Biography

 

1937 Born: Tehran, Iran
1943-50 Primary School, Iran
1950-56 Channing School. London. England
1956-57 Field worker with United States’ Government Point 4 Program, Iran
1957-61 London School of Economics and Political Science, London University, B.Sc. Social Anthropology.
1961-62 Assistant Professor Institute of Social Research, Tehran.
1962-65 Plan and Budget Organization of Iran. Budget Bureau. Responsible for budget of Social Welfare Agencies.
1965-72 Special Advisor to Her Royal Highness Princess Ashraf  Pahlavi in which capacity she researched and proposed  the formation of the Women’s Organization of Iran.
1967 Represented Iranian women on International Women’s Day in the Soviet Union on the fiftieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
1968 Iranian Delegate to the Commission on Human Rights, United Nations, New York
1972-74 Director of the Prime Minister’s Foreign Resident’s Advisory Bureau. This office was specially established to aid and solve the problems of the increasing number of foreign residents in Iran. Simultaneously special advisor to the Minister in charge of Budget and Planning.
1979 Became resident of Salt Lake City. Utah.
1982 M.A. History. University of Utah. Thesis: Women, the State and the Ulama in Iran: A Study in Shi’i Ideology.
1989 Naturalized United States Citizen.
1994 Ph.D. University of London.Thesis: Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb: A Case Study of Social Mobility in Qajar Iran.
1997 Adjunct Professor, Department of History, University of Utah

She is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, a member of the following organization: Middle East Studies Association of North America, The International Society for Iranian Studies, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and The Iran Society.

In 1960 she married the Iranian architect Reza Khazeni by which marriage they had three children, two girls and one boy.

Publications

“Women and the Shi’i Ulama in Iran”  Middle Eastern Studies 19 (1983): 17-27

“Women Behind the Veil” Media Development  31 (4/1984) 28-30

“Women and Ideas in Qajar Iran”  Asian and African Studies 19 (1985): 187-197

“The Position of Women in Shi`a Iran : Views of the `Ulama” in Elizabeth Warnock Fernea ed., Women and the Family in the Middle East: New Voices of Change (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985) pp. 255-268

“Captivity, Rebellion, and Rebirth”  Parnassus: Poetry in Review (1985) 393-400

“Taj al-Saltaneh, an Emancipated Qajar Princess”  Middle Eastern Studies 23 (1987): 188-193

“Shawhar Ahu Khanum: Passion, Polygamy and Tragedy”  Middle Eastern Studies 24 (1988): 113-117.

“Social Mobility in Qajar Iran: Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb” Middle Eastern Studies 26 (1990): 582-595

Translated  “Memento of a Life, by Haj Husayn Amin al-Zarb II” Iran 30 (1992): 107-121

“Iranian Women: Past and Future” in Judith Parker ed., Voices (Provo: David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, 1992)

“Women, Shi’ism and Cuisine in Iran”  Paper originally presented at the Conference on the Culinary Cultures of the Middle East held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, April 1992, in the proceedings of the Conference.

“Women, Customs and Ideas in Qajar Iran” in Mehdi Marashi. ed. Festschrift for Professor Muhammad Ali Jazayery. Persian Studies in North America , Bethesda, Maryland: Iranbooks. Inc., 1994,  pp. 373-95

“The Structure and Function of the Household of a Qajar Merchant: Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb”. Iranian Studies 32: no.4 (1999): 557-571.

For God Mammon and Country: A Nineteenth Century Persian Merchant. Westview Press, 1999

“Farmanfarma, Firuz Mirza Nosrat al-Dawla” in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Volume IX

“Women, Shi’ism and Cuisine in Iran” in Sarah Ansari and Vanessa Martin editors  Women, Religion and Society in Iran London: Curzon Press, 2002.

“Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb: Visionary, Entrepreneur and Traveler”, in  Elton L. Daniel Editor Society and Culture in Qajar Iran: Studies in Honor of Hafiz Farmayan, Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers Inc. 2002

“Reza Shah and Women: A Re-evaluation”, in Stephanie Cronin Editor The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921-1941, London: Routledge Taylor and Francis 2003.

“Muhammad Baqir Majlisi and Family Values” in Michel Mazzaoui ed. The Safavid and Their Neighbors, University of Utah Press, 2003

‘Children in Islam” in Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society Editor in Chief Paula S. Fass, Macmillan Reference, 2003

“Reflections in the Mirror: How Each Saw the Other. Women in the Nineteenth Century ” in Lois Beck and Guity Nashat ed., Women in Iran from1800 to the Islamic Republic, University of Illinois Press, 2004

“Shahs, Doctors, Diplomats and Missionaries in 19th Century Iran” British Journal of Middle East Studies, 32 (2) 2005:  169-191.

“Bavarchi”, “Nurralla” in Alice Arndt Editor, Culinary Biographies, Houston, Texas: Yes Press,  Inc, 2005.

“Amusements in Qajar Iran” Iranian Studies vol. 40, no. 4, 2007 pp. 484-99.

 “Memento of a Life, by Haj Mohammad Hosayn Amin al-Zarb 11, 1928” in Camron Michael Amin, Benjamin C. Fortna and Elizabeth B. Frierson Editors,  The Modern Middle East: A Sourcebook for History, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 599-639.

“Persian Cuisine” in Iran Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Islamic Republic, 2 vols. Edited Mehran Kamrava and Manuchehr Dorraj, Greenwood Press, 2008

“Review Article: Iran, Revolution, Intellectuals and Women” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies December 2007 34, (3), 399-406.

“Jukes Andrew”, Encyclopaedia Iranica

“Kofri Mohammad”, Encyclopaedia Iranica

“Western Medicine”, Encyclopaedia Iranica

“Qajar Household”, Encyclopaedia Iranica

“Rishar Khan”,  Encyclopaedia Iranica

“Haj Muhammad Hasan Amin Dar al-Zarb” Encyclopedia of Islam 3rd Edition.

“Haj Husayn Aqa Amin Dar-al Zarb II” Encyclopedia of Islam 3rd Edition.

“Amin Aqdas” Encyclopedia of Islam 3rd Edition

“Anis al-Dawla”, Encyclopedia of Islam 3rd Edition

“Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb: His World and His Philosophy of Life”, Middle Eastern Studies, 2011 47 (2), 379-393

“Everyday Life in Late Qajar Iran”  Iranian Studies, 2012 45 (3), 355-370.

Many other reviews in academic journals.

“Childhood in Qajar Iran” Iranian Studies, 2014 47 (2) 305-326

Forthcoming

.”Qajar Cuisine”, Encyclopaedia Iranica

“Qajar Childhood” Encyclopaedia Iranica 

“General Seminou” Encyclopaedia Iranica

“History of Persian Cuisine” Dar at-Mar`af-e Eslami (The Great Islamic Encyclopedia)

“Sargarmiha dar Dawra-yi Qajar” Dar at-Mar`af-e Eslami (The Great Islamic Encyclopedia)

“Irano-Russo Trade and Travel: Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb and Others” Iranian Studies

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