Iranian-American Author/Scholar

NYS Writers Institute, March 2, 2007
4:15 p.m. Discussion on Iranian culture and politics | Science Library
Room 340, UAlbany uptown Campus

7:00 p.m. Film Screening and commentary on "Divine Intervention" | Page Hall, 135 Western Ave., UAlbany Downtown Campus

PROFILE:
Hamid Dabashi, Iranian-American scholar, is a major academic authority on Islam and Middle Eastern culture. He has been hailed as "a leading light in Iranian studies" by "The Chronicle of Higher Education."

His newest book is "Iran: A People Interrupted" (2007), a one-volume analysis of Iranian history over the course of the last two centuries. Among its many topics, the book features lucid discussions of the presidency of Ahmedinejad and his current showdown with the United States, as well as the rise of Iran as a major regional power in the Middle East, the Salman Rushdie Affair, the Iran-Iraq War, the Islamic Revolution, the U.S. hostage crisis of 1979, the role of Iran during the Cold War, and the tyrannical pro-Western regime of Shah Reza Pahlevi.

Dabashi is also the author of the new book, "Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema" (2007), a survey of twelve major Iranian filmmakers of the past half century.

He explains how--despite the censorship of both the Pahlavi monarchy and the Khomeini Islamic Republic--the creativity of these filmmakers has succeeded in capturing critical acclaim worldwide.

Dabashi is also editor of the essay anthology, "Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema" (2006), the most comprehensive book on that subject in any language. The essays explore the first 25 years of Palestinian filmmaking, with an emphasis on the intersections of nationalism and artistic expression.

Other influential books by Dabashi include "Authority in Islam: From the Rise of Muhammad to the Establishment of the Umayyads" (1989), "Expectation of the Millennium: Shi'ism in History" (1989), "Close-up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, Future" (2001), and "Theology of Discontent: the Ideological Foundation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran" (2005).

Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is also the founder of Dreams of a Nation: A Palestinian Film Project, which sponsors a festival currently held at Lincoln Center in New York City.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.