August 26, 2022
I graduated from the CEU with a master’s degree in Women’s and Gender History (MATILDA Program) in 2015. Then, I spent one year in the UK at the University of Oxford, where I continued the research that I had started at the CEU about Tehran’s red-light district before the 1979 Revolution. I am now completing my doctoral dissertation at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies as a Mellon/ACLS fellow.
My current research focuses on the history of blood transfusion in Iran. I am trying to unpack which historical processes convinced ordinary people to give away their blood for the sake of strangers. In developing this study, I am working with the theories of the body and embodiment, citizenship, intimacy and kinship. I was introduced to these literatures first at the CEU, and I am still building on what I initially learned there.
When I arrived at the Department of Gender Studies in 2013, I had original research ideas but few tools for developing them. The genre of English Academic Writing was completely new to me, and I struggled to read and digest loads of weekly reading assignments. My two years at the CEU were not the easiest yet the most formative and rewarding in my scholarly journey. At the department, I found extraordinary mentorship, fabulous friends, and generous support to hone my research and presentation skills.
Last but not the least, the sincere commitment to feminism and social justice, and the critical approach to knowledge production among the student body and faculty have nourished me both at a personal and professional level.