Category: All Events

Iranian Literature in Exile, Kader Abdolah, Apr 11, 2010

Kader Abdolah, the pen name of Hossein Sadjadi Ghaemmaghami, is the great-great-grandson of Qhaem Megham Ferahani. From early age he was interested in literature and read western literature very widly. As a physics student in Tehran, he joined an underground left-wing political party that first rebelled against the Shah and later against the Islamic Republic. Besides writing for periodicals, he published two collections of stories under the pseudonym ‘Kader Abdolah’, the first names of two of his friends from the opposition who had been murdered. After being forced to flee Iran, he took up residence in the Netherlands in 1988. He studied Dutch at Utrecht University and in 1993 published De adelaars (The Eagles). In 2000, he published the autobiographical novel Spijkerschrift (translated into 13 languages, including in English by Susan Massotty as My Father’s Notebook). In 2006, he discussed the impact of Islamic fundamentalism on the daily life of a tradition-conscious family in his novel Het huis van de moskee (The House of the Mosque).

In Memory of the Victims of the1988

“Berkeley Lecture Series” Presents: Mehdi Aslani will be talking about his new book, “Kalagh va Gole Sorkh”, a Performance by Shirin Mehrbod, (www.shirinmusic.ca) and Screening of a Short Movie In Memory of the Victims of the1988 Mass Killing of Political Prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran. For more information,…

Iranian Poetry, Dance and Art from a Historical, Sociological and Political Perspective, Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam, Sep 13, 2009

Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam is an Iranian modern dancer trained and based in Paris. A graduate in History of Art and Theatre from the University of Paris 8, he is choreographer, actor, and director. He has danced in Seven Pavilions of Love, Sohrab and Gordafarid, and Khosrow and Shirin. In addition, he is the founder and artistic director of Nakissa Art Company. http://www.shahrokh-nakissa.com/

· Sahar Dehghan has been studying Indian classical drama and dance under the great Kathak Master Pandit Chitresh Das, in India and in the U.S. She has also been a principal dancer of Ballet Afsaneh. She is currently based in Paris, working with Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam and Nakissa and is studying the philosophy and poetry of Hafez. www. sahardh.com.

Grassroots Diplomacy: My Trip to Iran and What We Can Do to Promote Peace

“Berkeley Lecture Series” in partnership with “Iranian Student Alliance in America – ISAA” Present: · Rebecca Griffin, Political Director for Peace Action West Topic: “Grassroots Diplomacy: My Trip to Iran and What We Can Do to Promote Peace” Date: Sunday, August 2, 2009 Time: 4:00 P.M. Place: 110 Barrows Hall…

Iran’s Tenth Presidential Election, Majid Tavallaei, Jul 12, 2009

Majid Tavallaei has been active in several social-political journals in Iran. He was on the editorial board of the “Daricheh Goftegoo” (1990-92) and political editor of journal “Iran-é-Farda” (1992-99). Both journals are now banned.

Mr. Tavallaei held a position of managing director of Nameh Research and Information Institute, which aims to provide novel approaches to achieving non-violent transitions for a democratic Iran. As the editor-in-chief of the monthly journal, “Naameh”, which the Islamic Republic has banned, he has contributed over 40 articles on pertinent social-political issues.

Eminent Persians The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979

Dr. Abbas Milani is the director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University. He is the author of The Persian Sphinx: Amir Abbas Hoveyda and the Riddle of the Iranian Revolution, Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran, Encounters with Modernity, On Democracy and Socialism, and Tales of two Cities: a Persian Memoir.

From Bush Junior to Barack Obama

Dr. Bina is the author of The Economics of the Oil Crisis (1985), co-editor of Modern Capitalism and Islamic Ideology in Iran (1992) and Beyond Survival: Wage labor in the Late Twentieth Century (1996). He also has written extensively on the issues surrounding the Middle East conflicts, the political economy of Iran, and political Islam, including the nationalization of oil (1951) and Constitutional Revolution (1906-1911) in Iran.

The Qisas laws of Iran in action Shahla Jahed’s false murder criminal proceedings.

Deljou Abadi is the founder and director of the US based Iranian Refugees’ Alliance, Inc. In addition to researching and authoring reports and articles on the conditions of Iranian refugees, she has done legal refugee casework for numerous individuals before national tribunals and represented many before the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Court of Human Rights. Since 1995, she has also maintained a Documentation Center (IRADC) on human rights conditions in Iran.

Discussion on the Historical Election

Ross Mirkarimi was born in Chicago in 1961 to an Iranian father, Hamid Mirkarimi, and a Russian-American mother, Nancy Kolman.

Ross grew up in a climate where stuffing envelopes and protesting was another form of family recreation. His mother, an anti-war, pro-union labor, feminist activist, worked for the State of Rhode Island for 30 years, seventeen as the Deputy Director for the Rhode Island Commission of Human Rights.

In the late 1980s, Ross spent time with the German Green Party in Bonn as they ascended to power in Parliament. He returned motivated into kick-starting the California Green Party.

Ross took a leave of absence from the D.A.’s office in mid-2004 to run for his first elected office. In a field of 22 candidates, he won the race to become Supervisor of District 5. Since taking office in January 2005, every month on the third Friday, Ross has faithfully hosted an art reception for a local artist.

Challenging Cultural Barriers with Fereydoon Farokhzad, Mirza Agha Asgari (Mani), Jul 13, 2008

ﻣﻴﺮﺯﺍﺁﻗﺎﻋﺴگري(ﻣﺎﻧﻰ) ﺩﺭ ﺳﺎﻝ ۱۳۳۰ در ﺍﺳﺪﺁﺑﺎﺩِﻫﻤﺪﺍﻥ ﺯﺍﺩﻩ ﺷﺪ. ﺁﻓﺮﻳﻨﺶ ﺍﺩﺑﻰ ﺭﺍ ﺩﺭ ﻧﻮﺟﻮﺍﻧﻰ ﺁﻏﺎﺯ ﻛﺮﺩ. ﺁﺛﺎﺭﺵ ﺩﺭ ﻧﺸﺮﻳﺎﺕ ﻭﻗﺖ ﺑﺎﺯﺗﺎﺏ ﻳﺎﻓﺘﻨﺪ.ﻧﺨﺴﺘﻴﻦ ﻛﺘﺎﺏ ﺷﻌﺮﺵ با ﻧﺎﻡ ﻓﺮﺩﺍ ﺍﻭﻟﻴﻦ ﺭﻭﺯ ﺩﻧﻴﺎﺳﺖ ﺩﺭ ۱۳۵۴ﻣﻨﺘﺸﺮ ﺷﺪ ﻭ ﺗﺎﻛﻨﻮﻥ ۴۰ ﺟﻠﺪ ﺍﺯ ﺁﺛﺎﺭﺵ ﺑﻪ ﭼﺎﭖ ﺭﺳﻴﺪه‌اﻧﺪ. ﻣﺎﻧﻰ ﻧﻘﺪ ﺍﺩﺑﻰ ﻭ ﺩﺍﺳﺘﺎﻥ ﻫﻢ ﻣﻰﻧﻮﻳﺴﺪ. ﺑﺮﺍى　ﻛﻮﺩﻛﺎﻥ ﻧﻴﺰ ﺷﻌﺮ ﻭ ﺩﺍﺳﺘﺎﻥ ﻣﻰﺁﻓﺮﻳﻨﺪ. ﻋﺴگرى　ﺩﺭ ﭘﺎﻳﻴﺰ ۱۳۶۳ درﺁﻟﻤﺎﻥ مقيم شد ﻭ ﺗﺎﻛﻨﻮﻥ ﺩﺭﺁﻥ ﻛﺸﻮﺭ ﺯﻧﺪﮔﻰ ﻣﻰﻛﻨﺪ. ﺩﺭ ﺍﻳﻦ ﻣﺪﺕ ﺁﻓﺮﻳﺪه‌هاى　ﺍﻭ ﺑﻪ ﺯﺑﺎﻥ ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻰ ﻭ ﺑﺮﺧﻰ ﺯبان‌هاى　ﺩﻳﮕﺮ ﻣﻨﺘﺸﺮ ﺷﺪﻩ ﻭ ﻫﻤﺰﻣﺎﻥ، ﺑﺮﺧﻰ ﺍﺯ ﺍﺷﻌﺎﺭ ﻭ ﻧﻮﺷﺘﻪﻫﺎﻳﺶ ﺩﺭ ﺍﻳﺮﺍﻥ ﻧﺸﺮ ﻳﺎﻓﺘﻪﺍﻧﺪ. ﺍﺯ ﺍﻭ ﺗﺎﻛﻨﻮﻥ ﻳﻚ ﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﻪ ﺷﻌﺮ ﻭ ﻧﺜﺮ ﺑﻨﺎﻡ « ﺳﻨﻔﻮﻧﻰ ﺍﻳﺮﺍﻧﻰ » ﺑﻪ ﺁﻟﻤﺎﻧﻰ، ﻭ ﺩﺍﺳﺘﺎﻥ « ﺳﺮﺯﻣﻴﻦ ﻫﻤﻴﺸﻪ ﺑﻬﺎﺭ » ﺑﺮﺍى　ﻛﻮﺩﻛﺎﻥ ﺑﻪ ﺩﺍﻧﻤﺎﺭﻛﻰ ﻧﺸﺮ ﻳﺎﻓﺘﻪ ﺍﺳﺖ. ﻏﻴﺮ ﺍﺯ ﺍﻳﻦ، ﺑﺮﺧﻰ ﺍﺯ ﺳﺮﻭﺩه‌ها ﻭ ﻧﻮﺷﺘﻪﻫﺎى　ﺍﻭ ﺑﻪ ﻃﻮﺭ ﭘﺮﺍﻛﻨﺪﻩ ﺑﻪ ﺯﺑﺎن‌هاى　ﺍﻧﮕﻠﻴﺴﻰ، ﺳﻮﺋﺪى، ﮊﺍﭘﻨﻰ ﻭ ﻧﺮﻭﮊى　ﭼﺎﭖ ﺷﺪه‌اﻧﺪ. مانى　از سال ۱۳۶۷ وقت خود را ‌يکسره به فعاليت‌هاى　مستقل اد‌‌بى　‌و فرهنگى　اختصاص داد. او بنيانگذار و سردبير ماهنامه‌ى　الکترونيکى　« ادبيات و فرهنگ »- وعضو اتحاديه نويسندگان آلمان است.

Politics in Contemporary Art and Literature in Iran

MANSOUR KOUSHAN author, playwright, journalist, and director of films and plays is the artistic manager of the Sulberg Theatre in Stavanger, Norway. He has published poetry, short stories, several novels, hundreds of analytical essays and more than thirty plays.

Born in Isfahan, Iran, Mansour started his literary activities in 1968 by publishing a collection of his poetry and directing his play at Isfahan University. As a member of the Iranian Writers Association general assembly, he was on the organizing committee for the famous “134 Iranian writers declaration 1994”.

Mansour Koushan has been the editor in chief of four independent literary publications including “Takapoo” and “Adineh” between 1987 and 1997. He currently lives in Norway.

THEORY OF SURVIVAL, Artist in Residency

Berkeley Lecture Series in conjunction with Taraneh Hemami’s exhibition of THEORY OF SURVIVAL Artist in Residency at the LAB presents: A gathering to view and discuss the archival material, primarily of Iranian Student movement from 1960-1982. This has been a very interesting exhibition of letters, documents, leaflets, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines…

Survival Trough Dispossession: Privatization of Public Goods in the Islamic Republic

Kaveh Ehsani is Research Scholar at the University of Illinois in Chicago and a fellow of ISIM at the University of Leiden. He is an editor of the Goftogu Quarterly in Iran and of Middle East Report (Merip) in Washington DC. Currently he is completing a book titled Oil and Society; the Refinery City of Abadan and Urban Modernity in 20th Century Iran (Brill Publishers). His recent publications include “The Urban Provincial Periphery in Iran” in Contemporary Iran, Ali Gheissari ed.; “The Political Structure of US and the Threats to Iranian National Interests” in Goftogu; “The Populist Threat to Democracy” MER; “Rural Society and Agrarian Development in Iran after the revolution” in Critique.

Public Forum About Berkeley Lecture Series, Jan 27, 2008

Come see & hear everything you want to know about BLS. We would very much appreciate your input. Your participation is essential in our journey. A 15 minutes clip of previous speakers and presentations will be shown. Looking forward to a spirited discussion.

The Rise and Fall of Iranian Social Classes in the Post-Revolutionary Iran, Sohrab Behdad, Jan 12, 2008

Sohrab Behdad, born in Iran , received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University . Dr. Behdad was a member of the Faculty of Economics of Tehran University from 1973 to 1983 when he left Iran . He has written several articles and books. Among his recent publications in English are Workers, Peasants and Bureaucrats: Class Nature of the Iranian Work Force; Islam and Public Policy; and Iran after the Revolutions: Crisis of an Islamic State.

Human Rights and Democracy in Iran, Ladan Boroumand, Dec 9, 2007

Ladan Boroumand, a former visiting fellow at the International Forum for Democratic Studies, studied history at Ecole des Hautes Etudes En Sciences Sociales in Paris with Claude Lefort, Mona Ozouf, and François Furet. She is the author of la Guerre des Principes (1999), and has written or co-written several articles on the French Revolution, the Islamic revolution of Iran, and the nature of Islamist terrorism.

The Image of the Jew in Persian Literature, Jaleh Pirnazar, Oct 21, 2007

Dr. Jaleh Pirnazar received her PhD from UC Berkeley with a dissertation on “Iran’s Political Parties and Organizations in the First Half of the Twentieth Century”. She teaches Persian Language and Literature and Iranian Cinema at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Pirnazar has taught at UC Berkeley for over twenty years now. Over the years, her published research articles and papers presented in International conferences, and discussions conducted in Language teaching Pedagogy, which were presented both in Persian and English, have focused on her interests in the areas of Persian Literature, Teaching Persian to Iranian-Americans, the Iranian Cinema, and Religious Minorities in Iran.

Will the US attack Iran?, Reese Erlich, Sep 30, 2007

Erlich has reported from Iran and Iraq five times. Based on his first-hand reporting from the Middle East for over 20 years, Erlich explains what went wrong with the Iraq war and how the US is making similar mistakes with Iran. . He traces the troubled history between US and Iran that has led to the current showdown over nuclear technology, and he reports from Iran and northern Iraq to uncover details of how the U.S. has funded ethnic minorities to carry out guerrilla raids and terrorist bombings inside Iran. Erlich’s book The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of US Policy and the Middle East Crisis, has just been published.

In his previous book, the best-selling Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You, (co-authored by Norman Solomon, and with contributions from Howard Zinn and Sean Penn) Erlich presciently exposed the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or Al Qaeda ties to Saddam Hussein. He showed how the U.S. media failed to report the full spectrum of facts to the public.

He is the winner of a 2006 Peabody Award for his work as a segment producer on Crossing East: Our History, Our Stories, Our America, aired on Public Radio International. As a Celebration of Investigative Journalism, the City of Oakland Proclaims October 2, 2007 “Reese Erlich Day”

The Mad Lover: the ‘Romance’ of Layli and Majnun, Jullie Meisami, Aug 26, 2007

Dr. Julie Meisami recived her PH. D. in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley in 1971. She has taught at University of Tehran, Oxford University and Agha Khan Fellow in Islamic Art, Harvard University. Dr. Meisami is the author of “Medieval Persian Court Poetry” (Princeton UP, 1987), “Verse translation of Nizami Ganjavi’s Haft Paykar” (Oxford University Press, 1995), “Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature” [ed. with Paul Starkey] (London, Routledge, 1998), “Persian Historiography to the End of the Twelfth Century” (Edinburgh UP, 1999), “Structure and Meaning in Medieval Arabic and Persian Poetry” (London, Routledge Curzon, 2003), among others.
Dr. Meisami is currently working on relations between texts/poetry/images (especially involving Majnun).

A Panel Discussion on the Challenge Facing Iranian Human Rights Advocates in Diaspora, M Kar, K Lahiji, M Farhang, F Pourabdolah, June 24, 2007

In recent decades individual and dispersed groups of Iranians living abroad have been active in protesting human rights violations in their homeland, but they have not been successful in creating a democratically constituted, inclusive and non-partisan advocacy organization. The purpose of this gathering is to generate a lucid conversation about the causes of our failure and explore the ways in which we can overcome the impediments to the necessity of reaching this goal.

The Labyrinth of Iranian Modernity, with references to his latest book, Hundred Years of Entanglement with Modernity, Daryoush Homayoun, June 8, 2007

Daryoush Homayoun is an Iranian journalist, author, intellectual, and politician. He was the Minister of Information and Tourism in the cabinet of Jamshid Amouzegar, founder of the daily newspaper Ayandegan, and one-time high-ranking member of the Rastakhiz party. In exile he became one of the founders of the Constitutionalist Party of Iran. He was famous for his analytical writings and largely impartial assessment of history. His outspoken manner, criticizing the Islamic Republic with harsh tones, but also directing his criticism at the Pahlavi policies, earned him respect of many, while at the same time creating many enemies. He was one of the most influential Iranian opposition leaders in exile.

A presentation by Nader Takmil Homayoun, followed by the screening of the documentary film “Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution”, May 1, 2007

Nader Takmil Homayoun was born in Paris and studied filmmaking in France at l’École Nationale Supéneure des Metiers de l’Image et du son (FEMIS). He has directed several short films including Cache-cache (1995), Autour de Mortin (1997), Les Fleurs de l’Algérien (1998) and C’est pour bientôt (2000). Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution (2006) is his first feature-length documentary.

Women’s Movement and it’s Relation to Broader Social Movements, Elahe Amani, April 22, 2007

Elahe Amani is a gender, peace and social justice activist. She has served as chair of the Coalition of Women from Asia and the Middle East and a board member of the Women’s Intercultural Network (WIN). In 2001, was honored by Soroptimist International of Westminster as one of it’s Women of Distinction for her efforts on behalf of the human rights status of women.

Ms. Amani has also taught in the Women Studies Program at the California State University (CSU), Long Beach and Fullerton. Currently, she is the chair of the Coalition of Women from Asia and the Middle East, serves on the Board of Women Intercultural Network, is an Orange County Representative of the California Women’s Agenda (CAWA) and on the Advisory Board of the Women Center at CSU, Long Beach and on the Advisory Board of “Stop Stoning Forever Campaign”.

Story Reading followed by a Talk and Discussion on Censorship in Iranian Literature, Shahryar Mandanipour, Feb 1, 2007

Shahryar Mandanipour is the chief editor of Asr-e Pandjshanbeh (Thursday Evening), a monthly literary journal published in Shiraz. He won the Mehregan Award for the best Iranian children’s novel of 2004 and the Golden Tablet Award in 1998 for best fiction of the past 20 years in Iran. His fiction includes the novels Ultramarine Blue; Violet Orient; The Courage of Love; Midday Moon; Mummy and Honey; The Eighth Day of the Earth; and The Shadows of the Cave, as well as the children’s books One Thousand and One Year and The Secret.

Reflections on Dualistic Thought in the Ancient World, Shahrnush Parsipur, Jan 1, 2007

Shahrnush Parsipur began a literary career in 1974 with the publication of the novel “The Dog and the Long Winter”. She has since published several more works of fiction, including the acclaimed novels “Tuba and the Meaning of Night” and “Women without Men”. Her work has been translated into several languages including English, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, French, Malayalam among others.

Shahrnush’s other titles include, “Prison Memoir”, based on her memories of jail, and the philosophical novel “Aqle Abi” (The Blue Reason, 1989), which was published in the US and Sweden, but never in Iran. She is also the author of what might be Iran’s first science fiction novel, “Shiva Bar Baaleh Badd Neshestan” (On the Wings of Wind); and two short story collections. Shahrnush has also published widely as a critic and essayist.

In recent years, Parsipurr has held several writing seminars in US. She is the recipient of the first International Writers Project Fellowship from the Program in Creative Writing and the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. She is also the recipient of the Lillian Hellman/Dashell-Hammet award.

She currently lives in the United States of America as a political refugee.

Passionate Uprisings: The Intersection of Sexuality and Politics in Post-Revolutionary Iran, Pardis Mahdavi, Nov 5, 2006

Dr. Pardis Mahdavi is a trained medical anthropologist with a special interest in socio-cultural aspects of health and healing, gender, sexuality, and advocacy within anthropology. Her dissertation was on the intersection of sexuality and politics in post-revolutionary Iran, and is now in process of becoming a book entitled Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution. She has done research in Iran, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Egypt and New York City. She has worked on projects involving questions of sexual rights and human rights, assisted reproductive technologies and emerging reproductive health changes, and a project on burlesque artists in New York City.

The Crisis of Democracy in Iran and the Heritage of the Constitutional Revolution, Janet Afary, Sep 10, 2006

Dr. Janet Afary received her M.A. from the Department of Literature of Tehran University and her Ph.D. in Modern Middle East History from the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor . She is an Associate Professor of History and Women’s Studies at Purdue University . Dr. Afary is author of The Iranian Constitutional Revolution: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy, and the Origins of Feminism (N. Y.: Columbia UP, 1996), which was also translated and published in Iran (Bisotoun, 2000) and co-author of Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism (University of Chicago Press, 2005). She was awarded year-long fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Council for Learned Societies (ACLS). She is currently President of the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS-MESA, 2004-2006). She was also past-president of the Coordinating Council for Women in History of the American Historical Association (CCWH-AHA) and President of the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies (AMEWS-MESA, 2004-2005)