Among them are three new Royden B. Davis, S.J. visiting professors: in the Department of History, Danielle Purifoy in the and Mary Roberts in the and the Department of Art and Art History. The positions are funded through an endowment named for Davis, a former dean of the 海角论坛, and focus on enhancing undergraduate and graduate instruction and mentoring in the 海角论坛.

Gustafson鈥檚 expertise is in Persian and Iranian history, Purifoy is teaching a course on Black geographies and Roberts, an art historian, is teaching a class on the exchange and cultural contact between Europe and the Ottoman world during the 19th century.

鈥淲e are thrilled to bring these distinguished visiting scholars to campus,鈥� said , the 海角论坛鈥檚 vice dean for faculty affairs. 鈥淭his will enrich offerings for our students and the intellectual life of campus, more generally. These are the kinds of interdisciplinary connections and opportunities we hope to encourage.鈥�

Learn more about what inspired the professors to enter the world of academia and share their passion for the humanities.

James Gustafson, History 

Gustafson is teaching two courses this semester: History of Iran and Environmental History of Iran.

The first course covers Iran鈥檚 social and cultural history from the Persian Empires of antiquity to the modern Islamic Republic. The second is a seminar that explores how climate change and environmental hazards have shaped modern Iran鈥檚 history. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting to have the opportunity to come in and help build some momentum for developing a really strong program in Iranian studies,鈥� Gustafson said.

He hopes his courses will reveal to students the 鈥渞emarkable similarities鈥� between Americans and Iranians.

鈥淚 think the United States and Iran have had a very difficult relationship for a long time,鈥� Gustafson said. 鈥淎nd I think the only way that you start to build bridges is through understanding. Having a depth of understanding of the rich history of Iran is a great starting point for building a little bit of empathy, a little bit of cross-cultural dialogue.鈥�

Gustafson is visiting from , where he is a professor of history. He started learning Persian on his own as an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts. At the time, he was working at an evening pharmacy job, and his coworker, a woman who had fled Iran after the Iranian Revolution, taught him Persian.

鈥淚 just got hooked on it,鈥� Gustafson said. 鈥淎nd then ended up getting deep into Persian language and literature and never really looked back.鈥�

He would go to earn an M.A. in Middle Eastern studies at the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in history at the University of Washington. Within six weeks of finishing his Ph.D. program, Gustafson received a visiting professorship position teaching Islamic studies at Western Washington University. He has been a professor of Middle East history at Indiana State University since 2012 and has served on the executive committee of the Association for Iranian Studies since 2019.

鈥淚 love when you can really see that you鈥檝e introduced someone to a new idea that they hadn鈥檛 considered before,鈥� Gustafson said of why he enjoys teaching. 鈥淥r a new perspective that they hadn鈥檛 taken in before.鈥�

Danielle Purifoy, Black Studies

For Purifoy, who is teaching the seminar Black Geographies, the field of geography covers much more than maps.

鈥淢aps are a very fascinating, very interesting element to the discipline, but the real scope of geography is pretty boundless,鈥� they said. 鈥淵ou are always situated in a place, and there are so many different ways to think about how your life is shaped by place.鈥�

Purifoy鈥檚 course examines how peoples of the African diaspora have shaped spaces in and around the West. 

鈥淭he course is intended to give folks a very different perspective on how they might think about geography traditionally,鈥� they said.

Purifoy鈥檚 origin story in academia began her senior year of college during Hurricane Katrina. She was a budding journalist interested in writing about race and politics but didn鈥檛 have a specific topic to think through that lens. 

But working on hurricane recovery in Baton Rouge and New Orleans for three years inspired her interest in environmental justice. Purifoy eventually earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in environmental policy from Duke University.

While at Duke, she collaborated with students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who encouraged Purifoy to explore geography as a discipline. She has been an assistant professor of geography and environment at UNC-Chapel Hill since 2020.

Human society and geography help explain the world around us and highlight the importance of learning the humanities, Purifoy said.

鈥淲e absolutely need all of the ways to understand ourselves and our place in this world if we鈥檙e going to do anything to change it for the better,鈥� they said.

Mary Roberts, Georgetown Humanities Initiative and Art and Art History

At Georgetown, Roberts is teaching Ottomans and Orientalists, a course that explores the role of visual culture in forms of exchange and cultural contact between Europe and the Ottoman world between 1798 and 1910.

The class, which includes master鈥檚 and undergraduate students, encompasses the study of diverse forms of visual culture 鈥� from architecture and city planning to illustrated news images, panoramas, caricature and high art, Roberts said. 

鈥淥ne of the many topics we are addressing is the history of exhibitions and the kinds of stories that can be told about cultural relations between Europe and the Islamic world through museum displays,鈥� she said.

Roberts is a specialist in 19th-century modernism, orientalism and Ottoman art and has written several books examining those topics. Her appointment at Georgetown is between the Department of Art and Art History and the Georgetown Humanities Initiative.

鈥淭he research strengths in art history and in Ottoman and Turkish studies at the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences appealed to me,鈥� said Roberts, who is a professor of art history and 19th-century studies at . 鈥淲hat also appeals to me is the rich culture of free inquiry and open debate that is encouraged at Georgetown.鈥�

Roberts grew up in Brisbane, Australia, and was always passionate about making art. In high school, her art history teacher opened up a new world to her, and she discovered that writing about art felt just as creative as making it. 

鈥淎t the same time I was making art, I was actually seeing that one could be completely inspired by artworks from another time,鈥� Roberts said.

When her parents took her to a local art museum, a curator there encouraged Roberts to study art history in Sydney or Melbourne. Roberts moved from Brisbane to Sydney and graduated with a double major in art history and political economy at the University of Sydney. She completed her Ph.D. in art history at the University of Melbourne.

鈥淚 was really interested in that crossover between the social and economic function of art within and between cultures,鈥� Roberts said.

鈥淥ne of the crown jewels in Georgetown 海角论坛 is our Faculty of Language and Linguistics,鈥� said Dean Rosario Ceballo at the ceremony. 鈥淭he FLL is a national and preeminent leader in language education.鈥�

Connecting Georgetown鈥檚 commitment to language education and broad cultural understanding, Dean Ceballo linked the FLL to the university鈥檚 commitment to educating students to be women and men for others. 

鈥淎s we look at the world today, now more than ever, it鈥檚 important to reach out to others, to listen, to learn and to dialogue across our differences,鈥� Dean Ceballo said. 

Faculty Recognized 

Each year, the FLL Distinguished Service Award is presented at the ceremony to a member of the faculty who has 鈥渕ade extraordinary contributions to the programs and mission of the FLL through his or her research, teaching and service to the community.鈥� , convenor of the FLL and , presented the award to , an associate teaching professor and head of the .

Mostowfi not only developed the Persian Studies Program, but was a driving force behind the Persian language minor. As she received her award, Mostowfi addressed the assembled students and faculty, reflecting on her time at Georgetown and the intrinsic value of studying foreign languages. 

鈥淟anguages unlock worlds of possibilities,鈥� Mostowfi said. 鈥淔rench has taken me across three continents and into my dream job. I am teaching the next generation of decision-makers at a world-renowned institution. When your life鈥檚 mission aligns with the work that you do, you will always look forward to coming to work 鈥� as I do every day.鈥�

The Regent鈥檚 Address

The FLL Awards Ceremony is marked each year by The Regent鈥檚 Address, which is given by a senior in the FLL with an exceptional GPA who is chosen by the faculty. This year鈥檚 remarks were delivered by Helen Catherine Poe (C鈥�22), a double major in German and Russian. Due to the pandemic, Poe was unable to study abroad, but her coursework broadened her perspective during an unprecedented time. 

鈥淚 saw that there were other people out there who鈥檇 somehow made sense of an unfair world that I couldn鈥檛 even begin to make sense of myself, and they did it in a way that was uniquely beautiful and beyond translation,鈥� Poe reflected. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have anything in common with most of those authors 鈥� they鈥檇 all died before I was born, and many of them were from countries that don鈥檛 even exist anymore 鈥� but just being about to read their work made me feel less alone.鈥�

Poe鈥檚 Georgetown career, especially the study of other languages and cultures, left an indelible mark. 

鈥淪tudying languages here hasn鈥檛 just given me a way to learn about how other people live, it鈥檚 also helped me understand what I鈥檝e gone through myself,鈥� Poe said. 

Designing Your Paradise 

Persian rugs were historically made by women who would learn to weave at a young age. The completed carpets, which could take years to complete, would become centerpieces of their new homes after they were married. Zoroofchi, whose earliest childhood memory is of sitting in her grandmother鈥檚 home surrounded by bright, lively rugs, says that these carpets were central to the lives of Persian women and their families. 

鈥淭hey would start their new lives on this colorful rug 鈥� they would eat, play, sleep, give birth and live on this carpet,鈥� she continues. 鈥淭he beautiful elements and symbols could bring a flourishing garden or a heavenly image to their daily lives.鈥�

Many Persian rugs depict ornate designs full of trees, birds and fish, which arose from the concept of heaven on earth in the form of gardens. Zoroofchi explained that the word paradise is derived from the Avastan word pari-daiza, which directly translates to 鈥渨alled garden鈥�. 

Mythological figures like Gilgamesh, the Acadian King who searched for eternal life in a garden, as well as religious references such as the Garden of Eden contributed to the idea that gardens were a slice of heaven. 

The philosophy of Persian garden design, known as Chaharbagh, and the Iranian arts can be seen in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. One of the most famous gardens, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India was built by Shah Jahan for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal in order to give her 鈥渉eaven on earth.鈥�

Weavers of these rugs hoped to go on a 鈥渧oyage to paradise鈥� while never leaving their homes by incorporating elements of Chaharbagh gardens into their designs. 

鈥淒uring the Safavid era, Persian arts and carpet weaving reached their golden age as designers started looking at garden design rugs in a different way.鈥� Says Zoroofchi. 鈥淭hey broke down the garden design into its elements of flowers, flower beds, water, cypress trees and seedlings in gardens and incorporated those elements in their designs.鈥�

Zoroofchi focused on four of these elements, including the paisley design, which represented fertility and growth, the prayer rug design that typically incorporated an archway and flora, flower designs, and the intertwined fish design. 

Zoroofchi noted that these rugs bring freshness and hope to the home, but are also each unique, individual pieces of art that should be appreciated and treasured.

Changing your Paradise

Carpet weaving still exists in Iran today, though it has grown in popularity globally. Though many elements have largely stayed the same in their design, some changes have occurred.

鈥淭oday, there are more stylized designs with neutral colors than the bright, vivid colors of older Persian rugs,鈥� says Zoroofchi. 鈥淚 think that there are so many things happening around us that when we get to our homes, we want to spend time in a calmer place, so our idea of what paradise is may have shifted to accommodate this.鈥� 

Though the style of Persian carpets may have shifted over time, Zoroofchi says that she still believes that 鈥渨hen we buy a carpet, we want to bring a beautiful image to our home. 

鈥淚f we look at carpets in that perspective, it’s still a vision of a better, more beautiful place that makes us happy and brings us peace,鈥� she continues. 鈥淩ugs are a piece of art that we buy, but they are also something that we interact with. It is not a painting that we would hang on the wall, it is not a sculpture that we put on a table, it is something that we live on and live with.鈥�

Women in Poetry

Davis has perfected the art of translating Persian poetry. As noted during her introductory remarks, he strikes a difficult balance between flowery lines and scholarly translations. Davis has not only contributed greatly to the translation of Persian poetry but also sheds light on the underrepresented female authors of these works. 

Prior to the 20th century, most Persian poets were male. If poetry was written by a woman, she tended to be of a higher social standing, such as a princess or a member of the court. Even up to the modern day, many poems with female authors have not been studied with the veracity of their male counterparts. Davis has helped bring awareness to these poets by translating their work for the first time. 

Mirror of My Heart contains work by 83 female poets from the 10th to 20th centuries. While at Georgetown, Davis shared poems by three of these poets, the contents of which varied widely from the romantic to the philosophical. 

Davis was quick to mention that many of these female poets broke convention by writing poems that were seen as unladylike. He spoke of them with admiration for their wit and skill, but also of the timelessness of their writing on subjects like love, religion, and death. The awareness that Davis has brought to these poets reminds us that there is much about our past that we can learn from and apply to today, and that by engaging with poets like these, we gain a deeper understanding of our shared humanity. 

Lifelong Passion

Davis has made his career studying medieval Persian culture and poetry, which has helped him to glean the deeper meaning behind the poems he translates from centuries long past. He holds a masters degree from Kings 海角论坛, Cambridge, and a Ph.D from the University of Manchester. Davis has translated volumes of Persian poetry with the help of his wife Afkham Darbandi. He has also written and published his own poetry such as Belonging, and A Trick of Sunlight.

Collaboration Across Departments

The co-sponsored this event with the , the , the , the , and the Jalinous Endowed Fund for Persian Studies, as part of the , directed by .

Shelter and Shield, organized in conjunction with the Jalinous Endowed Fund for Persian Culture and Language Studies, examines the life of Abdolhossein Sardari, an Iranian diplomat living in Paris in 1942 who saved hundreds of non-Iranian Jewish refugees from the Nazis by issuing them Iranian passports. The discussion will also highlight the story of hundreds of thousands of Christian and Jewish Polish refugees who were welcomed to Iran in 1942 and there found refuge and aid from the Iranian people.

鈥淔riendship and hospitality have been a part of the Persian culture鈥檚 key values, especially in times of crisis, for 3000 years,鈥� said , Founder and Director of the Persian Language and Culture Program. 鈥淭his symposium is a significant proof.鈥�

The symposium will begin with a screening of the 2017 Iranian film , a documentary on Sardari鈥檚 activity during the Holocaust by Iranian-British director Mahdieh Zardiny. Following lunch, a panel will discuss the film, Sardari鈥檚 place in the history of the Holocaust, and the story of the Christian and Jewish Polish refugees who found refuge in Iran.

NPR鈥檚 Tom Gjelten will serve as panel moderator. Panelists include Zardiny, who directed the film; Professor Atina Grosman of the Cooper Union; Professor Abbas Milani of Stanford University; Professor Fariborz Mokhtari of the University of Vermont; and Professor Nahid Pirnazar of the University of California-Los Angeles.

“This program, featuring the selflessness and bravery of a single Iranian 鈥� as well as the welcoming, open and inclusive attitude of the Iranian people during a time of war and cruelty 鈥� will hopefully lead to a greater conversation about how people do step forward to help one another, freely and without reserve, and to remembering our shared history and shared humanity,鈥� said Shahrzad Jalinous (C鈥�92, L鈥�95) of the Jalinous Endowed Fund for Persian Culture and Language Studies. 鈥淢y hope is that the program will continue to build these bridges and to demonstrate that Persian culture and traditions are historically rich in friendship and connectedness to their fellow human beings.”

The Shelter and Shield symposium will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 26, in the ICC Auditorium. It is open to the Georgetown community, the public, and the media. Guests can register on , and press are encouraged to contact persian@georgetown.edu for more information.