Two UCI Ph.D. students, Deanna Kashani and Soodabeh Malekzadeh, have each been awarded the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Fellowship for Excellence in Persian Studies for the completion of their doctoral degrees during academic year 2017-2018.
Ms. Kashani is a Ph.D. candidate in Visual Studies. Her dissertation, entitled “Beyond the Framed Image: Contemporary Iranian Art from Production to Exhibition,” is the first comprehensive study of contemporary Iranian art exhibition structures inside Iran in English. She compares institutionalized, underground, and public art exhibition spaces within Iran to demonstrate how these sites and their agendas influence the production and propagation of art and art historical knowledge. Through the use of art historical and ethnographic methodologies and a diverse set of exhibition case studies, she reveals that the Iranian art world is trying to define itself and its future as experimental, autonomous, and connected with the interests of the local community.
A Ph.D. candidate in History, Ms. Malekzadeh focuses her interests on ancient Persia. Her dissertation, “Bahram V: The Romantic Hunter-King or a Judeo-Arab Emperor?” centers on the history of the Sasanian empire during the early fifth century using a biographical lens that reexamines the life and legacy of Bahram V and his father Yazdegird I. The reign of Bahram V is only mentioned in passing in monographs that cover a general history of the Sasanian Empire. Malekzadeh’s dissertation fills this gap by providing a comprehensive research on the biography of Bahram V, his legacy in art and literature, and finally, the role of his historical depiction in modern national propaganda. Her study promises to be useful to scholars interested in the history of the Sasanian period, as well as the political, and social history of early fifth-century Persia.