The Persian Circle presents:
انجمن سخن در دانشگاه شیکاگو تقدیم می کند
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi / آذرین وَن دِر ویلیت علومی
برزخ نویسی : روخوانی از رمانِ The Holy City, Dream and The Traveler
introduction in Persian, followed by a reading in English
Wed. May 28, 5:00–6:30pm Pick 222, 5828 S University Ave
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi is the author of the novel FRA KEELER. She has lived in Iran, Italy, Spain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, and received her MFA in Fiction from Brown University. She is co-author of the Words without Borders series ArtistsTalk: Israel/Palestine and Literary Journeys through Catalonia. Her work has been published, or is forthcoming in BOMB, The American Reader, The Coffin Factory, Denver Quarterly, State of the Union (an anthology of political poems by Wave Books), and &Now II: The Best Innovative Writing. A former writing resident at the Millay Colony for the Arts and Fulbright Scholar, she now teaches literature at the University of Notre Dame. For more information, see her personal website and her faculty page at UND.
Thanks again to Maryam for her fascinating talk about the role and makeup of the Sepah-e Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards) in the Iran-Iraq war. You can download the talk here or listen to it using the embedded player below. During the talk, Maryam showed clips of a film which you can see in its entirety at YouTube:
The Persian Circle presents:
انجمن سخن در دانشگاه شیکاگو تقدیم می کند
Maryam Alemzade / مریم عالمزاده
The Revolutionary Guards: An Unconventional Military in a Conventional War سپاه پاسداران و جنگ ایران – عراق: یک سازمان نظامی غیرکلاسیک در یک جنگ کلاسیک
Wed. May 21, 5:00–6:30pm Pick 222, 5828 S University Ave
Maryam Alemzade received her B.A. in Iranian Music Performance from the University of Tehran. During her M.A. program at Allameh Tabataba’i University (ATU), she changed her focus to Sociology and Cultural Studies and entitled her thesis Youth religiosity in Tehran and the capability of religious discourses in its analysis. She is now a Ph.D. student in Sociology, having studied at both at the University of Tehran and at the University of Chicago. During this time, she has pursued her interests in the sociologoy of social movements, revolution, and war.
مریم عالمزاده مدرک کارشناسی نوازندگی موسیقی ایرانی را از دانشگاه تهران گرفت. در دوره کارشناسی ارشد به علوم اجتماعی تغییر رشته داد و در دانشگاه علامه طباطبایی «مطالعات فرهنگی» خواند. عنوان پایان نامه ارشدش «دینداری جوانان در تهران و ظرفیت گفتمانهای دینی برای تحلیل آن» است. از آن به بعد تا اکنون دانشجوی دکتری جامعه شناسی بوده — چند سالی در دانشگاه تهران و بعد هم در دانشگاه شیکاگو. در این چند سال علاقه او را در حوزه جامعه شناسی جنبشهای اجتماعی، انقلاب و جنگ دنبال کرده است.
Many thanks again to Mehran for his wonderful talk and performance last week! For those of you who weren’t able to come, you can listen to the session by downloading the MP3 or using the embedded player.
The Persian Circle presents:
انجمن سخن در دانشگاه شیکاگو تقدیم می کند
Anita Alkhas / انیتا الخاص
Show and Tell: زندگی و هنر هانیبال و آدری الخاص
Wed. May 14, 5:00–6:30pm Pick 222, 5828 S University Ave
Anita Alkhas is Associate Professor of French in the Department of French, Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has published articles on French culture and literature with an emphasis on the creative process and on modernism. Her family has held a prominent place in the arts for generations; her grandfather, Rabi Addai Alkhas (1897-1959), translated the Gilgamesh epic into Assyrian Aramaic and founded an important Assyrian literary journal, while her uncle John was a well-known poet. Her father Hannibal (1930–2010) was a sculptor, painter, and author who received his BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and taught at various instutions both in the US and in Iran. He was also the founder of the Gilgamesh gallery, the first modern art gallery in Iran where aspiring young artists were introduced. Anita will be speaking about her experiences growing up with her family of artists as an Iranian-American living in 1970s Iran.
See the following links to learn more about Hannibal’s work:
The Persian Circle presents:
انجمن سخن در دانشگاه شیکاگو تقدیم می کند
Mehran Jalili / مهران جلیلی
The Guitar and I گیتار و من
Wed. May 7, 5:00–6:30pm Pick 222, 5828 S University Ave
We are very lucky to have Mehran Jalili come and speak (and play) for us this week! Mehran is an avant-garde Flamenco guitarist based in Chicago. His first album, entitled Angels of Persepolis, has gained him an international reputation and was chosen by UK’s Rainlores World of Music as the best world music album of 2010. His latest CD Subterranea (2012) is a concept album along the vein of progressive/alternative/psychedelic rock influenced by the Flamenco guitar; many describe Mehran’s new 4-piece band as Pink Floyd under the spell of flamenco. To whet your appetites, check out the following links:
Hezar tashakkor to Ostad Piroozram for his introduction to Iranian traditional art! Unfortunately, we cannot include the visual element, but his talk is nevertheless full of interesting information and the specialized terminology used in various art forms including calligraphy, bookbinding, painting, design, and leatherwork. Listen to the MP3 or use the player below:
Many thanks to Prof. Harandi for his fascinating talk on the Robâ’i, “the ancient but forever new form of Persian poetry”. Listen to his talk by downloading the MP3 here or use the player below:
Many thanks to Negin for her amazing talk on Chicago-area wildlife! This was a particularly good session for students who want to refresh their animal names. Listen to the talk here or using the player below.
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