Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet

Robert I. Williams Term Professor of History

History

fks@sas.upenn.edu

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.

Education:

Ph.D. Yale University
M.Phil. Yale University
B.A. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Languages:

Arabic (Intermediate), Farsi, French, Ottoman Turkish (Intermediate), Spanish (Intermediate), German (Intermediate), Italian (Intermediate), Russian (Elementary), Turkish (Intermediate)

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
  • Reproductive Health and history of science
  • US-Islamic relations
Overseas Research Experience:

Iran, Turkey, UK

Recent Publications:
  • "Freedom Springs Eternal," published in the International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 44 pp.156-158. Click here to read.
  • Book Review: Women in the Middle East: Past and Present by Nikki R. Keddie (Princeton 2006) published in The International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 43 Issue 1 pp. 164-166 Click here to read.
  • "The Haves and Have Nots: A Historical Study of Disability in Modern Iran" Iranian Studies Vol. 43 Issue 2 April 2010 (pp. 167-195)
  • Martyrdom Street: A Novel Syracuse University Press, 2010
  • "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.
  • "Hallmarks of Humanism: Hygeine and Love of Homeland in Qajar Iran" American Historical Review (AHR) Vol. 105, No. 4 (October 2000)
  • Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation 1804-1946 Princeton University Press 1999
  • "Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran" IJMES Vol. 29 No. 2 (May 1997)
Courses: