Fatemeh Keshavarz: Unsilencing the Sacred – Poetic Conversations with the Divine

AAR's 2016 American Lectureship in the History of Religions was held by Iranian academic and poet Fatemeh Keshavarz, who at this session at the 2016 AAR Annual Meeting, delivers her capstone lecture. Born and raised in the city of Shiraz, completed her studies in Shiraz University, and University of London. She taught at Washington University in St. Louis for over twenty years where she chaired the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from 2004 to 2011. In 2012, Keshavarz joined the University of Maryland as Roshan Institute Chair in Persian Studies, and director of Roshan Institute for Persian Studies. Keshavarz is the author of award-winning books including "Reading Mystical Lyric: the Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi" (USC Press, 1998), "Recite in the Name of the Red Rose" (USC Press, 2006), and "Jasmine and Stars: Reading more than 'Lolita' in Tehran"(UNC Press, 2007). She has also published other books and numerous journal articles. Keshavarz is a published poet in Persian and English and an activist for peace and justice. She was invited to speak at the UN General Assembly on the significance of cultural education. Her NPR show “The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi” brought her the Peabody Award in 2008. In the same year, she received the Herschel Walker Peace and Justice Award. Keshavarz is introduced by Louis A. Ruprecht (Georgia State University) followed by Ebrahim E. I. Moosa (University of Notre Dame). This session was recorded during the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 20 in San Antonio, Texas. Learn more about the American Lectures in the History of Religions at https://www.aarweb.org/programs-services/history-of-religions-lectures.