Fatemeh Shams: Gendered Personhood & Displacement

The 17th episode of Parse is a lecture given by Fatemeh Shams where she explores the problematic categorization and labelling of poetry written by Iranian women in the last several centuries of the history of Iranian literature.

Fatemeh Shams is a specialist in Persian literature. She earned her Ph.D. in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford, Wadham College. Currently, she is an assistant professor of Persian Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Penn, she taught Persian language and literature in various academic institutions including the University of Oxford, the University of SOAS and the Courtauld Institute of Art in the United Kingdom. Shams is also an accomplished and award-winning poet, having published numerous poetry collections and books such as When They Broke Down the Door (2016) and A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-Option Under Islamic Republic (2021).