Dr. Kathryn Babayan

Biography

Kathryn Babayan is a social cultural historian specializing in the early-modern Persianate world, with a particular focus on gender studies and the history of sexuality. She received the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the 2024-25 academic year for her current project, titled 'Persian Anthology: Reading the Margins of Gendered History and Reading Practices in Early Modern Isfahan.' This project centers around a single Persian household anthology composed by a 17th-century judge and serves as a document that encapsulates legal practices concerning marriage, divorce, and property transactions prevalent during that time. Babayan’s research is part of a larger collaboration with Nozhat Ahmadi, a fellow Safavid historian from the University of Isfahan, aimed at cataloging numerous anthologies housed in Tehran’s public libraries. Her 2021 book, 'City Anthology: Urbanity and Eroticism in Early Modern Isfahan,' received the 2022 Honorable Mention for the Fatma Mernissi Book Award from the Middle Eastern Studies Association. She has also authored and edited several influential works including 'Mystics, Monarchs Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes in Early Modern Iran' and 'Islamicate Sexualities: Translations and Temporal Geographies of Desire.' Babayan is affiliated with Middle East Studies, Armenian Studies, and Comparative Literature, and her fields of study include early modern Iran, gender and sexuality, Shi’ism, Sufism, and manuscript studies.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards