KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Dr Payam Akhavan
Professor Akhavan teaches and researches in the areas of public international law, international criminal law and transitional justice, with a particular interest in human rights and multiculturalism, war crimes prosecutions, UN reform and the prevention of genocide.
He was previously the Boulton Senior Fellow at McGill, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and Visiting Lecturer and Senior Fellow at Yale Law School and the Yale University Centre for International and Area Studies. He has published extensively including the article, “Beyond Impunity: Can International Criminal Justice Prevent Future Atrocities?” (2001), selected by the International Library of Law and Legal Theory as one of “the most significant published journal essays in contemporary legal studies.” He is also the author of the Report on the Work of the Office of the Special Advisor of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide (2005).
Professor Akhavan was the first Legal Advisor to the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and played a key role in the development of its foundational jurisprudence. He also has considerable experience in post-conflict peace-building and international dispute settlement, having advised the UN on transitional justice, appearing as counsel before international courts and tribunals on behalf of sovereigns, and serving on the board of directors of human rights NGOs, including the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre (www.iranhrdc.org), in New Haven, of which he is also the president and co-founder. His work has been featured in the New York Times and, in recognition of his contributions to promoting accountability for human rights violations, he was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader (www.younggloballeaders.org) in 2005.
Dr Reza Moridi, MPP Richmond Hill
An award-winning scientist, engineer, educator, business leader and community activist who has lived in Richmond Hill since 1991, Reza Moridi was first elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly in 2007. Currently, Reza is the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Research and Innovation.
Upon his election, Dr. Moridi was appointed by Premier Dalton McGuinty as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. He was also appointed to the Cabinet Committee on Economy, Environment and Resources Policy.
Prior to his election, Moridi was the Vice-President and Chief Scientist of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada. His 17 year career at this Institute provided him with a thorough understanding of the nuclear industry of Canada as well as the application of radiation and nuclear materials in a large variety of industry and health care sectors. Reza was a senior business executive in the electrical industry. In this capacity, he travelled internationally and met with senior executives of leading corporations in Europe and Japan.
Reza has also worked as a professor and administrator in academia for a number of years. He was appointed to the Dean of the School of Sciences, Chair of the Physics Department and University Chief Librarian at Alzahra University, Tehran. He also served on the University Senate.
Over the years, Reza has contributed significantly to the understanding of nuclear materials, radiation and radiation safety by the public, students, educators and workers in Canada. In recognition of his contributions, the Canadian Nuclear Society presented Reza with the Education and Communication Award in 2001. In recognition of Reza’s outstanding contributions to the profession of Health Physics (radiation protection), the US Health Physics Society presented Reza with the Fellow Award in 2002. For his original contribution to physics and engineering, Reza was elected as Fellow of the UK Institute of Physics (1986) and Fellow of the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (1992).
DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN IRAN
Dr Mahmood Sadri
Mahmoud Sadri is a professor of sociology at Texas Woman’s University and the Federation of North Texas Area Universities. His major interests include Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Culture, and Theoretical Sociology. His area interests are: Middle Eastern and Iranian studies, and Islamic Reformation. He is the editor of two books and the author of fifteen book chapters and numerous articles in professional sociological journals.
In addition to his English publications, Mahmoud Sadri frequently speaks in public forums, writes for Iranian reform newspapers and journals, and is interviewed by international news organizations such as NPR, BBC, Radio France, and Radio Australia concerning developments in Iran, Islam, and the Middle East.
Topic: Prospects of revolution or reform in Iran
Dr Alidad Mafinezam
Co-founder of the Mosaic Institute in Toronto, an organization focused on harnessing Canada’s ethnic and cultural diversity for international peace and development. He is a public policy expert with a focus on think tanks, the relationship between academia and government, as well as diversity, pluralism, and multiculturalism. He has worked as a consultant to the International Development Research Centre, the Royal Society of Canada, the UN-mandated University for Peace, the Geneva-based Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations, among other organizations. He has worked as a program director at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York City, the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Urban Policy Research in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He has taught upper-year public policy courses at the University of Toronto at Scarborough. Dr. Mafinezam received his BA from the University of Western Ontario, and Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, where he wrote a dissertation on the history and current condition of American think tanks. His work has been published in the Literary Review of Canada, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Toronto Star and numerous other publications. He has also written on Iran, Eurasia, and U.S. foreign policy. His book, “Iran and Its Place Among Nations,” was published by the Connecticut-based Greenwood Publishing Group in 2008.
Topic: The Iranian Diaspora in Comparative Perspective
This paper examines the current and potential impact of the Iranian diaspora in helping the prospects of peace and economic development in and around Iran. It does so by adopting a comparative perspective and considering numerous “success stories” in this arena: the successful experience of the Chinese, Indian, Jewish, and Armenian diasporas will be dissected as a guide to what the Iranian diaspora could potentially do to play a key role in connecting Iran to the world community and promoting knowledge and skills exchange, as well as trade and investment between Iran and the world community. It discusses the ways in which the Iranian diaspora has and can further help Iran and other countries develop more rapidly in the economic, cultural and political arenas. The paper will conclude by focusing North America in general and Canada in particular as critical centres of the Iranian diaspora.
Dr Shahram Tabe
Dr. Shahram Tabe has devoted most of his life to three major areas of interest: arts, politics, and science.
As a journalist and essayist, he has published close to 200 articles on arts and culture as well as politics. His Farsi writings have appeared in print and internet media such as Shahrvand (Toronto), BBC Persian Service, and currently banned reformist newspapers in Iran such as Jaame’eh, Tous, and Shargh. He also has appeared in numerous English and Farsi radio and TV shows on CBC, BBC, and VOA. He is the 2009 recipient of the prestigious National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada Award by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Dr. Tabe is the founder and current director of the International Diaspora Film Festival (IDFF) which has been running in Toronto since 2001. The IDFF is a globally unique event that uses film to illustrate the cultural, political, and social issues surrounding the concept of diaspora.
He was one of the organizers of the student movement against the Shah during the 1979 revolution in his native Iran. However, he began to oppose the revolution shortly after the victory when it became apparent that it was misguided. During the Cultural Revolution he and many other former leaders of the student movement were considered anti-revolutionary and were expelled from the Polytechnic of Tehran. When mass executions of members of the opposition began in Iran, he fled the country and came to Canada as a political refugee in 1985.
In Canada he continued his studies and received his Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa in Chemical Engineering in 1994 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in 1996. He currently works as an environmental research scientist for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Windsor. He has published more than 60 papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings.
Topic: “Green Movement of Iran, Opportunities and Challenges”.
The green movement of Iran appears to be developing efficiently despite ideological and political differences between the people and the political leaders, as well as amongst the people themselves.
The success of the movement is due to an unwritten agreement between the people in the streets on the one hand and the political leaders on the other. The people have restricted their demands to within the constraints of the Islamic Republic, and the leaders have guaranteed such fundamental rights as reform in the electoral system, freedom of the press and expression, and certain social freedoms.
However, the green movement is facing enormous challenges. Khamenei, the supreme leader, backed by the armed forces, the judiciary system, the militia, and a large number of clerics is showing no mercy in crushing peaceful demonstrations. The leaders of the movement, on the other hand, are lagging behind the people in terms of directing and channelling the demonstrations. We are witnessing a leaderless movement that is being led by its grass root resistance cells. The question at the end of the day is how much do the people owe the political leaders if the reforms succeed?
The development of the events so far provides the prospect of a stable society that moves quickly and decisively towards democracy. For the first time in modern Iranian politics, it is the people who are dictating their will to their leaders. A positive change in Iranian politics is inevitable. In the same manner that the revolution of 1979 paved the road for Islamic fundamentalism, the green movement is offering a moderate and progressive interpretation of Islam which could bring peace and stability to the region.
IRAN IN REGIONAL AND WORLD POLITICS
Dr Sabah Alnasseri
Sabah Alnasseri is an Associate Professor/Associate Chair, Political Science Department, LA&PS, York University, Toronto. Expertise in Politics and Economy of the Middle East. Research interests: Internationalization of the state, civil society, grassroots social movements and basis democracy, political economy. Last publication:
- Understanding Iraq, in: Socialist Register, Merely Press, 2008,
- Obamas Nahost- und Afrikapolitik: Kolonialismus Light (Obama’s Middle East and Africa Policy: Colonialism light), in: www.links-netz.de, 2009.
Topic: My paper will contribute to the question as to what extent our knowledge about Iran’s regional and global politics are adequate. My contribution intend to launch a debate and raise questions as to whether the country has a regional and global strategy.
It will provide more questions and discuss uncertainties rather than delivering answers, uncertainties which question our quick-fixed knowledge. In this sense, the contribution has a hypothetical character
Dr Houchang Hassan-Yari
Dr. Houchang Hassan-Yari is a professor of Area Studies in the department of Politics and Economics, as well as the special assistant to the RMC Principal for national and international laision. His fields of interest and teaching involve Middle East issues, Persian Gulf security, Iran, Canadian foreign and defence policy. Dr. Hassan-Yari’s current research centres on nuclear issues in Iran foreign and security policy.
Dr. Hassan-Yari has been a special guest of more than 5,000 interviews with national (CBC – TV and Radio Syndication-, CTV, CPAC, RDI, Radio-Canada, TVA, LCN, The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, Le Devoir, La Presse, campus and student bulletins) and international news and commentary programs (BBC- TV and Radio-, VOA/Radio Farda, RFI, Deutsche Welle, Radio Zamaneh, Jaam-e-Jam, Sahar TV, Radio Goftegoo; Etemad Melli Newspaper, Mosalas Weekly, Shahrvan Emrooz, etc.) He also continues to work with Federal Government agencies, such as the Privy Council Office, DFAIT, House of Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs, among others.
Topic: theoretical framework of the IRI FP, its evolution, and its view of the other.
Dr Mahjoob Zweiri
Dr Mahjoob Zweiri, Center for Strategic Studies, University of Jordan, visiting fellow, School of Government and International Affairs, University of Durham
Dr Mahjoob Zweiri is an expert in Middle East Politics and Iran at the Center for Strategic Studies, University of Jordan. He is currently a visiting fellow to School of Government & International Affairs at Durham University. He holds a PhD in the Modern History of Iran from Tehran University (2002). From March 2003-December 2006, he was a research fellow and then a director of the Centre for Iranian Studies in the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University. In addition to Arabic, Dr Zweiri is fluent in Farsi and English.
Selected Publications
The Durability of Managed Rivalry: Iran’s Relations with Russia and the Saudi Dimension, Asian Politics and Policy, (2009); Talking with a Region: Lessons from Iran, Turkey and Pakistan’, Middle East Policy, (2009); Are Shias rising in the Western Part of the Arab World? The Case of Morocco, The Journal of North African Studies, (2008); Iran’s Foreign Policy: from Khatami to Ahamdinejad, joint editor (2008);Iran and the Rise of Its Neoconservatives: The politics of Tehran’s Silent Revolution, co-author (2007); ‘A New Perspective on Jordanian-Iranian Relations’, The Journal of Middle Eastern Geopolitics (2007)’;The Rise of the Neoconservatives in Iran’, Geopolitical Affairs (2007); ‘The Hamas Victory: Shifting Sands or Major Earthquake’. Third World Quarterly (2006); ‘The Iraqi Issue and its Impact on GCC-Iran Relations’. Vaseteh- Journal of the European Society for Iranian Studies (2006); Abu Muslim Namahs and their Role in The Social History of Safavid Period (in Farsi) (2004); Iran’s Historical Geography in the 9th century (2001)
ECONOMICS, SOCIAL POLICIES AND ENERGY IN IRAN
Dr Kamran Dadkhah
Kamran Dadkhah is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Northeastern University, Boston, where his areas of interest are econometrics, macroeconomics, international economics, and Middle Eastern economies. Previous positions have included Senior Economist, Abt Associates, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; Senior Economist, Development and Investment Bank of Iran; and Director of Planometrics and General Economy Bureau, Plan and Budget Organization of Iran. He has published in The Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Political Economy, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Applied Economics, Middle Eastern Studies, European Journal of Operational Research, Decision Sciences, Empirical Economics, and Mathematical and Computer Modelling. He holds a BA degree in Economics from Tehran University, MA and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from Indiana University, and an MS degree in Mathematics from Northeastern University. He is the author of Foundations of Mathematical and Computational Economics (Thomson/South-Western 2006) and the recently published book, The Evolution of Macroeconomic Theory and Policy (Springer 2009).
Topic: The Iranian economy is in a sorry state. The country is beset with inflation, high unemployment especially among the youth, and bankruptcy of many domestic factories. Lack of investment in oil and gas sector has restricted Iran’s output of oil and deprived the country with the second largest gas reserves from occupying a significant place among exporters of natural gas. Lack of investment in refineries has turned the country into a gasoline importer. The Iranian economy is highly dependent on oil for its functioning; oil revenues are the main sources of foreign exchange, government revenue, and saving.
Yet Iran could have had a growing and vibrant economy. The country is endowed with natural resources and a reasonably educated workforce. Its strategic location as a connection between the Central Asian countries and the Persian Gulf could have made it a gateway to the resource rich countries on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Similarly, it could have served as a financial center for the Persian Gulf region (a position some Persian Gulf Emirates such as Dubai have tried to fill).
Despite its potentials, Iran has failed to attract a significant amount of foreign investment. It has failed to diversify its exports and as a result 80% of its exports consist of oil and gas. Excluding oil exports Iran’s share in the global economy is negligible.
The discrepancy between Iran’s potential and actual economic performance is an important subject. In this talk, however, I will confine myself to Iran’s failure to integrate into the international economy and to occupy a place in accordance with its resources. The reasons for Iran’s dismal performance on international scene are both economic and political. The paper will review Iran’s economic and foreign policies that have led to its isolation and the imposition of sanctions. The question of economic reforms during three successive administrations will be discussed and the reasons for their failure highlighted. The paper ends with a prediction of what is in store for the Iranian economy and speculation on how and under what circumstances the Iranian economy could be integrated into the global economy and set foot on the road to prosperity.
Dr. Roksana Bahramitash
Dr.Roksana Bahramitash is a graduate of the McGill University sociology department and has received two post-doctorate awards from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC). She is the winner of the Eileen D. Ross award (2003-04) for her work on female poverty, globalization, Islamization and women’s employment. In 2006 she won a three-year research grant from the SSHRC and in 2008 she was given a grant by the Council for the Arts to write her memoir. Bahramitash has taught many courses at McGill University and Concordia University and has worked with international development agencies including the Canadian Development Agency (CIDA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank funded project through the Center for Teaching and Research on Arab Women (CAWTAR). Bahramitash is the author of several articles and book chapters. Her first book is “Liberation from Liberalization: Gender and Globalization in Southeast Asia” ( Zed, 2005, reprinted 2008). Her forthcoming books are entitled Veiled Employment: Islamism and the Political Economy of Women’s Employment in Iran in print with Syracuse University Press (co-edited with Hadi S. Esfahani) and “Gendering in Contemporary Iran: Pushing the Boundaries” in print with Routledge, (co-edited with Eric Hooglund). Bahramitash is Research Director at the Chair of Islam, Pluralism and Globalization at the University of Montreal .
Topic: Iranian Economy and Female Employment
Looking at Iran’s economic profile, it is highly critical to incorporate a gender perspective into the mainstream economic analysis. This is because Iran’s labour market is highly sexually segregated- one of the highest in the world. In this presentation I will concentrate on the changes which have taken place in the last forty years with specific focus on the post revolutionary era. In the aftermath of the revolution, we have witnessed that in some cases women have been banned from certain positions and types of employment. Yet, when the evolution of female employment is viewed in the post World War II era, the reality of pre- and post revolution in Iran shows a very complex picture. In fact, after nearly three decades of Islamism, one would expect that women’s employment would decline tremendously if not disappeared totally, as was the case during Taliban Afghanistan. Yet, the opposite has occurred. According to the 2006 census women’s employment has increased, in the last decade (1996-2006). Women’s employment and education has increased while the fertility rate and infant mortality have declined and life expectancy for women has increased. Despite these changes, female unemployment has increased at an alarming rate. On the one hand, Iranian women continue to face many challenges, on the other, their situation is far more complex and nuanced that it is often assumed. In this lecture, the results of four years of research on female employment to be reported in a forthcoming book will be reviewed.
HUMAN RIGHTS, GENDER AND MINORITY ISSUES IN IRAN
Nazanin Afshin-Jam
Nazanin Afshin-Jam is an international human rights activist, singer/songwriter, actor, former Miss World Canada and President and co-founder of “Stop Child Executions” organization. She was born in Tehran in 1979 at the height of Iran’s Islamic revolution and a year later her family was forced to flee after her non-political father was arrested, tortured and nearly executed.
After a double major degree in International Relations and Political Science at UBC, Sciences Po in Paris and the ISC in the UK, Nazanin became an advocate with the Red Cross as a Global Youth Educator on the landmine crisis and children affected by war. In 2003, she won Miss Canada and came 1st runner up at Miss World giving her the platform she sought to raise awareness and funds for the Bam Earthquake, the 2004 Tsunami, Fistula patients in Ethiopia, Variety the Children’s Charity; youth advocacy to bridge the digital divide and a movement to stop bear bile farming in Asia. In 2006 Nazanin successfully ran an international campaign to save the life of Nazanin Fatehi, a juvenile sentenced to death in Iran for stabbing in self defense one of three assailants that tried to rape her. Nazanin’s battle against child executions continues. She co-founded the Stop Child Executions organization – found on the web at www.stopchildexecutions.com – with the goal of halting the practice in Iran and in the handful of other countries where it still continues.
Meanwhile, Nazanin released a multilingual album called “Someday” charting hits in Canada, USA and Europe. Last year Nazanin was appointed to the board of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation through the office of the Prime Minister of Canada to help eliminate racism and discrimination in Canada. Nazanin continues to address human rights abuses in China, Burma, Darfur and other countries with tyrannical regimes . She has done speeches at the UN, EU, UK, Canadian Parliament, numerous universities and conferences with media features on major television, radio and print worldwide. Nazanin is also the recipient of several human rights awards of distinction. Through her speeches and music, Nazanin hopes to continue being a “voice for the voiceless” and deliver her messages of freedom, peace and love worldwide.
Lily Pourzand
Lily Pourzand received her Law degree from Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran in 1999 prior to immigration to Canada where she continued her academic studies at York University in Women Studies. She is working toward her masters in International Human Rights Law at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, Toronto. Her dissertation is a Comparative Research on International Women’s Rights and Iranian Women’s Legal Situation. She has worked with various Human Rights organizations on different projects such as the case of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian journalist who was killed in a regime prison, and also research on the history of Secret Prisons in Iran in the Khatami era. She has worked with many universities and Women’s Rights activists and scholars on research projects about Iranian Women and the Human Rights situation in Iran. She also has published numerous articles and essays, both in Farsi and English, while participating in different conferences, panels and TV shows relating to Women’s Rights and Human Rights in Iran. Presently, she is working in the position of “Constituency Assistant” in the office of a Member of the Federal Parliament in Toronto. Lily is a board member for Cycling for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) and also is an advisory board member for University Settlement, which has worked on immigrant women’s settlement issues in Toronto for about a century.
Lily was born and raised in a family that has been deeply affected by human rights violations. Her mother, Mehrangiz Kar, is a well-known Human Rights lawyer and a Women’s Rights activist and writer. She was forced to live in exile after she was released from prison in 2001. Her father, Siamak Pourzand, a well-known Iranian journalist, is still a political prisoner in Iran at the age of 79.
Topic: An Overview of the Iranian Women’s Movement after the 1979 Islamic Revolution
CULTURE AND RELIGIONS IN IRAN
Dr Ed Keall
Ed Keall was never trained as an archaeologist, but his involvement on many different sites in the Middle East has given him the ability to be professionally productive especially in areas where none have worked before. He thrives in dealing with the unknown and the unexpected.
Originally born in the UK, and trained in Greek and Latin literature, he first visited the Middle East on an adventure, in 1962. In 1970 (after learning the trade through practical experience in countries like Iran, Iraq and Turkey), he found himself a formal PhD-qualification by studying Islamic art at the University of Michigan.
His first Canadian appointment was as an “Assistant Curator” in the West Asian section of the Royal Ontario Museum, in 1971. He was cross-appointed in the University of Toronto at the same time. He is currently a “Senior Curator,” as well as Head of the ROM’s Near Eastern & Asian Civilizations Department, territory that incorporates everything in the art and archaeology of the Old World from North Africa to Japan (Casablanca to Kyoto).
His dissertation focused on the excavations of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in the Parthian layers of Nippur, Iraq. After joining the Royal Ontario Museum in 1971, his experiences in Iran included directing the excavations at the Parthian site of Qal’eh-I Yazdigird, a program unexpectedly interrupted in 1979.
He has directed the Canadian Archaeological Mission of the ROM (CAMROM) in Yemen since 1982. The ROM work has focused for the most part on the town of Zabid, in an attempt to define the character of a mediaeval Islamic university city, a subject he teaches at the university of Toronto. In 1998, his work led him to the discovery of a bronze/stone-age civilization potentially dating as far back as 4000 BCE. This astonishing discovery — on the western coast of Yemen, a country on the southern tip of the Saudi Arabian peninsula — pre-dates the earliest known civilization in the region by 3500 years.
Topic: Culture and change at the archaeological site of Qaleh-i Yazdigird in Iran: past and present religious beliefs.
Dr Mahdi Tourage
Dr Mahdi Tourage, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and. Social Justice and Peace Studies, King’s University College, London, Canada
Topic: Of God and Ayatollahs: Theological Implications of Contemporary Iranian Jokes
One of the results of political oppression in contemporary Iran has been the proliferation of jokes about Islam, God and the ruling clergy. This paper will argue that the function of these jokes exceeds their political content. These “religious” jokes express more than politically subversive ideas that are censored by normative socio-political mechanisms, they express popular religious views with far reaching theological implications. Using postmodern theories of humor I will argue that these jokes mobilize cognitive versatility that serves two functions: they intend to make participants smarter about the ruling clergy’s hypocrisy, and more importantly, they probe Islam’s religious/spiritual claims.
These jokes and their functions are not new phenomena, many similar examples can be found in the archives of Islam. Hence, this paper will offer some historical background for these “religious” jokes that date back to the inception of Islam. Highlighting inconsistencies in Islam’s religious worldview was historically limited to isolated satirical works of renegade literary figures. However, contemporary Iranian religious jokes are unique in their forceful popularization of inconsistencies in the very nature of faith and belief. Therefore, I argue that these jokes are not carnivalesque parodies of an otherwise somber façade of Islamic beliefs and practices represented by the ruling clergy. They point to the absurdity at the core of literal conformity to these beliefs and practices.
Dr Shodja Ziaian
Topic: The Iranian Islamic Schizophrenia
In Game Theory applied to International Studies, the Nation-State is supposed to behave rationally. It will be stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not behave rationally because it might be suffering from Schizophrenia.
First, during the past quarter of a century, Iranians have dramatically and painfully questioned their identity. This identity crisis is per se symptomatic. Moreover, it is an identity crisis that is both mental (ideological) and physical (what is and where is Iran?).
Second, etymologically, Schizophrenia means a split of the mind, of the psyche. And that definition could be applied to the Islamic Republic of Iran, torn between Islam and Iranity, between Islamic or Iranic. The two are often incompatible if not opposed to each other.
Third, there is a general “cognitive dissonance” between the scientific mind and the traditional religious minds (Judaism, Evangelism, and Islam). The former, based on “reason” and “rationality”, and the latter based on “belief” and “mythology”, are often conflicting.
Artistic Expresssions in Iran and Among the Iranian Diaspora
Behrouz Hariri
Behrouz Hariri runs his personal studio out of the Center for Social Innovation located in the design district of Toronto.
He holds a B.Des. from York University and Sheridan Institute and has studied and worked with prominent Iranian designers at University of Tehran. Behrouz’s eclectic background enables him to explore new grounds in design and communication; an attempt in bridging the distinct cultures and contexts that inform his work.
GIRC Iran consults with Behrouz Hariri throughout the design process of Iran Symposium 2010 to ensure the vision of the team is communicated in a clear and effective manner. The visual identity of the symposium as well as this website are results of this collaboration.
Topic: Contemporary Landscape of Iranian Graphic Design
Iranian Graphic Design has gained unprecedented international acclaim over the past decade. A rich and varied history of visual creation and well-rooted traditions of calligraphy are among the factors that lend the contemporary scene in Iran its unique features. Overlap of traditional and modern practices provides designers with a rare opportunity to absorb and re-express the immediate past that surrounds them. Creating contemporary work that reflects upon its history and meaningfully acknowledges its predecessors -like any decent apprentice in the east should do- seems to be the grand work that lies ahead.
Reza Moghaddas
A musician, producer, and sound engineer, Reza studied Mathematics Applied in Computer at Azad University in Iran and Computer Graphics Animation at Cavendish College in 1996. He started playing piano at the age of nine and entered the world of sound engineering when he was 15. Reza founded Bamahang Studios – the first digital recording studio in Iran – in 1998 and registered Bamahang Productions in Canada in 2005.
Reza has been involved in various movie, theatre and music productions in Iran and Canada and has worked with many masters of Persian music, cinema and theatre such as Shajarian, Heossein Alizadeh, Mohammadreza Lotfi, Kayhan Kalhor, Kamkars, Dastan Ensemble, Mohammad Nouri, Juan Martin, Bahram Beizaei, Kamal Tabrizi, Rasool Mollagholipour, Helena Waldman and Iraj Karimi.
He recently worked as a freelance sound engineer, musician and producer with Godot Art Productions, Small World Music, Cherry Beach Sound, Harbourforont Centre, Toronto Centre for the Arts, London Sun Festival, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Omni TV and many universities in Canada. Reza specialized in fusion and world music, and has had various performances with Beat Map, Reza Derakhshani, Mamak Khadem, Soley Vaseghi and Captive Grooves around Canada. In July 2008 he was the music director of Tirgan festival at Harbourfront Centre.
Topic: The History of Persian Fusion Music
Sashar Zarif
Inspired by a strong artistic family background, Sashar Zarif is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Toronto, Canada. He received his formal academic training in performing arts at Azerbaijan Conservatory of Music and Dance, where he was awarded the honorary title of “Artist for People of Azerbaijan”. He continues his Fine Arts studies at York University Toronto, where he is currently a course director for a third year and a second year dance course titled “Introduction to World Dance Practices” within the dance department.
Sashar is the founder and Artistic Director of the Canadian Joshgoon Academy of Azerbaijani Dance, and Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre since 1993. Sashar served as Director of Fine Arts of the Azeri Cultural Association of Ontario (1994-1998), where he taught classical and folkloric Azeri dance to various age groups. It was there that he began his choreographic work, which has been both performed and taught in workshops by he and his company throughout North America, Europe and Azerbaijan.
Sashar was a recipient of the Chalmers professional development grant from the Ontario Arts Council. (2003). Traveling to Azerbaijan, he undertook the gargantuan project of reconstructing a forgotten dance form, which at one time accompanied the mystical musical tradition of Azerbaijan called “Mugham“. For this undertaking, he was mentored by internationally acclaimed singer Alim Qsimov, Mugham singer of Azerbaijan and the recipient of the Unesco MIC music award (1999).
For the past four years he has toured Europe extensively, performing and teaching master classes and holding intensive dance camps in Germany, Norway, Spain, the Czech Republic and Azerbaijan. He has been featured in the films “Dance of Chardash,” “Man Azernaijanliam,” “Five Islands”, and “Rainbow”. In 2001, he founded “Dancers for Peace,” a Toronto festival of ritualistic dance now in its fourth year. In addition, he is the Founder and co-artistic director of Yashar Creative Collective (a cross disciplinary dance company) and Azeri Mirror Garden (a dance and multi media collective).
Sashar’s current areas of specialty and research include improvisation in dance, ethnomusicology, Sufi-Dervish rituals, the therapeutic nature of traditional arts, dances of the Caucuses region and Central Asia, and a reconstruction of a Persian classical dance form called “Saghi” involving music, poetry, anthropology, and their corresponding visual arts. Sashar is affiliated with Khazar International University of Azerbaijan’s Dance Program. He serves as a dance committee member at Toronto Arts Council and sits on the board of directors of Dance Ontario.
Topic: Dance and Identity
