The Iranian Studies research initiative connects CMES with courses and programming in Brown’s Center for Language Studies and scholars specializing in the culture, history and politics of Iran and Persianate societies. In his second year as Omar Khayyam Postdoctoral Research Associate in Iranian Studies Mehrdad Babadi taught the course, Iranian Cinema: History, Aesthetics and Politics. This course was complemented by two Iranian cinema series in the 2024-25 academic year: the fall 2024 Iranian Cinema Series focused on the contributions of Iranian women directors and the spring 2025 series reexamined the pivotal role of the FilmFarsi genre in shaping Iranian cinema. The Persian Poetry Reading Group, jointly convened by Michelle Quay, lecturer in Persian at Brown University and Annabel Keeler, affiliated researcher in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge, also met biweekly to read, translate and discuss Persian verse.

Iranian Studies Events
 OMAR KHAYYAM POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN IRANIAN STUDIES