C.V.

Curriculum Vitae

Alyssa Gabbay, University of Washington

agabbay@u.washington.edu

EDUCATION

  • University of Chicago , Ph.D. with honors, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, August 2007.

General Examination Fields: Classical Persian Literature, Medieval Islamic History, Islamic Civilization.

Dissertation: “The Language of Tolerance: Amir Khusraw and the Development of Indo-Persian Culture.” Advisers: Professors Heshmat Moayyad (Chair), John Woods, Muzaffar Alam.

  • University of Pittsburgh, M.F.A., English, 2000.
  • Barnard College, Columbia University , B.A., magna cum laude, English Literature, 1985.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Writing a monograph provisionally titled Mothers of their Fathers: Ruling Daughters in Islam, on famous fathers and daughters in Islam (manuscript under review).

FELLOWSHIPS AND HONORS

  • Foundation for Iranian Studies, Best Ph.D. Dissertation on a Topic of Iranian Studies, 2007.
  • Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship (study in India), 2006.
  • American Institute of Iranian Studies Fellowship (study in Iran ), Summer 2003.
  • Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Title VI Fellowship (Advanced Persian), 2003.
  • Foreign Language and Area Studies Title VI Fellowship (Persian and Arabic), 2003-4, 2002-3, 2001-2, 2000-1.
  • University Unendowed Funds Tuition Fellowship, University of Chicago, 2003-4, 2002-3, 2001-2, 2000-1.
  • Winner, Intro Journals Project, a literary competition for the discovery and publication of the best new works by students enrolled in the programs of the Associated Writing Programs, 1999.
  • Phi Beta Kappa, Barnard College, Columbia University, 1985.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Pluralism in the Medieval Islamic World, Women and Islam, Post-Safavid Shi’ism.

PUBLICATIONS

Monographs:

  • Islamic Tolerance: Amīr Khusraw and Pluralism. Routledge, 2010.

Journals and book chapters:

  • “Fathers and Daughters in Islam: Spiritual Inheritance and Succession Politics, 13th-19th Centuries.” Co-edited with Julia Clancy-Smith. Special Issue, Journal of Persianate Studies. (Forthcoming.)
  • “Establishment of Centers of Indo-Persian Court Poetry.” Co-authored with Sunil Sharma. In A History of Persian Literature, ed. Ehsan Yarshater et al., vol. 9. New York: I.B. Tauris. (Forthcoming.)
  • “Love Gone Wrong, Then Right Again: Male/Female Dynamics in the Bahrām Gūr-Slave Girl Story.” In “Love and Desire in Pre-Modern Persian Poetry and Prose,” ed. Dominic Brookshaw. Special Issue, Iranian Studies 42, no. 5 (2009).
  • “`In Praise of One of the Deeply Learned Ulamā’: A Mysterious Poem by Qājār Court Poet Mīrzā Habīb Allāh Shīrāzī Qā’ānī.” In The Necklace of the Pleiades, ed. Franklin Lewis and Sunil Sharma, 131-48. Amsterdam and West Lafayette, IN: Rozenberg Publishers and Purdue University Press, 2007.

Encyclopedia entries:

  • “Qa’ani, Habib-Allah.” In Encyclopaedia Iranica. Edited by Ehsan Yarshater. (Forthcoming.)
  • “Bazaar” and “Sainthood.” In Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Edited by John Esposito. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Book reviews:

  • Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews, ed. Houman Sarshār. Iranshenasi 14 (Winter 2003).
  • To See and See Again, by Tara Bahrampour. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 21, 1999.                                                                                

Translations and other publications:

  • ”What India Can Teach Iran about Freedom and Tolerance.” Op-ed page, The Seattle Times, Aug. 22, 2010. Also published in iranian.com, Aug. 23, 2010.
  • “Portrait of an Innocent,” by Hushang Gulshiri. Co-translated with Heshmat Moayyad. In Black Parrot, Green Crow, ed. Heshmat Moayyad, 131-48. Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 2003.
  • “Loukijān: An Iranian Memoir.” Bellingham Review 22 (1999): 87-111.
  • “Finding Persia in Today’s Iran.” Forum page, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Jan. 25, 1998.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND INTERESTS

  • Prepared to teach courses including Introduction to Islamic Civilization and History; Early Modern Iran; Classical Persian Poetry; Autobiography in the Medieval Islamic World; Persian Sufi Texts; The Epic Romance; Islam in South Asia.
  • Teaching Assistant, Elementary Persian, University of Chicago, Winter 2004.

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED TALKS

  • “From Ill-Starred to Auspicious: Depictions of Daughters in Firdawsi’s Shāhnāma.” Eighth Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies, Los Angeles, California, May 28–30, 2010. (Also organized panel, “Reconstructing the Forgotten Female: Women in the Realm of the Shāhnāma.”)
  • “Ārzū as a ‘Docile Agent’: the Paradox of the Obedient Daughter in Pre-Islamic Iran.” Twenty-fifth Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, May 14–16, 2010.
  • “`In Reality a Man’: Sultan Iltutmish and His Daughter, Raḍiyya.” Middle East Studies Association 2009 Annual Meeting, Boston, November 21-24, 2009. (Also organized panel, “Famous Fathers and Daughters in Islam.”)
  • “A Ruler Transformed: Bahram Gur and Indian Ideals of Kingship.” The Reception of the Shahnama II. Leiden, The Netherlands, January 8-10, 2009.
  • `Turk and Hindu in Amir Khusraw’s Nuh Sipihr: Cultural Change on the Perso-Islamic Periphery.” Thirty-seventh Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, Wisconsin , October 16-19, 2008.
  • “Deconstructing Hierarchies: The Male/Female Dynamic in Amir Khusraw’s Story of Bahram Gur and the Slave Girl.” Seventh Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies, Toronto, Canada, July 31-August 3, 2008.
  • “Nuh Mah dar Dihli-’i Naw (Nine Months in New Delhi ).” Persian Circle , University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 2007. In Persian.
  • “The Dibachah-’i Divan-i Ghurrat al-Kamal-i Amir Khusraw” (The Preface to the Book of Poems of the Prime of Perfection, by Amir Khusraw). The International Seminar on Amir Khusrau: A Delineator of Strong Cultural Bonds of India with Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, March 2006.
  • “Dastan-i yak ‘Arusi” (The Story of a Marriage). Persian Circle , University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois , May 2005. In Persian. Also presented in English at the fifteenth annual meeting of the Friends of Persian Culture Association, Chicago, Illinois, September 2005.
  • “The Influence of the Frontier on Cultural Production in Medieval India.” Twentieth Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, May 2005. (Also co-organized panel, ”Frontiers and Frontier Societies in the Islamic World.”
  • “’The Idea of ‘Home’ in Zir-i Pust-i Shahr (Under the Skin of the City).” Iranian Film Series, Doc Films at the University of Chicago, March 2005.
  • “A ‘Turk of Hindustan’: Amir Khusraw and the Development of Indo-Persian Culture.” Middle East History and Theory Workshop, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, November 2004.
  • “The Case of a Mysterious Ode: Qa’ani, Qajar-era Poetry, and the Bab.” Fourteenth annual meeting of the Friends of Persian Culture Association, Chicago, Illinois, September 2004.
  • “Portrait of an Innocent: Hushang Gulshiri’s Labyrinthine Ways.” The American Literary Translators Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, October 2002.

ACADEMIC SERVICE

  • Guest lecturer, University of Washington Middle East Center Teachers Course on Islamic Iran, July 2010.
  • Chair, “Program Committee Picks” panel, Forty-second Annual Meeting, Middle East Studies Association, Washington, D.C., November 2008.
  • Author, “Preservation and Digitization of the Amir Khusraw Corpus,” a project to identify the most important editions among works by Amir Khusraw in preparation for preserving and digitizing them. Funded by the South Asia Microform Project in March 2007; period of execution, April 2007-March 2009.
  • Coordinator, Persian Circle at the University of Chicago, 2003-4, 2002-3.
  • Participant, American Institute of Iranian Studies Roundtable on Academic Exchange Between the U.S. and Iran, New York City, December 2003.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

  • Facilitator, Ruhi Institute in Seattle, a Baha’i-inspired educational institution dedicated to spiritual and social development. Weekly classes involve reading and analysis of passages drawn from Persian and Arabic texts dealing with the history of modern Iran, human rights, and the role of religion in contemporary life. October 2008-present.
  • Presenter, World Peace Series of the Baha’is of Wailuku. Delivered a talk entitled “The Way to Peace: What Can We Do?” Waikapu, Hawaii, April 2009.
  • Participant and Reader, University of Chicago Interfaith Service of Prayer and Reflection on Global Warming. Chicago, April 2007.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • Middle East Studies Association
  • International Society for Iranian Studies
  • Association for the Study of Persianate Societies

LANGUAGES

  • Persian
  • French
  • Arabic