Farkhondeh Shayesteh

Farkhondeh Shayesteh is Persian Program Director at Yale. She holds a PhD in Persian Studies and Master’s Degrees in Middle Eastern Studies and Applied Linguistics. Her research interests include Persian literature, literary translation, and Iranian cinema. The significance of Persian language, literature, and cinema in the formation, reinforcement, and exploration of identity is of particular interest to her. She draws on her training in applied linguistics and second language acquisition, in addition to her research on Persian literature, to inform her approaches to language pedagogy. She is also an ACTFL certified OPI tester and rater. Her recent projects feature the application of Western theories and concepts to the analysis of Persian literature. 

Prior to joining the Yale faculty, Dr. Shayesteh taught courses in Iranian cinema, Persian literature, and all levels of Persian language at University of Chicago, Ohio State University, University of Texas at Austin, and also the University of Maryland where she developed the Persian curriculum for the Center for Persian Studies and served as its inaugural lecturer. 

At Yale, she has created and teaches courses including Classical Persian Literature, Modern Persian Fiction, Persian Media and Culture, and Iranian Cinema: Past and Present. She is the founder of Persian Circle at Yale, an academic association created to facilitate discussion and enhance collaboration among those interested in the Persianate World, with topics including, but not limited to, society and politics, religion and religious issues, science and medicine, philosophy, history and culture, and languages and literatures.