International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES), May 1997.

    • "Fragile Frontiers: The Dimishing Domains of Qajar Iran" (PDF)

  • "The Frontier Phenomenon: Perceptions of the Land in Iranian Nationalism," Critique: Journal for Critical Studies of the Middle East , Spring 1997.

OP-Ed Piece

  • "Iran, Syria Turn Wary Eye Toward Borders: Historic Links to Iraq Drive National Interests," Newsday, April 13, 2003.

Fiction

  • "Martyrdom Street," in A World Between: Poems, Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans, (M. Khorrami & P. Karim, Editors), New York, 1999
  • "The Sandcastle," in Let me Tell You Where I’ve Been, edited by P. Karim (2006)

Selected Presentations and Conferences

  • "Iranian Identity and Borderlands," Iran Today Conference, Rutgers University, April 2008
  • "American Crosses, Persian Crescents: Religion and the Diplomacy of US-Iranian Relations," Columbia University Iranian Studies Seminar, February 2008
  • "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," Panel on Disability History, January 2008, AHA Conference
  • "Inside the Looking Glass: An Overview of U.S.-Iranian Relations, 1893-1979," Fall 2004, University of Pennsylvania, Middle East Center
  • "Giving Birth: Women, Nursing, and Sexual Hygiene in Iran." Paper presented at the Biennial Conference of Iranian Studies, Bethesda, MD, May 2002. (Published as “Politics of Reproduction, February 2006).
  • "Patriotic Womanhood: The Culture of Feminism in Modern Iran." Paper presented at the Biennial Conference of Iranian Studies, May 2000. (Published in May 2005 in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies).

Programs Organized

  • Women and Islamic Law Speaker Series, University of Pennsylvania, Founder
  • Commemorating the Constitution, 1906-2006: State Building & Global Responses to Iranian Constitutionalism, University of Pennsylvania, March 2006
  • Borders, Battles, and Cultural Bonds: A Historical and Political Perspective on (Persian) Gulf Societies, University of Pennsylvania, October 2005
  • Symposium on Disability in the Middle East: University of Pennsylvania , November 2006
  • Symposium on Ottoman-Iranian Relations: University of Pennsylvania , April 2008

Research Interests

  • Frontier history of Iran & its borderlands
  • Nationalism, ethnicity, and state formation
  • Ottoman-Iranian relations; Iranian-Afghan relations
  • Social history of hygiene
  • Women's and gender history
  • US-Islamic relations

Courses Taught (As Schedule Allows)

For current course listings, consult the Course Directory.

Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946