Hamid Dabashi

{| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 85%;"

] , most recently the Locarno International Festival in Switzerland. In the context of his commitment to advancing trans-national art and independent world cinema, he is the founder of Dreams of a Nation, a Palestinian Film Project, dedicated to preserving and safeguarding Palestinian Cinema. As a theorist of trans-aesthetics (“art without border”), his articles and essays on the relationship between art and politics have been featured, translated to many languages, and published by museums and cultural institutes in Europe [ [http://www.fundaciotapies.org/site/article.php3?id_article=5519 Fundació Antoni Tàpies] ] . For his contributions to Iranian cinema, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the Iranian film-maker called Dabashi "a rare cultural critic".

Columbia University controversy

In 2004, Professor Dabashi was involved in a dispute at Columbia University between Jewish students and pro-Palestinian professors, which included accusations of antisemitism against the professors. [ [http://nymag.com/nymetro/urban/education/features/10868/ Columbia University's Own Middle East War] ] According to the New York Times, Dabashi was mentioned principally because of his published political viewpoints, and that he canceled a class to attend a Palestinian rally.cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/education/18columbia.html?pagewanted=2|title=Mideast Tensions Are Getting Personal on Campus at Columbia|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-02-27|last=|first=] The New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sided with the professors. [cite web|url=http://www.nysun.com/article/6826|title=Civil Liberties Official Defends Columbia Professors - December 28, 2004 |publisher=The New York Sun|accessdate=2008-02-27|last=|first=] An ad hoc committee formed by Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University's president, reported in March 2005 that they could not find any credible allegations of antisemitism, but did criticize the university's grievance procedures, and recommended changes. [cite web|url=http://www.nysun.com/article/11414|title=Faculty Committee Largely Clears Scholars - March 31, 2005 - |publisher=The New York Sun|accessdate=2008-02-27|last=|first=]

Controversy

Comments on the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Dabashi has made a number of controversial comments regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In an interview with AsiaSource in June of 2003, Dabashi stated that supporters of Israel "cannot see that Israel over the past 50 years as a colonial state - first with white European colonial settlers, then white American colonial settlers, now white Russian colonial settlers - amounts to nothing more than a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States. Israel has no privilege greater or less than Pakistan or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. These are all military bases but some of them, like Israel, are like the hardware of the American imperial imagination." [cite news|url=http://www.asiasoc.org/news/special_reports/dabashi.cfm|title=AsiaSource Special Report - Interview with Hamid Dabashi|date=June 12, 2003|author=Nermeen Shaikh|publisher=Asia Source]

In September of 2004, Dabashi wrote in an Egyptian in the Egyptian Newspaper Al-Ahram that:

"What they call "Israel" is no mere military state. A subsumed militarism, a systemic mendacity with an ingrained violence constitutional to the very fusion of its fabric, has penetrated the deepest corners of what these people have to call their "soul." What the Israelis are doing to Palestinians has a mirror reflection on their own soul -- sullied, vacated, exiled, now occupied by a military machinery no longer plugged to any electrical outlet. It is not just the Palestinian land that they have occupied; their own soul is an occupied territory, occupied by a mechanical force geared on self-destruction. They are on automatic piloting. This is they. No one is controlling anything. Half a century of systematic maiming and murdering of another people has left its deep marks on the faces of these people, the way they talk, the way they walk, the way they handle objects, the way they greet each other, the way they look at the world. There is an endemic prevarication to this machinery, a vulgarity of character that is bone-deep and structural to the skeletal vertebrae of its culture. No people can perpetrate what these people and their parents and grandparents have perpetrated on Palestinians and remain immune to the cruelty of their own deeds." [cite news|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/709/cu12.htm|title=For a Fistful of Dust: A Passage to Palestine|date=September 23-29, 2004|publisher=Al-Ahram Weekly|author=Hamid Dabashi]

In August of 2008, Dabashi similarly wrote in a scholarly journal, the Middle East Journal of Communication, commenting on artist Mona Hatoum's piece, "The Keffieh":

What is that silent sign of resistance, those quiet designs woven intothe fabric of a global cause against colonialism doing here, under a glass box,staring out at bewildered, indiff erent, bemused, people, looking at it? Lookingat it for what, to see what? Do they see the stolen land of a people behind andthrough its curves, their demolished homes, uprooted olive trees, dispossessedand scattered families, murdered sons and daughters—the transformation oftheir Gaza and their West Bank into concentration camps?

Criticism of the Movie "300"

Dabashi criticized the film 300 (film), the 2007 movie which depicts the battle of 300 Spartans against the Persian Empire. Dabashi stated that the director Zack Snyder is fearful of all the racialised minorities in and out of the United States -- Jews, Muslims, Asians, Africans, Latinos -- gathering storm around his white-washed racism, Snyder has quite unbeknownst to himself given a perfect picture of the way the world sees Bush's army." Dabashi also stated "That monstrosity that Snyder pictures marching towards Thermopylae is the American empire -- and that band of brothers that stood up to that monstrosity are those resisting this empire: they are the Iraqi resistance, the Palestinians, Hizbullah." [cite news|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/856/cu1.htm|title=The '300' stroke|date=August 2-8, 2007|publisher=Al-Ahram Weekly|author=Hamid Dabashi]

Criticism of Columbia University President Lee Bollinger

Following Columbia University President's statements on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia in September of 2007 (in which Bollinger stated that the Iranian President was a "petty and cruel dictator" who lacked the "intellectual courage" to offer real answers on denying the Holocaust) Dabashi wrote that Bollinger's statements were "the most ridiculous clichés of the neocon propaganda machinery, wrapped in the missionary position of a white racist supremacist carrying the heavy burden of civilizing the world." Dabashi further stated that Bollinger's comments were "propaganda warfare … waged by the self-proclaimed moral authority of the United States" and that "Only Lee Bollinger's mind-numbing racism when introducing Ahmadinejad could have made the demagogue look like the innocent bystander in a self-promotional circus."cite news|url=http://www2.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-professor-calls-bollinger-white/|title=Columbia Professor Calls Bollinger White Supremacist|date=October 15, 2007|publisher=New York Sun|author=Annie Karni]

Judith Jackson, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia who is the co-coordinator of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, criticized Dabashi for his remarks, stating that Dabashi's article was "sheer demagoguery" and that "attributing President Bollinger's remarks or behavior to racism is absurd."

elected bibliography

Islamic and Iranian studies

Islamic Liberation TheologyResisting the EmpireBy Hamid Dabashi

* 2008 Islamic Liberation Theology; Resisting the Empire. Routledge
* 2007 . New York, New Press. [http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1579]
* 2005 Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. (Second Edition) with a New Introduction. New York, New York University Press (1993). New Edition, New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Publishers. [http://www.latintradelibros.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=304] .
* 2005 "Ignaz Goldziher and the Question Concerning Orientalism,” as an Introduction to a new Edition of Ignaz Goldziher’s Muslim Studies. New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Publishers. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0202307786]
* 2000 “The End of Islamic Ideology,” Social Research. Volume 67, Number 2, Summer 2000. pp. 475-518. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_2_67/ai_63787340]
* 1999 Staging a Revolution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran. (With Peter Chelkowski). London, Edward Booth-Clibborn Editions.
* 1993 "Historical Conditions of Persian Sufism during the Seljuk Period." In Leonard Lewisohn (ed.), Classical Persian Sufism: From Its Origins to Rumi. London and New York, Khaniqahi Nimatallahi Publishers.
* 1992 Authority in Islam: From the Rise of Muhammad to the Establishment of the Umayyads. Second Edition. New Brunswick, NJ & London, Transaction Books. Winner of the 1990 Association of American Publishers Award in the category of religion and philosophy.
* 1989 Expectation of the Millennium: Shi’ism in History. With S.H. Nasr and S.V.R. Nasr. New York, State University of New York Press.
* 1989 "By What Authority? —The Formation of Khomeini's Revolutionary Discourse, 1964-1977." Social Compass, vol. 36, no. 4, December 1989.
* 1988 Shi’ism: Doctrines, Thought, and Spirituality. With S.H. Nasr, and S.V.R. Nasr. New York, State University of New York Press.
* 1986 "Symbiosis of Religious and Political Authorities in Islam." In Thomas Robbins and Roland Robertson (eds.), Church-State Relations: Tensions and Transitions. New Brunswick, NJ, and London, Transaction Books.
* 1986 "The Sufi Doctrine of 'The Perfect Man' and a View of the Hierarchical Structure of the Islamic Culture." Islamic Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 2, Second Quarter, 1986.
* 1989 "Modern Shi’i Thought". The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modem Islamic World.

Islamic philosophy

* 1999 Truth and Narrative: The Untimely Thoughts of Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadhani. London, Curzon Press.
* 1996 "The Philosopher/Vizier: Khwajah Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and His Isma’ili Connection." In Farhad Daftari (ed.), Studies in Isma’ili History and Doctrines. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
* 1994 "Khwajah Nasir al-Din al-Tusi: The Philosopher/Vizier." In Oliver Leaman (ed.), A History of Islamic Philosophy. London, Routledge.
* 1994 "Mir Damad and the School of Isfahan.” In Oliver Leaman (ed.), A History of Islamic Philosophy. London, Routledge.
* 1994 "Ayn al-Qudat: That Individual." In Oliver Leaman (ed.), A History of Islamic Philosophy. London, Routledge.
* 1990 "Danish-namah-yi AIa'i”. Encyclopedia Iranica.
* 1990 "Mir Damad". The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Visual, performing arts and aesthetics

* 2005 “Artists without Borders: On Contemporary Iranian Art” in Octavio Zaya (Ed), Contemporary Iranian Artists: Since the Revolution (San Sebastian, Spain: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2005). In English, Spanish, and Catalan.
* 2005 “Shirin Neshat: Transcending the Boundaries of an Imaginative Geography” in Octavio Zaya (Ed), The Last Word. San Sebastian, Spain, Museum of Modern Art. In English and Spanish.
* 2005 “Women without Headaches: On Shirin Neshat’s ‘Women without Men.’” Berlin, Germany, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart. In English and German.
* 2005 “Ta’ziyeh: Theater of Protest,” in The Drama Review (TDR). [http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=6&tid=19895]
* 2002 “Bordercrossings: Shirin Neshat’s Body of Evidence,” Catalogue of Castello di Rivoli Retrospective on Shirin Neshat. Turin, Italy. January 2002.
* 2000 “In the Absence of the Face,” Social Research, Volume 67, Number 1. Spring 2000. pp. 127-185. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_67/ai_62402554]
* 1993 Parviz Sayyad's Theater of Diaspora. Costa Mesa, CA, Mazda.

World cinema

* 2008 Makhmalbaf at Large: The Making of a Rebel Filmmaker. London, I. B. Tauris. [http://www.ibtauris.com/display.asp?K=9781845115326&sf_01=CAUTHOR&st_01=dabashi&sf_02=CTITLE&sf_03=KEYWORD&sf_04=identifier&m=1&dc=2]
* 2006 Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema] . Edited, with an Introduction. London and New York, Verso. [http://www.versobooks.com/books/cdef/d-titles/dabashi_dreams_of_a_nation.shtml]
* 2006 Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema. Washington DC, Mage. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/093421185X ]
* 2004 "Yami Karano Kobo"] ("The Light Arisen from the Darkness: On Mohsen Makhmalbaf") —in Japanese, Tokyo. [http://www.makhmalbaf.com/books.php?b=42]
* 2002 “Dead Certainties: Makhmalbaf’s Early Cinema,” in Richard Tapper (Eds), Studies in Iranian Cinema. London, I.B. Tauris.
* 2001 Close up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, Future. London and New York, Verso, 2001. [Translated into Arabic, Japanese, Spanish, and Turkish] .
* 1999 “Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Moment of Innocence,” in Rose Issa and Sheila Whitaker (Eds), Life and Art: The New Iranian Cinema. London, The British Film Institute, 1999. pp. 115-128.

Persian and comparative literature

* 2007 The Adventures of Amir Hamza. Introduction. Random House Modern Library. [http://amirhamza.blogspot.com/] .
* 2003 "Nima Yushij and Constitution of a National subject," Oriente Moderno, Volume xxii (lxxxiii), 2003.
* 1994 "Of Poetics, Politics and Ethics: The Legacy of Parvin E’tesami. In Heshmat Moayyad (ed.), Once a Dewdrop Accosted a Rose: Essays on the Poetry of Parvin E’tesami. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers.
* 1988 "Forough Farrokhzad and the Formative Forces of Iranian Culture." In Michael C. Hillmann (ed.), Forough Farrokhzad: A Quarter Century Later. Literature East and West.
* 1985 "The Poetics of the Politics: Commitment in Modern Persian Literature." Iranian Studies, Special Issue, The Sociology of the Iranian Writer, ed. by Michael C. Hillmann, vol. 18, nos. 2-4, Spring-Autumn, 1985.
* Year? "Persian Literature" for The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modem Islamic World.

Postcolonial theory

* 2008 Islamic Liberation Theology: Resisting the Empire. New York, Routledge. [http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=9780415771559&pc=]
* 2001 “For the Last Time: Civilizations,” International Sociology. September 2001. Volume 16 (3): 361-368. [http://iss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/16/3/361]
* 2001 “No soy subalternista,” in Ileana Rodriguez (Ed), Convergencia de Tiempos: Estudios subalternos / contextos latinoamericanos estado, cultura, subalternidad. Atlanta, GA: Editions Rodopi b.v. 2001. pp. 49-59.

References

External links

* [http://www.hamiddabashi.com/ Hamid Dabashi's Official Web site]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mealac/faculty/dabashi/ Hamid Dabashi's academic site at Columbia University]
* [http://www.makhmalbaf.com/persons.php?p=23&lang=2 Persian Biography of Hamid Dabashi] , Makhmalbaf Film House.
* Hamid Dabashi speaks in the documentary film on Omar Khayyām, "Intoxicating Rhymes and Sobering Wine", [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP6a6_C9t2k&feature=related YouTube] (48 sec).