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Faridoun Farrokh
Department of Languages and Literature
Texas A&M International University
5201 University Boulevard
Laredo, Texas 78041
956.326.2690
ffarrokh@tamiu.edu
Faridoun Farrokh is a professor of English at Texas A&M International University. His research interests include contemporary Persian fiction, eighteenth-century English literature, and rhetoric and composition. He has published numerous articles in English and Persian and is the translator of A Mansion in the Sky and Other Stories by Goli Taraghi (2003). He formerly taught at Ferdowsi University in Iran, where he twice received summer study grants from the British Council.
Presentations
Fiction and Women’s Media Activism in Iran
Since the installation of the Islamic regime in Iran, women have assumed a leading role in the struggle for human and civil rights. This struggle often takes the form of works of fiction and drama, as well as film scripts, in which sensitive issues are woven intricately in plot outlines and patterns of character development, confronting readers, male and female, with vital questions of identity and social responsibility.
The Myth of the Assassins and the Rise of Ismaili Shiites in Medieval Iran
The appearance of the Ismaili sect in Iran in the eleventh and twelfth centuries is often attributed to a rise of nationalistic fervor among Iranians and their desire to distance themselves from the Baghdad regime. This presentation offers a perspective on the genesis of the Assassin legends associated with the Ismaili movement, medieval European perceptions of Islam, and its internal divisions.