Azadeh Vatanpour

Azadeh Vatanpour is the Director of the Iranian Studies Program at the University of Austin. She is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) at Emory University and holds an M.A. in Ancient Iranian Culture and Languages from Shiraz University, as well as M.A. degrees in Folk Studies and Religious Studies from Western Kentucky University. As a scholar of religion and minority studies, her research focuses on ethno-religious minority groups in the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on the Yarsan community. She is an associate editor for the International Journal of Persian Literature and for the Iranian and Persian Studies book series published by Springer.

Vatanpour's edited volume, Essays on Gurani Literature (co-edited with Dr. Alireza Korangy), is currently under publication. This work explores the rich literary traditions written in the Gurani language by various ethno-religious groups residing in the Zagros region. She is also co-authoring a book manuscript with Dr. Korangy, titled Birds in Persian Poetics and Poetry: From Pūpak to the Dove (9th c.–21st c.), under contract with Springer. This study traces the symbolism and evolving meanings of avian imagery across a millennium of Persian poetic and literary tradition.