The story of one woman’s captivity in Iran is part of the topic to be presented at the last Spring International Speaker Series on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwarsdville.
Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., will speak from 10-10:50 a.m. Monday, April 7 in the Morris University Center Hickory-Hackberry Room.
Esfandiari will present “Winners or Losers: Women in the Arab Spring.” She closes a host of varied and interesting speakers who were part of the SIUE International Speaker Series.
Esfandiari is an Iranian-American academic and director of Middle East Programs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Her areas of expertise include Middle Eastern women’s issues, contemporary Iranian intellectual currents and politics, as well as democratic developments in the Middle East.
She was detained in solitary confinement at Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran from May 8-August 21, 2007. She wrote of this tumultuous time in, “My Prison, My Home: One Woman’s Story of Captivity in Iran.”
She comes from a Shia Muslim family and grew up in Iran. She had a career as a journalist and taught at the College of Mass Communication in Tehran. She was also deputy secretary general of the Women’s Organization of Iran. She left the country with her husband and daughter in 1979 because of the Iranian Revolution. She has lived in the U.S. since 1980 and has a dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship.
In the U.S., Esfandiari taught courses on Persian language, contemporary Persian literature and the women’s movement in Iran at Princeton University from 1980-1994. She was the recipient of a highly coveted MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and a fellow at the Wilson Center from 1995-96. Esfandari has served as director of the Middle Eastern Program at the Wilson Center since 1997.
Students, faculty and staff are welcome. Classes wishing to attend should contact International Programs at (618) 650-3278, rschaef@siue.edu or (618) 650-3758, dschill@siue.edu.
Dr. Ron Schaefer is director of the SIUE Center for International Programs.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides students with a high quality, affordable education that prepares them for successful careers and lives of purpose. Built on the foundation of a broad-based liberal education, and enhanced by hands-on research and real-world experiences, the academic preparation SIUE students receive equips them to thrive in the global marketplace and make our communities better places to live. Situated on 2,660 acres of beautiful woodland atop the bluffs overlooking the natural beauty of the Mississippi River’s rich bottomland and only a short drive from downtown St. Louis, the SIUE campus is home to a diverse student body of nearly 14,000.
Photo Information: Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.