K
ATHRYN BABAYAN

Associate Professor of Iranian History & Culture
Department of Near Eastern Studies
4012 Thayer Academic Building  ·  Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608
(734) 763-1597 ·  fax (734) 936-2679
babayan@umich.edu

 

EDUCATION
1987-93  Ph.D. Princeton University, Islamic History,
Field of Specialization: Ottoman & Safavi History; Sufism & Shi'ism;
Period of Specialization: Late Medieval & Early Modern 1258-1800;
Dissertation Title: The Waning of the Qizilbash: The Temporal and the Spiritual
in Seventeenth-Century Iran
.

1985-87  Princeton University, Islamic History, M.A.

1981-83  Georgetown University, Politics: Modern Middle East, M.A.

1978-81  Wellesley College, Philosophy, B.A.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2001-        University of Michigan: Associate Professor of Iranian History & Culture
(Department of Near Eastern Studies).

1996-2000  University of Michigan: Assistant Professor of Iranian History & Culture
(Department of Near Eastern Studies).

1992-1995  University of North Texas: Assistant Professor of History.

1991-1992  Illinois Institute of Technology, Pre-Doctoral Mellon Teaching
Fellowship.

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
May 2000  Visiting Fellow, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales, Paris, France.

1999-2000  Visiting Fellow, Institute for the Humanities, University of Michigan.

1995-96  Visiting Fellow, Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Vanderbilt University Fellows Program Topic: The Apocalypse: Fin de Siecle Millennium, and other Transitions.

1993  T. Cuyler Young Award for Best Dissertation in Iranian Studies, Princeton University.

1991-2  Illinois Institute of Technology, Pre-Doctoral Mellon Teaching Fellowship.

PUBLICATIONS
Books
Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran, Cambridge: Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs, forthcoming 2002.
     
Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran. Joint monograph with Sussan Babaie, Ina Baghdiantz-McCabe and Massumeh Farhad, London: I.B. Tauris, forthcoming 2002.

Journals
"The Making of a Messiah in Early Modern Iran: Darvish Reza and his Unveiling," forthcoming.
     
"The Safavi Synthesis: From Qizilbash Islam to Imamite Shi'ism," Iranian Studies, Volume 27 (1994), a volume on pre-modern Iran, Said Amir Arjomand (ed.).

Book Chapters
"Astrology and the Culture of Divination in Early Modern Iran," Books of Omen: The Falname, ed. Massumeh Farhad, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Exhibition Catalogue, forthcoming 2005.
     
"The Ever-tempting Return to an Iranian Past in the Islamic Present: Does Lotman's Binarism Help?" Lotman and Cultural Studies: Encounters and Extensions, eds. Amy Mandelker and Andreas Schönle (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2002).

"The 'Aqaid al-Nisa': A Glimpse at Safavi Women in Local Isfahani Culture" Women in the Medieval Islamic World, Gavin Hambly (ed.), St. Martin's Press, 1998.

"Sufis, Darvishes, and Mullas: The Controversy Over Spiritual and Temporal Dominion in 17th centruy Safavi Iran," Safavid Persia, Charles Melville (ed.), I.B. Tauris, 1996.

Encyclopaedia Entries
"Safavid Literature (1400-1700)," Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, forthcoming.
     
"Darvish Reza," Encyclopaedia Iranica.
     
"Martin B. Dickson," Encyclopaedia Iranica, 387.
     
"Eshik Aqasi Bashi," Encyclopaedia Iranica.
     
"Emad al-Din Muhammad Tahir Vahid Qazvini," Encyclopaedia Iranica, 377-378.

"Eunuchs under the Safavi," Encyclopaedia Iranica, 67-68.

"Evoghlu," Encyclopaedia Iranica.
     
"Ghulam,"Encyclopaedia Iranica.

Review Articles
Book review of Colin Turner's Islam Without Allah? The Rise of Religious Externalism in Safavid Iran, Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, forthcoming.
     
Book review of Jamal Elias's The Throne Carrier of God: The Life and Thought of 'Ala' ad-dawla as-Simnani, Journal of American Oriental Society, 1998.

SCHOLARLY AFFILIATIONS
Society for Iranian Studies
Member of the American Historical Association
Member of the Middle East Studies Association
Member of the International Association for the Study of Persian-speaking Societies

LANGUAGES
Persian, Arabic, Turkish, French, Italian, Russian. Knowledge of Armenian.



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