IT IS WITH REGRET THAT WE ANNOUNCE THE CANCELLATION OF THIS EVENT. While no members of the UW community have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus to date and there are no restrictions on campus events at this time, we have decided out of an abundance of caution and in an effort to prioritize the health and well-being of our community and of our invited speaker to cancel the 16th Afrassiabi Distinguished Lecture in Persian and Iranian Studies. We do hope to be able to reschedule Professor Shams's visit at a later date. _______________________ Fatemeh Shams, poet and Assistant Professor in Persian Literature at the University of Pennsylvania will present the 2020 Afrassiabi Distinguished Lecture in Persian and Iranian Studies. The intense and complex relationship between poetry and power in Iran has a long and important history, with roots stretching back to the medieval Persian courts and beyond. Patrons and leaders have repeatedly sought to leverage the country’s language to build a protective wall, the impact of which was perpetuated by a deeply engrained literary culture. Since the 1979 revolution and the establishment of a new political order, the symbiotic dynamic between poet and ruler has undergone significant, often turbulent, change, as the state turns to language and literature to cement its ideological goals. This lecture will shine a light on this under-examined area of Persian literature through the framework of two contrasting contemporary praise odes (qasideh), written half a century apart, in 1964 and the present day. In bridging fifty years of profound political and poetic change in Iran, these two odes offer an insightful portrait of how the poet-ruler relationship has changed in modern Iran. What patterns of continuity and change can their words reveal? This lectureship was established in honor of Hooshang Afrassiabi by his three sons, all alumni of the UW, to honor their father's love of Persian literature. This event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC |