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Conference presentations

Keynote & Invited speaker at National and International Conferences
(a selection)

 

2016  
14-16 April “Enemies of Mystical Love: Mullahs against Mystics in Persian Mystical Poetry,” at the International Conference Sufis and Mullahs: Sufis and Their Opponents in the Persianate World at University of Exeter.
14-17 April “A Miscellany as a Mirror of individual Learning” and “Literary Riddles and Metaphors for Thought” at Across Text and Source: International Namo Workshop at University of Chicago. As I was absent my two papers were read by Professor Thibaut D’Hubert (University of Chicago) and Professor Sunil Sharma (University of Boston) respectively.
5 March “Rumi: de nachtelijke meester,” Museumnacht 010: ‘Duizend-en-een-nacht’ in het Wereldmuseum, together with Sohela Naghib-Bukman.
2015  
4 December           “Mystic love and the Iran-Iraq war” at the Conference Mystic Love in Christianity and Islam, Traditions and Future, University of Antwerp (UCSIA).
22 November “The Persian Poet Rumi: Why is Rumi so popular for Western public?” at World Museum in Rotterdam (at the exhibition The Persians: Warriors and Poets, 24 September 2015-28 March 2016).
19 November “Condolences or Congratulations: How to Interpret Martyrs of the Iran-Iraq War” at LUCIS (Leiden University centre for the Study of Islam and Society.
13 November    “Lovers and Martyrs: Shiite Passion Plays in Modern Middle-Eastern Politics” organized by House of Wisdom Foundation, Hikma Foundation, and T.F.L.S. Student association.
30 October    “The Reception of Hafez in Modern Iran” at University of Illinois, Center for South Asian and Middle eastern Studies, Urbana-Champaign, USA.
20-23 May         “Intention in Persian Mystical Literature” at Degree Zero of Sound and Image: Creation before the Act; third meeting: ‘Intention’ Frankfurt am main Institute Français D’Histoire en Allemagne.
4 June “The Reception of the Qalandars in the Caucasus? Nizami Ganjavi and Other Poets of the Region” at International Conference Antinomian Movements in Islam: Ideas of Violence and Non-Violence in Islamic Mysticism, 3-4 June 2015 at Leiden University.
13 June           “Rumi en Hafez, liefde en de ziel. De Geliefde in het Perzische mystieke denken” in Bilthoven, Symposion over de bronnen van de grote wijsheidsstromingen.
1 May             “Rabe’a al-Adawiyya’s Place in Islamic Mysticism” at the symposium Passionate Women in Islam and Buddhism, organized by House of Wisdom Foundation, Leiden.
28 April   “Shiite Passion Plays” at the symposium Theatre and Religion organized by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
28 April                “State of the Art of the Study of Islam Study at Dutch Universities” at mini-symposium Perspectieven op Islamwetenschappen in het Universitair Onderwijs organized by the Young Academy and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
7 April           “Conspiracy Wall: Paintings of Fahrettin Orenli” on the occasion of the paintings and other art works of the artist at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
11-12 March “Shattering the Laws: Antinomian Mystical Ethics in Nezami Ganjavi’s Work” at The Nizami Ganjavi Ethics Symposium, Organised by Globethics, Geneva, Swiss.
2014  
15 October “Bespiegelingen over een Perzische liefdesepos en Floris en Blanchefloer” at the Symposium, Wegen van contact: handschriften en culturen (Leiden University).
10 October “Simin Behbahani’s Reflections on Iran-Iraq War” at The Lioness of Iran. Poetry Recitation and lectures on Simin Behbahani (1927-2014).
19/20 June “Improvisation as a Mode of Islamization of a One-Night Stand in Persian National Epic,” at the International Conference Improvisation: Degree Zero of Sound and Image: Creation before the Act, in Paris at Institut National de l’Histoire de l’ Art.
24 March “The body of the beloved in Persian literature” at the international conference Viewing the Body: Japanese and European Approaches to Concepts of the Corporeal.
2013  
19 December “Innerlijke wereld van Rumi: filosofie en Soefisme in zijn poëzie” organised by Turkish Dutch Leadership Society and Yunes Emre Institute, at Rotterdam Theatre Zuidplein.
13 December  “De maakbare mens: Rumi’s doctrine van de volmaaktheid” at Heldere Bronnen, Colloquium Rumi: Welkom in de herberg, in STUK: Kunstcentrum, Leuven.
10 December “The Lioness of Iran: Simin Behbahani on Social Justice and non-Violence” at Hivos Human Rights Day seminar: Human Rights and the Quest for Gender Equality in Iran organised by Hivos.
29 November “Jaloerse minnaars: bespiegelingen op Ghazali’s liefdesverhandeling” at Symposium  Lessen in de liefde: Grote klassieken over wellevendheid en erotiek, (Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden).
14 November ‘And Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness:’ The Beloved’s Gender in Transcultural Literary and Artistic Exchange, at The Seventh Horst Gerson Lecture Program, University of Groningen.
22 October  “De verwantschap tussen de Perzische en Nederlandse taal en literatuur” organised by On File. Journalisten en Schrijvers in Castrum Peregrini in Amsterdam.
10 May “Sufism in Modern Times, Attar’s Conference of the Birds” at American Bookshop in The Hague.
30 March   “Persian Poets in a Medieval Miscellany” at Classical Persian Poetry and Poets: The Timurid & Turkmen periods at Exeter University.
24 March “Hafez’s poetry at Persian national Festivals,” in Mozes and Aäronkerk in Amsterdam
13 January “Sufism in Modern Times, Attar’s Conference of the Birds” at American Bookshop in Amsterdam.
11 January Discussing the film Habibi made by Susan Youssef, organized by de filmafdeling van Amnesty, Movies that Matter (MTM), in Kijkhuis, Leiden.
2012  
12 December “Poetry and Martyrs of Iran-Iraq War” at A.S.V. Prometheus (cultural student society) in Leiden.
27 March  “Seksualiteit in de Perzische poëzie” for the society “'t Sticht van de Orde van den Prince” at Amersfoort.
13 March  “Politieke Machtsstrijd in Iran: wie is de oppositie” for Studium Generale of Erasmus University in De Unie in Rotterdam, a combination of a lecture followed by a debate with Ko Colijn and Carolien Roelants.
21 September “Reception of Hafez’s Poetry in Modern Iran,” at One Day with Hafez, Leiden University.
11 September “Khayyām in de Amerikaanse, Iraanse en Russische politiek” at presentation of the book The Great Omar Khayyam: A Global Reception of the Rubáiyát in Spui 25 in Amsterdam.
22 February “De Konya Criteria” for Biruni Foundation at Leiden University, Faculty of Social Sciences.
4 February “Images into Words: Metaphors as Hallmarks of Poetic Individuality” at the conference The Idea of Iran: the Age of Great Saljuks University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.
2011  
3 December “Rumi and the Academy of Love: Islam and Antinomianism” presented by Dr. Lenny Lewisohn at the International conference The Legacy of Rumi (d. 1273) in Later Islamic Philosophy and Poetry at University of Exeter.
28 October “Persian Patriotic Lullabies: Their Forms, Socio-Political and Religious Applications at Imagining Modernity: Local Games, Illicit Pastimes, and Treatment of Animals in Early Twentieth Century Persian Literature at Leiden University.
1 June “Een Perzische Floris en Blanchefleur” at the conference Islam and Muslims in Dutch Art and Literature, held at KNAW in Amsterdam and Leiden University.
25 May  “Scientific Views on Nature in Medieval Persian Poetry: Nezami’s Seven Beauties” Islam, Poetry and Science at Spui 25 in Amsterdam.
21 April  “Het verleden in dienst van het heden: de constructie van de Perzische identiteit in de 20e eeuw” at filmzaal RMO, NINO-Lecture.
28 March  “Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni (973-1048) en de Wetenschappen” at KNAW, regular meeting of the sectie Natuurkunde (together with J. Hogendijk).
2010  
8 March  Wetenschappelijke integriteit at KNAW, organized by Pieter J.D. Drenth (I participated in a debate together with three members of the Young Academy (E.A.M. Crone, M.J.Th.H. Goumans, and C.H. Sieburg).
6 May “Persian Cosmogony in Arab Garb” Studium Generale, Identity in the Middle East, at Leiden University.
17 May “Martyrs in Persian Art and Literature” at Littéraire Sociëteit De Witte (‘Asia table’) in The Hague.
16 June “Zoals lichtende vuurvliegen naar de nacht verlangen”: Layla en Madjnun at 41st Poetry International Festival Rotterdam, at Rotterdamse Schouwburg (as the presentator of the programme). 
2009  
9 January “Ferdowsi: An Icon of Nationalism in Modern Iran” at the International Conference The Reception of the Shahnama at Leiden University.
9 February “Martelaren: van mystieke weg tot oorlogspad” in Trippenhuis, KNAW, in Amsterdam.
6 April Commentary on the film The Glass House together with Omid Tofighian at Studium Generale on the occasion of the “landelijke Maand van de Filosofie.
18 June  “De Kaars als Verliefde Minnaar” in Studenten Unie Nederland in Amsterdam.
7 July  ‘Wash me in Wine when I go’: The Ethics of Khayyam’s Quatrains and their Social Implications’ at the international conference The Legacy of Omar Khayyam: Mathematician, Philosopher, Astronomer and Poet, Leiden University.
29 August  “Classical Persian Poetry in the Gym” at Documenting Oral Traditions in the Non-Western World, Leiden Institute for Area Studies at Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
26 August  “Martyrdom as Piety, Mysticism and National Icon in Iran” at Religion, Identity and Conflict: Consortium for Asian and African Studies Inaugural International Conference, Leiden University.  
26 September  “‘O People of the East, what Should then be done’: Mohammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and the Role of the Persian Language and Mysticism in the Indian Subcontinent” at Persia and India Day organized by de Vereniging van Vrienden van het Instituut Kern, at Leiden University.
6 September  “De Positie van de vrouw in moderne Iraanse samenleving” in Scheltema voor Actuele Kunst in Leiden.
28 November “Sexuality and homoeroticism at Persian Courts” for the Fifth anniversary of the Society for Medieval Studies Firapeel.
2008  
15 July “Riddle as Political Emblem” in The Rise of Persian Renaissance at Wadham College (Oxford University).
19 December “Verstroyde van daer over de gantsche aerde: Wetenschappelijke uitwisselingen in de 17e eeuwse Nederland” in the framework of a KNAW-activity ‘Huys van Wetenschap’ in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam (together with Jan Schmidt).
12 October “Het raadsel van de republiek: de mystieke poëzie van Ayatollah Khomeini” in Science Centre NEMO in Amsterdam. (held twice for different public).
2007  
16 December  “‘De school van de liefde’ en Rumi” at symposium Rumi, Islam en het westen at De Balie in Amsterdam.
1 November “Sublieme aard: natuur in de klassieke Perzische poëzie” at De Jonge Akademie (KNAW), Amsterdam.
1 April  “The Erotic Spirit: Mystical vs. Romantic Love (‘eshq-e haqiqi va majazi) in Persian Poetry from Nezami to Hafez” at Hafiz and the School of Love in Classical Persian Poetry, at the University of Exeter (Iran Heritage Foundation).
2006  
15 January  “Khayyam, Rumi en Hafez: mystiek in de klassieke Perzische literatuur” at the Openbare Bibliotheek Cinétol (organised by El Hizjra).
6 June  “Mystieke liefde in de Perzische poëzie” at the cultural centre De Balie in Amsterdam.
2005  
15 November “Poëzie en Muziek in Iran” (‘Poetry and Music in Iran’) at de Bijloke Concertzaal Gent.
2004  
31 January “Punctuation Symbols in a Fourteenth-Century Persian Miscellany” at the conference The Lives and world Views of Pre-Modern Literati: Ottoman Literary Culture and its Sources in a Global Perspective, Leiden University.
9 September “A Mystical Reading of Nizami’s View on Nature in the Haft payker” Nizami Ganjavi: Artistic and Humanistic Aspects of the Khamsa at the Cambridge University. (Due to private circumstances, Dr. Gabrielle Van den Berg read this paper).
2003  
19 September          “De oorsprong van Zur-khana (Perzische traditionele gymnastiek) en zijn sociale functie in het hedendaags Iran” in Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (Royal Institute of the Tropics).
2002  
4 January  “Genres in Perzische Volkspoëzie” at Public Library of Rotterdam.
17 May  “Het verband tussen muziek en poëzie” in RASA Wereldculturencenturm in Utrecht .
14 June   “Hijāb va ash`ār-i kashf-i hijāb dar avvalīn daura-hā-yi shi`r-i mudirn-i Fārsī” for the Iranian Scientific Association in the Netherlands in Delft.
20 June  “The Symbolism of Veiling and the Poetics of Unveiling in Early Modern Persian Poetry” at the International conference on Dress and Costume of Nineteenth-century Iran, in Leiden, The Netherlands.
2000  
4 July  “Is Nezāmi’s Majnūn a Vegetarian?” at BRISMES-Conference 2000 at Cambridge University.
9 November  “Poëzie in de Volksmuziek van Khorasan” at cultural centre Vooruit  Gent, Belgium.
11 November “De volkspoëzie van Khorasan en de kwatrijnen van Omar Khayyām” at RASA Wereldculturencenturm Utrecht.

1999

  
5 March  “The Poet Manūchihrī and the Ode Number 31,” Symposium on Fasāhat and Balāghat, at Cambridge University.

1998

  
21 November “Sa’di en de zee” in de Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam on the occasion of the presentation of the book, De Zee, De zee.