About
Shahla Farghadani (She/her) is a Ph.D. candidate in Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with prior training in Persian language and literature in Iran. Her research explores the literary and cultural history of the Persianate world, with an emphasis on early modern Persian literary historiography, manuscript culture, and the biographical anthology (tazkira) tradition.
Her dissertation, Literary History as Sacred History: Awhadī’s ʿArafāt al-ʿĀshiqīn and the Creation of the Cosmos of Persian Poetry, demonstrates how a major Persian anthology recast literary history as a form of sacred history, framing poetry as a universal practice that transcended boundaries of geography, language, and social class.
She has published in both Persian and English, with articles in Iranian Studies and Āyeneh-ye Pazhoohesh, as well as forthcoming work in Iranian Studies and MELA Notes, among other venues. Her broader research interests include canon formation, women poets, and the intersections of gender, memory, and literary culture.
