Persian Language Program

Book talk with Beeta Baghoolizadeh

Apr 24, 2025 at 5:30pm – 7:00pm | Annenberg School for Communication room 111

The Middle East Center is hosting Beeta Baghoolizadeh for a book talk on The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran.

In The Color Black, Beeta Baghoolizadeh traces the twin processes of enslavement and erasure of Black people in Iran during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She illustrates how geopolitical changes and technological advancements in the nineteenth century made enslaved East Africans uniquely visible in their servitude in wealthy and elite Iranian households. During this time, Blackness, Africanness, and enslavement became intertwined—and interchangeable—in Iranian imaginations. After the end of slavery in 1929, the implementation of abolition involved an active process of erasure on a national scale, such that a collective amnesia regarding slavery and racism persists today. The erasure of enslavement resulted in the erasure of Black Iranians as well. Baghoolizadeh draws on photographs, architecture, theater, circus acts, newspapers, films, and more to document how the politics of visibility framed discussions around enslavement and abolition during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this way, Baghoolizadeh makes visible the people and histories that were erased from Iran and its diaspora.

Come hear Sunil Sharma talk about “The Landscapes of Exile in Pre-Modern Persian Poetry,” Monday, April 21, 2025, 5:30pm!

Check out this panel on Afghanistan today! Register at:

https://www.library.upenn.edu/events/rethinking-archives

Join Dr. Hussein Banai and Dr. Mahyar Entezari for an engaging discussion of Hidden Liberalism in Modern Iran, a groundbreaking work that sheds new light on Iran’s political evolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Banai’s innovative concept of “hidden liberalism“ challenges traditional views by exploring how liberal thought has persisted in Iran despite its complicated relationship with Western imperialism and local political realities. The conversation will delve into key themes from the book, including the burden of liberalism in postcolonial settings and how Iran’s intellectual culture has grappled with liberalism’s perceived foreignness. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the deeper, often overlooked currents of liberal thought shaping Iran’s political landscape.

Nowruz is often described simply as “Persian” or “Iranian” New Year, but it is celebrated from the Uyghur regions of Western China all across Central Asia through to Iran and beyond, including parts of Russia, Afghanistan, and broader South Asia. The holiday marks the spring equinox, on or around March 21st of each year.

Come join us in celebrating the arrival of spring, with Central Asian food! There will also be presentations and performances focused on regional traditions around Nowruz by student groups.

Performances and presentations will include Kazakh traditional music and dance, and a presentation about Nowruz in the Uyghur region and a special performance by Jeffrey Werbock of Azerbaijani art music (mugham).

Food will be served at sundown.

Cosponsored with Pan-Asian American Community House, Middle East Center, South Asia Center, Penn Language Center, Middle East Languages and Cultures, Russian and East European Studies, Persian Students Association, Azerbaijani Student Club, Penn Kazakh Association

Celebrate Persian New Year with us on campus! Enjoy delicious food, lively music, and more. Location TBA—stay tuned for updates! Hope to see you there! 🪻

Film Screening with Director Persis Karim

“The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life”

Feb 13, 2025 at 5:15pm - 7:15pm | 401 Fisher-Bennett Hall at the University of Pennsylvania

This 55-min. documentary shares the complex personal and social histories that have brought Iranians to the San Francisco Bay Area for more than fifty years.

Based on the stories of 8 individuals who live, work, and contribute to life and culture of the San Francisco Bay Area, “The Dawn Is Too Far” portrays the history of local Iranian Americans and the challenges they have faced as a group struggling to find acceptance and understanding in the long shadow of larger political and historical events. This film has an immediate connection with the larger Iranian American community in California and across the US, as well as other immigrant and diaspora groups. This film has the potential to spark urgent conversations about American identity in a time of growing fear and divisiveness.

This film explores the history, struggles, and impact of four generations of Iranian immigrants to the Bay Area, despite having been continuously “othered” by the tense relationship between the US and Iranian governments and negative media headlines since 1979. It captures the resilient and complex character of this immigrant community, its challenges and successes, as well as the ways it has contributed to the Bay Area’s culture and communities.

Persis Karim is the Chair/Director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University where she also teaches Comparative and World Literature.

In partnership with NEON and Temple, join Penn Film Society and Penn Persian Society for a free advanced screening of the Cannes award-winning film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, next Tuesday, 11/19, at 7 PM at AMC Broadstreet 7! Shot entirely in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s gripping thriller is as timely and important as ever. You won’t want to miss it!

Tickets are free on a first come first serve basis! RSVP to claim a ticket!

Date: Tuesday, November 19th
Location: AMC Broadstreet 7
Time: Screening starts at 7:00 PM (ticket pick up begins at 6:30pm)

Film Synopsis: Shot entirely in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s award-winning thriller, THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG, centers on a family thrust into the public eye when Iman is appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran. As political unrest erupts in the streets, Iman realizes that his job is even more dangerous than expected, making him increasingly paranoid and distrustful, even of his own wife Najmeh and daughters Sana and Rezvan.

Check out "An Intergenerational Remix of Persian Jewish Songs" and the rest of the program for this free concert!

Send a message to learn more

Advanced registration opens today! 🗓️

Did you know that the University of Pennsylvania is one of the few places in America that offers Persian (aka Farsi or Dari)? Don’t put it off. Sign up for this fall!