A crash course on getting fired from a university directorship

Dr. Aria Fani was fired from his position as Middle East Center Director at the Jackson School for International Studies at the University of Washington last April after he sent an e-mail that did not meet with the approval of university administrators.  He writes that in that role, “My very first task was to break bread with the grieving family of my student Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been killed a month prior by the Israeli military. My last act, two years later, was to denounce the US-Israeli assault on Iran in an email to the center listserv.”  At the salon on September 25^th, Aria will talk about his experiences as the director of an area studies unit at the heart of empire, and will also share his thoughts on the war against Iran over six months after its inception.

Dr. Fani is an associate professor of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Washington, Seattle. His first book, Reading across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Literary Nationalism, the winner of the ACLA’s 2025 René Wellek Prize for the Best Monograph in Comparative Literature, was published in 2024. The book details the dynamic and interconnected ways Afghans and Iranians invented their modern selves through new ideas about literature. Aria is the co-translator of Shape of Extinction, a book-length collection of Bijan Jalali’s poems. In addition to teaching and research, Aria engages in social advocacy for non-citizen Americans, particularly asylum seekers from Central America.

Salon duc Tape, a public forum sponsored by NCALF, usually meets on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month from 7:00 — 9:00 p.m. You will need to register in advance for this salon here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information – including a new link – about joining the salon.