Forced Displacements, Changing Identities
About this Event
The Drs. Fereidoun and Katharine Mirhady Endowed Lecture in Iranian Studies returns in 2026. This time, Mirhady scholar Behnaz Mirhady (Brock U) traces the remarkable life of Mahboob Qirvanian from his childhood in Tunisia through forced migration and enslavement in the Ottoman Middle East to freedom and citizenship in Iran. Drawing on Mahboob’s recently translated autobiography—the only known account written by a formerly enslaved African in Iran—Behnaz Mirzai places his experiences within the political upheavals of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Ottoman Empire’s final decades. Mahboob’s story offers a rare personal view of slavery, emancipation and life after enslavement across Iran, the Ottoman Empire and the wider Indian Ocean world. It also reveals how displacement and changing social contexts reshaped his racial, national and religious identities.
Seating is limited - register today to secure your seat!
Event to be followed by a light reception. Hosted by SFU History.
Behnaz Mirzai is a professor of Middle Eastern history at Brock University whose work explores slavery, emancipation and the African diaspora across Iran and the Indian Ocean world.
She is the author of A History of Slavery and Emancipation in Iran, 1800–1929 and The Life of an Enslaved African in the Ottoman Empire and Iran: Autobiography of Mahboob Qirvanian. The latter presents the only known autobiography written by a formerly enslaved African in Iran.
Mirzai has conducted fieldwork in Iran, Tanzania and Zanzibar. She also produced the documentaries Afro-Iranian Lives and The African-Baluchi Trance Dance and curated exhibitions on Baluchi culture. Afro-Iranian Lives received a Special Mention at the Zanzibar International Film Festival.
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