C.V.
Dr. Nayereh Tohidi is Professor and former Chair at the Department of Gender & Women Studies, California State University, Northridge. She is also the Research Associate at the Center for Near Eastern Studies of UCLA where she has been coordinating the Bilingual Lecture Series on Iran since 2003. Thanks to a grant from NEH, she is now Director of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies initiative at CSUN toward the establishment of a new minor in MEIS.
Her teaching and research areas include sociology of gender, religion (Islam), ethnicity and democracy in the Middle East and post-Soviet Central Eurasia, especially Iran and Azerbaijan Republic. She is the recipient of several grants, fellowships and research awards, including a year of Fulbright lectureship and research at the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan; post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard University; the Hoover Institute of Stanford University; the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and the Keddie-Balzan Fellowship at the Center for Near Eastern Studies at UCLA. She has held visiting positions at Universities of Iowa, Minnesota, Harvard, UCLA, and USC.
Tohidi’s publications include editorship or authorship of: Globalization, Gender and Religion: The Politics of Women’s Rights in Catholic and Muslim Contexts; Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity within Unity; and Feminism, Democracy and Islamism in Iran.
- A Panel Discussion: Human Rights Concerning the Violence Against Muslims in Burma
- [audio] Women and the Recent Uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa
- [audio] Nine years of Bilingual Lecture Series on Iran at UCLA
- CSUN to Offer Minor in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies in the Fall
- [audio] A Report on the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program at CSUN
- اندیشه ها — نیره توحیدی
- A Night with Bahram Beyzai: Short film screening and discussion (in Persian)
- A Night with Bahram Beyzai: Short film screening and discussion (in Persian)
- MEIS SYMPOSIUM
- MEIS SYMPOSIUM
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CSUN to Gain Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (MEIS) Minor
By Karlee Johnson
September 5th, 2011
Section: News
Dr. Nayereh Tohidi, director of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (MEIS) initiative, hopes to have the MEIS program launched by next year. Photo Credit: Tessie Navarro / Visual Editor
Stereotypes, misconceptions and tensions between communities were cited as reasons for CSUN developing a Middle Eastern and Islamic studies minor in the spring of 2012, according to experts involved.
“There is a misunderstanding about Muslims in general, and a fear that some call ‘Islamophobia,’” said Dr. Nayereh Tohidi, director of the Middle Eastern and Islamic studies (MEIS) initiative. “Which makes people nervous about allowing Muslim immigrants into the United States.”
The program has been in development for several years, its need pressed by the United States military involvement in Islamic-majority countries and the growing misconception of Middle Eastern and Islamic people said Tohidi.
The start of this program “couldn’t be more timely,” said Tohidi.
The development of MEIS has been stalled over the years due to lack of funding, faculty expertise and resources. However, this past spring semester the College of Humanities was awarded $100,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create the minor.
CSUN would join seven other CSU campuses, including Long Beach and San Bernardino, with Middle Eastern studies programs.
Tohidi said that CSUN’s program will require five areas of study for the 19 unit minor: language, history, politics, religion and culture.
“I think [the MEIS minor] would be useful to those who are open-minded,” said Shawna Voragen, senior theatre major. “I may not declare the minor, but I feel like I would be interested in taking a class were it offered.”
Some classes in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies are already being offered this semester, and future courses like Introductory Turkish, Identity Politics of Minorities in the Middle East, and Muslim Women’s Literature will be offered.
Two invitation-only symposia will be held in November to discuss the development of the minor, and interested students are encouraged to contact Dr. Tohidi in Jerome Richfield 340.
