Dr. Sahba Shayani - Secretary
Dr. Sahba Shayani is a Lecturer in Persian at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He joined the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA in 2023, after teaching at the University of Oxford as Senior Lecturer in Persian. Since 2005, he has been involved in Persian language instruction across a range of academic levels. Dr. Shayani holds a Ph.D. in Classical Persian Literature from UCLA’s Program of Iranian Studies.
His research centers on the role of women in classical Persian epic and romantic-epic literature, with a particular emphasis on female agency, identity, and liminality.
In his teaching, Dr. Shayani strives to instill in his students a lasting appreciation for the Persian language and culture, as well as the richness of the broader Persianate world. He is especially interested in the cultural diversity that defines Persianate societies and seeks to foster admiration for this complexity in his students. Dr. Shayani regularly speaks on the representation of women in pre-modern Persian literature and on Persian literary traditions more broadly, working to share and celebrate this enduring literary heritage with a wider audience.
