Kathryn Babayan

Babayan graduated with a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1993{{Cite web |url=https://lsa.umich.edu/history/people/faculty/babayan.html |title=Kathryn Babayan |author= |date=2024 |website=lsa.umich.edu |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=December 15, 2024}} with a dissertation on the end period of the Qezelbash groups.{{cite journal |last1=Calmard |first1=Jean |date=2005 |title=Kathryn Babayan. Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs. Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran |url=https://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/2735 |journal=Abstracta Iranica |volume=26 |pages=218 |doi=10.4000/abstractairanica.2735 |access-date=December 17, 2024}}

After her graduation, Babayan's research focus took an interest in mysticism and messianic beliefs in the early Persian world, with her publishing several academic articles on the subject in the mid 1990s. This would ultimately lead to her writing of the monograph titled Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs in 2002 that addresses the political, religious, and cultural society of premodern Iran that took a broad view on how each aspect created the resulting Persian understanding of their own history. Her studies then moved to Safavid Iran and how ghulam influenced the development of the Safavid Empire. This resulted in her collaborating on the 2004 book Slaves of the Shah with Sussan Babaie, Ina Baghdiantz McCabe, and Massumeh Farhad.{{cite journal |last1=Newman |first1=Andrew J. |date=Spring 2006 |title=Review: Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran |url=https://academic.oup.com/jss/article-abstract/51/1/222/1667944 |journal=Journal of Semitic Studies |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=222–224 |doi=10.1093/jss/fgi108 |access-date=December 18, 2024}}

Earlier, during the May 2003 Radcliffe Seminar at the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Babayan met with other academics to discuss current Middle Eastern studies disciplines and how they could be expanded to include elements of comparative literature and queer theory. The gathering came up with the term "Islamicate" to encompass this new field, meant to mirror the already in use term "Italianate" in Italian studies. The aim of the term is to reflect research on Islamic history that isn't specifically about theological subjects. For Babayan, this meant an investigation into the ideas of gender and sexuality in historical Islamic societies, which she became an editor for and contributor to the resulting 2008 anthology named Islamicate sexualities.{{cite journal |last1=Stothard |first1=Blaine |date=November 2009 |title=Book Reviews: Islamicate sexualities: translations across temporal geographies of desire |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14681810903112125 |journal=Sex Education |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=449–451 |doi=10.1080/14681810903112125 |access-date=December 20, 2024}}

Babayan's new dedication to the use of sexuality and specifically eroticism in the era of early Iran resulted in her studying anthologies written during the reign of Abbas the Great. These collected works also featured both the ideology and mystic beliefs of the Safavids. As each work was compiled by a separate commoner in the urban environment of Isfahan, Babayan argued that they together represented a viewpoint that was highly tinged with eroticism and understanding of sexual and romantic love from different classes of society. This research would culminate in her 2021 book The City As Anthology.{{cite journal |last1=Kural |first1=Deniz Çalış |date=March 2024 |title=Kathryn Babayan. The City As Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/129/1/350/7627098 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=129 |issue=1 |pages=350–351 |doi=10.1093/ahr/rhad581 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}

After the publication of this book, Babayan established the Isfahan Anthology Project at the University of Michigan to more extensively study such anthologies, referred to as majmu'a, alongside University of Isfahan historian Nozhat Ahmadi. The goal is to create a digital platform that academics around the world can contribute to and also access the combined anthologies for their own research. She also received in 2024 a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to fund her next book publication titled The Persian Anthology: Reading with the Margins, which investigates the differing reading practices within that early period of Isfahan.

• {{cite book |last=Babayan |first=Kathryn |author-mask=1 |date=2002 |title=Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=575 |isbn=9780932885289}}Reviews for Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs:
• {{cite journal |last1=Bashir |first1=Shahzad |date=Spring 2005 |title=Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran. Kathryn Babayan |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/SCJ20477303 |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=235–237 |doi=10.1086/SCJ20477303 |access-date=December 17, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Matthee |first1=Rudi |date=December 2004 |title=Kathryn Babayan. Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs. Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/109/5/1680/15243 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=109 |issue=5 |pages=1680–1681 |doi=10.1086/ahr/109.5.1680-a |access-date=December 17, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Abisaab |first1=Rula Jurdi |date=February 2005 |title=Kathryn Babayan, 'Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran' |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/kathryn-babayan-mystics-monarchs-and-messiahs-cultural-landscapes-of-early-modern-iran-boston-mass-center-for-middle-eastern-studies-harvard-university-press-2002-pp-575/70C3031DFDF7FECAE8A7A4CDEA7D946F |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=124–126 |doi=10.1017/S0020743805310075 |access-date=December 17, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Newman |first1=Andrew J. |date=September 2005 |title='Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran'. By Kathryn Babayan |url=https://academic.oup.com/jis/article-abstract/16/3/395/796041 |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=395–397 |doi=10.1093/jis/eti167 |access-date=December 17, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Tucker |first1=Ernest |date=July 2008 |title='Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran'. By Kathryn Babayan |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/591768 |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=230–232 |doi=10.1086/591768 |access-date=December 17, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Calmard |first1=Jean |date=2005 |title=Kathryn Babayan. 'Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs. Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran' |url=https://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/2735 |journal=Abstracta Iranica |volume=26 |pages=218 |doi=10.4000/abstractairanica.2735 |access-date=December 17, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Paul |first1=Jürgen |date=2005 |title=Reviewed Work: 'Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs. Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran' Kathryn Babayan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25165123 |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=604–606 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |jstor=25165123}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Farah |first1=C. E. |date=April 2004 |title=Mystics, monarchs, and messiahs: Cultural landscapes of early modern Iran |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/225807154/8F54FA2087714A2DPQ |journal=Choice Reviews |volume=41 |issue=8 |pages=1532 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |via=ProQuest}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Melville |first1=Charles |date=July 9, 2004 |title=Harbingers of the revolution |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/234289923/8F54FA2087714A2DPQ |journal=Times Literary Supplement |issue=5284 |pages=23 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |via=ProQuest}}
• {{cite book |last=Babayan |first=Kathryn |author-mask=1 |last2=Babaie |first2=Sussan |last3=Baghdiantz-MacCabe |first3=Ina |last4=Mussumeh |first4=Farhad |date=2004 |title=Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran |publisher=I.B. Tauris |page=256 |isbn=9780857716866}}Reviews for Slaves of the Shah:
• {{cite journal |last1=Newman |first1=Andrew J. |date=Spring 2006 |title=Review: 'Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran' |url=https://academic.oup.com/jss/article-abstract/51/1/222/1667944 |journal=Journal of Semitic Studies |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=222–224 |doi=10.1093/jss/fgi108 |access-date=December 18, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Floor |first1=Willem |date=February 2006 |title=Sussan Babaie, Kathryn Babayan, Ina Baghdiantz-McCabe, and Massumeh Farhad, 'Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran' |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/sussan-babaie-kathryn-babayan-ina-baghdiantzmccabe-and-massumeh-farhadslaves-of-the-shah-new-elites-of-safavid-iran-london-i-b-tauris-2004-pp-230-6500-cloth/878BDEB3A30F530771D45C8ECE7C8E15 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=141–142 |doi=10.1017/S0020743806272283 |access-date=December 18, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Rota |first1=Giorgio |date=Autumn 2005 |title=Reviewed Work: Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran by Sussan Babaie, Kathryn Babayan, Ina Baghdiantz-McCabe, Massumeh Farhad |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4330207 |journal=Middle East Journal |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=696–697 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |jstor=4330207}}
• {{cite journal |author= |date=November 2005 |title=Slaves of the Shah; new elites of Safavid Iran |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/199657105/6D930B382E52438CPQ |journal=Reference and Research Book News |volume=20 |issue=4 |access-date=December 18, 2024 |via=ProQuest}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Babayan |editor-first=Kathryn |editor-mask=1 |editor-last2=Najmabadi |editor-first2=Afsaneh |date=2008 |title=Islamicate Sexualities: Translations Across Temporal Geographies of Desire |publisher=Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University |page=376 |isbn=9780674032040}}Reviews for Islamicate Sexualities:
• {{cite journal |last1=Stothard |first1=Blaine |date=November 2009 |title=Book Reviews: Islamicate sexualities: translations across temporal geographies of desire |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14681810903112125 |journal=Sex Education |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=449–451 |doi=10.1080/14681810903112125 |access-date=December 20, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Chann |first1=Naindeep Singh |date=January 2009 |title=Islamicate Sexualities: Translations across Temporal Geographies of Desire; Passionate Uprisings: Iran's Sexual Revolution; Sexual Politics in Modern Iran; A Social History of Sexual Relations in Iran |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ic/13/2/article-p425_18.xml |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=425–431 |doi=10.1163/157338410X12625876281749 |access-date=December 20, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |author= |date=December 2008 |title=Kathryn Babayan, Afsaneh Najmabadi, editors. Islamicate Sexualities: Translations across Temporal Geographies of Desire |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/113/5/1638/45415 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=113 |issue=5 |pages=1638 |doi=10.1086/ahr.113.5.1638 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Al-Samman |first1=Hanadi |date=December 2009 |title=Reviewed Work: Islamicate Sexualities: Translations Across Temporal Geographies of Desire by Kathryn Babayan, Afsaneh Najmabadi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25766919 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=129 |issue=4 |pages=693–695 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |jstor=25766919}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Meghani |first1=Shamira A. |date=December 2010 |title=Islamicate cultures, sexual intersections |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1363460710384559 |journal=Sexualities |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=713–722 |doi=10.1177/1363460710384559 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Kheshti |first1=Roshanak |date=Spring 2012 |title=Can the Memoirist Speak? Representing Iranian Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Recent Popular and Scholarly Publications |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/828964/summary |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=50–72 |doi=10.1353/fem.2012.0038 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Babayan |editor-first=Kathryn |editor-mask=1 |editor-last2=Pifer |editor-first2=Michael |date=2018 |title=An Armenian Mediterranean: Words and Worlds in Motion |publisher=Springer International Publishing |page=337 |isbn=9783319728650}}
• {{cite book |last=Babayan |first=Kathryn |author-mask=1 |date=2021 |title=The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=280 |isbn=9781503627833}}Reviews for The City as Anthology:
• {{cite journal |last1=Ghanoonparvar |first1=M. R. |date=Autumn 2022 |title='The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Iran' by Kathryn Babayan (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/6/article/865329 |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=379–381 |doi=10.1162/jinh_r_01865 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Kural |first1=Deniz Çalış |date=March 2024 |title=Kathryn Babayan. 'The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan' |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/129/1/350/7627098 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=129 |issue=1 |pages=350–351 |doi=10.1093/ahr/rhad581 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite news |last=Chaffetz |first=David |date=July 2, 2021 |title='The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan' by Kathryn Babayan |url=https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/the-city-as-anthology-eroticism-and-urbanity-in-early-modern-isfahan-by-kathryn-babayan/ |work=Asian Review of Books |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mitchell |first1=Colin |date=October 2023 |title=The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan. Kathryn Babayan |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/iranian-studies/article/city-as-anthology-eroticism-and-urbanity-in-early-modern-isfahan-kathryn-babayan-stanford-ca-stanford-university-press-2021-pp-260-6500-hardcover-isbn-9781503613386/46A253E36045D03D2F91F5B5C4304602 |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=839–842 |doi=10.1017/irn.2023.33 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Quinn |first1=Sholeh A. |date=September 2023 |title=The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan by Kathryn Babayan |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/persian-lit/article-abstract/doi/10.5325/intejperslite.8.0145/382783/The-City-as-Anthology-Eroticism-and-Urbanity-in |journal=International Journal of Persian Literature |volume=8 |pages=145–150 |doi=10.5325/intejperslite.8.0145 |access-date=December 21, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |author= |date=Spring 2022 |title=Iran: 'The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan' |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2810210860/8101C86077D5408BPQ |journal=The Middle East Journal |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=148 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |via=ProQuest}}

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• [https://lsa.umich.edu/history/people/faculty/babayan.html Kathryn Babayan] at University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

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Category:Living people

Category:Historians of the medieval Islamic world

Category:American women medievalists

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Category:20th-century American historians

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Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American medievalists