CMES professor Afsaneh Najmabadi’s latest book, Professing Selves: Transsexuality and Same-Sex Desire in Contemporary Iran (Duke University Press, December 2013), examines state regulation and subsidization of sex reassignment surgery in Iran....

Work by Farrin Abbas Zadeh, a fellow in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), is on display through December 18, 2013 in the CGIS Knafel Concourse Gallery in an exhibit co-sponsored by NELC and CMES. The Harvard Gazette interviewed Abbas Zadeh about her work:

An adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, Abbas Zadeh credits nature as her primary artistic inspiration. “I grew up on a farm, so nature is in my blood,” she said. [...]

Her artwork echoes traditional Persian design,...

On May 30, 2012, Professor Afsaneh Najmabadi gave a presentation on her project Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran at an event at the White House titled “Exploring Communities of Muslim Women Throughout History.” Hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the event showcased NEH-funded scholarship that explores places and moments in time when communities of Muslim women have flourished. Professor Najmabadi was joined by Professor Mounira Charrad of the University of Texas...

CMES Master's student Scott Liddle has published a book review in the Fall 2010 issue of the journal Middle East Policy. His article reviews Guardians of the Revolution: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs by Ray Takeyh (Oxford University Press, 2009). Scott is currently in Syria studying Arabic at the Institut francais du proche-orient.

*Updated 3/14/11: Correction to name of institution where Scott is studying.

Afsaneh Najmabadi is the Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University and is a CMES Steering Committee member. Professor Najmabadi and a team of Qajar historians received a NEH grant to develop a comprehensive digital archive and website that will preserve, link, and render accessible primary...

Celebrating Nowruz, an event co-sponsored by the Outreach Center, was the subject of an article in the March 19th, 2008 edition of the Harvard Crimson. Jaclyn Michael and Paul Beran are quoted in the news item. Read the full piece at Persian Community Celebrates New Year on thecrimson.com.

Persian Community Celebrates New Year
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Lenore Martin discusses the relationship between Turkey, Iraqi Kurds, and the United States in the August 30, 2007 edition of the Boston Globe. Read the full op-ed The Missing Player in Gulf Security on boston.com.

By Lenore G. Martin | August 30, 2007

THE BUSH administration recently proposed to sell $20 billion in sophisticated weaponry to the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. This move spotlights the need for allied support...

Richard Foltz's (CMES, 1996) book, Religions of the Silk Road, has recently been published in Turkish (Ipek Yolu Dinleri, Istanbul: Medrese Yayinlari, 2006) and in Persian (Dinha-ye Jadeh-ye Abrisham, Tehran: Entesharat-e Fararavan, 2007). His book Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions, has been published in Arabic (Al-Ruhaniyyat fi Ard al-Nubala: Kayf Athart Iran fi Adyan al-'Alam, Beirut: Dar al-Arabiyya al-'Ulum, 2006). A revised French edition is currently in press (Iran Creuset de Religions, Québec: Les Presses de l'Université...