Say What Your Longing Heart Desires: Women, Prayer and Poetry in Iran

Poster design by Farzan Kermani

 
In this lecture, Dr. Niloofar Haeri will present ethnographic analysis of what it is like when we pray (both do’a and namaz) and what we can learn from the reception and memorization of classical poetry in the daily lives of a group of women. How do the worlds of prayer and poetry live side by side and what is the significance of this co-existence?

Guest Speaker:

Niloofar Haeri is Professor of anthropology and Chair of the Program in Islamic Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is a Guggenheim fellow (2015-2016). She has done research on Egypt and Iran. Her most recent book is Say What Your Longing Heart Desires: Women, Prayer, and Poetry in Iran. It just won one of the American Academy of Religion awards in 2021.

Say What Your Longing Heart Desires: Women, Prayer, and Poetry in Iran by Niloofar Haeri

Discussant:

Mahtab Sirdani is a PhD candidate in sociocultural anthropology at Boston University. Her research focuses on Muslim Iranian migrants in North America. She holds a masters degree from Harvard Divinity School where she specialized in religion, literature, and culture. She has presented in several venues including the Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs (CURA) where she was a fellow during 2019-2020 academic year.