Aria Fani, "Reading Across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Literary Nationalism" (U Texas Press, 2024)

Oct 31, 2025

Aria Fani, an associate professor and expert in Persian literary history, explores the interconnected literary identities of Afghans and Iranians. He reveals how modern nationalism emerged not solely through European influence but through a rich shared Persian heritage. Fani discusses the evolution of 'adab' into modern 'literature,' the impact of early periodicals, and the complex relationship between language policies in both nations. He emphasizes the need for ethical discourse around Afghan displacement in Iran and advocates for literature as a tool for justice.

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INSIGHT

Adab To Adabiyāt: A Conceptual Shift

The shift from adab (ethical conduct) to adabiyāt (a fixed national literature) recast reading as inheritance rather than cultivation.
Aria Fani shows this conceptual realignment made 'literature' a tool for nation-building across Iran and Afghanistan.

ANECDOTE

Book Born From Personal Justice

Fani began the book from a personal sense of justice about Iranian–Afghan relations and shared culture.
His research traces how Persian shared heritage shaped both nations' literary nationalism in the twentieth century.

INSIGHT

Local Agency In Adopting 'Literature'

The notion that 'literature' simply arrived from Europe is misleading; Persian actors adapted and domesticated the concept.
Fani emphasizes local agency in transforming adab into a national literary notion rather than passive reception.

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The dynamic and interconnected ways Afghans and Iranians invented their modern selves through literature.

Contrary to the presumption that literary nationalism in the Global South emerged through contact with Europe alone, Reading Across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Literary Nationalism (University of Texas Press, 2024) demonstrates how the cultural forms of Iran and Afghanistan as nation-states arose from their shared Persian heritage and cross-cultural exchange in the twentieth century. In this book, Aria Fani charts the individuals, institutions, and conversations that made this exchange possible, detailing the dynamic and interconnected ways Afghans and Iranians invented their modern selves through new ideas about literature.

Fani illustrates how voluntary and state-funded associations of readers helped formulate and propagate "literature" as a recognizable notion, adapting and changing Persian concepts to fit this modern idea. Focusing on early twentieth-century periodicals with readers in Afghan and Iranian cities and their diaspora, Fani exposes how nationalism intensified—rather than severed—cultural contact among two Persian-speaking societies amidst the diverging and competing demands of their respective nation-states. This interconnected history was ultimately forgotten, shaping many of the cultural disputes between Iran and Afghanistan today.

Aria Fani is an associate professor and director of Persian and Iranian Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. He serves as the current deputy editor of Iranian Studies and is a co-investigator of the Translation Studies Hub at UW.

Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature.

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos

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