scholarship
I am a scholar of Classical and Medieval Persian literature, with a focus on poetry written between the 14th and 16th centuries in the city of Herat. Herat is situated in present-day Afghanistan. During the Middle Ages, this city was the foremost cultural, intellectual, and economical hub of Greater Khorasan, attracting artists and scholars, poets and philosophers under the powerful Turco-Mongol Persianate rulers of the Timurid dynasty. The city of Herat was home to the poet-mystic Jami, who died in 1492. He wrote the Persian narrative-poem called Salaman and Absal, which came to puzzle scholars, philosophers and mystics—for the story is about an unusual love affair that develops between a young prince, Salaman, and his wet-nurse, Absal. In their verses, medieval Persian poets like Jami integrated two traditions, Neoplatonism and Sufism. This is where I dare to understand and study their verses as Persian Renaissance poetry.
My PhD dissertation, Poetry and Poetics: the Sufi Eye and the Neoplatonic Vision in Jāmī’s Salāmān va Absāl, examined Jami’s mystical (Sufi) teachings and the use of his Neoplatonic philosophical learnings in his narrative-poem of Salaman and Absal. Originally a Greek tale, the story of Salaman and Absal was used by Arabic-speaking philosophers until Jami became the first Persian poet to tell this provocative story as a mystical allegory with its important philosophical underpinnings.
Currently, I am the Carmen Blacker Research Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge University. In 2020-2021, I was a Replacement Lecturer in Persian Studies, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Cambridge University, teaching “MES15: Intermediate Literary Persian”. In the same year, I did Supervision for MES 32: Advanced Persian Language and MES 12: Intermediate Persian Language. In Summer 2017 and 2019, I taught Persian Literature and Language as a Private Tutor for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, Cambridge University.
My PhD dissertation, Poetry and Poetics: the Sufi Eye and the Neoplatonic Vision in Jāmī’s Salāmān va Absāl, examined Jami’s mystical (Sufi) teachings and the use of his Neoplatonic philosophical learnings in his narrative-poem of Salaman and Absal. Originally a Greek tale, the story of Salaman and Absal was used by Arabic-speaking philosophers until Jami became the first Persian poet to tell this provocative story as a mystical allegory with its important philosophical underpinnings.
Currently, I am the Carmen Blacker Research Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge University. In 2020-2021, I was a Replacement Lecturer in Persian Studies, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Cambridge University, teaching “MES15: Intermediate Literary Persian”. In the same year, I did Supervision for MES 32: Advanced Persian Language and MES 12: Intermediate Persian Language. In Summer 2017 and 2019, I taught Persian Literature and Language as a Private Tutor for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, Cambridge University.
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Peer Reviewed Published Works
Jami’s Rhetoric of Old Age and Aging in Salaman va Absal, April 2022, AFGHANISTAN journal. |
Lectures
“Classics at the Edges”, MPhil Seminar in Classics Department, Cambridge University, 2020.
“Rumi and His Poems”, Intermediate Persian Literature, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Michaelmas and Lent terms, Cambridge University. “The Poetry in Scholarship,” Graduate Seminar, Trinity College, Cambridge University, November 2020. “Poetry and Reminiscences,” Trinity Forum, Trinity College, Cambridge University, December 2019. “In Celebration of Eid al-Fitr,” An Introduction to the Quran manuscripts and Persian Poetry at the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge University, June 5, 2019. “Salāmān u Absāl: A Persian Romance,” Graduate Lunch Seminar, Trinity College, Cambridge University, March 11, 2019. “Love at First Sight: Medieval Persian Poetry and Poetics,” Trinity Forum, Trinity College, Cambridge University, March 6, 2019. “3 Faiths: Islamic Artifacts in the Wren Library,” Trinity College, Cambridge University, Oct 17, 2018. |
Conference Papers
[CONFERENCE]
Afghanistan Imagined by Afghans: Hiwaraat Conference Series AFGHANISTAN REGIONAL SYMPOSIUM: CONFRONTING THE IMPASSE: NOV 10-11, Doha, QATAR cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/afghanistan/ August, 2022 Association for Iranian Studies (AIS)] August 31st, 2022 The Problem of Myth [Translation]: The Case of Jami’s Salaman and Absal Aug 22-Sep 04, 2020. “Jami’s Reflection on Old Age and Aging in Salāmān va Absāl,” Association of Iranian Studies, Virtual Workshop. Scotland. April 13-14, 2019. “The Role Played by Absāl in Jāmī’s Salāmān va Absāl,” Symposia Iranica, University of St. Andrews, November 2017. “Jami's Poetics of Vision and Poetry of the Eye in Salāmān va Absāl,” PAMLA Conference, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A, |
