Peyman Vahabzadeh

Visiting Scholar

Areas of Study:

• Classical and contemporary social theory
• Iranian Studies
• Social movements
• Phenomenology and Continental philosophy
• Exile

Specific Research Interest:

Twentieth century Iranian social movements

Biography: 

Peyman Vahabzadeh received his PhD in Sociology from Simon Fraser University (2000) and completed a two-year SSHRC-funded Postdoctoral Studies at the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria. He has taught sociology, political science, CSPT and humanities at SFU, UVic and Brock University (Ontario).  He is the author of Articulated Experiences: Toward A Radical Phenomenology of Contemporary Social Movements (SUNY Press, 2003) and A Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy and the Fadai Discourse of National Liberation in Iran, 1971-1979 (Syracuse University Press, 2010), the guest editor of the special issue of West Coast Line on “Writing Rupture: Iranian Emigration Literature” (2006) and the co-guest editor of the special issue of the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory on “Democracy, Religion, and the Politics of Fright” (2007).   His contributions have appeared in the Canadian Journal of Sociology, West Coast Line, The European Legacy, Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, and Iranian Studies.  His essays, poems, short stories, and interviews have appeared in English, Persian, Kurdish, and German. 

Papers:

• 2009. “Ultimate Referentiality: Radical Phenomenology and the New Interpretive Sociology.” Philosophy and Social Criticism 35:4 (May 2009). 447-65.
• 2008. “Where Will I Dwell? A Sociology of Literary Identity within Iranian Diaspora.”Comparative Studies of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East 28:3 (Fall 2008). 495-512.
• 2007. “The Conditions of Subalternity: Reflections on Subjectivity, Experience and Hegemony.” Socialist Studies/Études socialistes 3:2 (Fall 2007). 93-113.
• 2007. "Measure and Democracy in the Age of Politics of Fright." Journal for Curltural and Religious Theory 8:2 (Spring 2007). 8-27.
• 2007. Mostafa Sho'aiyan: The Maverick Theorist of the Revolution and the Failure of Frontal Politics in Iran." Iranian Studies 40:3 (June 2007). 405-425.
• 2007. "Mustafa Shu‘a‘iyan and Fada`iyan-i Khalq: Frontal Politics, Stalinism, and the Role of Intellectuals in Iran." British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 34.1 (April 2007). 43-61.
• 2006. "Reflections on A Diremptive Life and Four Theses on Origins and Exile."Journal for Interdisciplinary Crossroads 3:1 (April 2006). 163-181.
• 2005. "Of Hegemonies Yet to Be Broken: Rhetoric and Philosophy at the Age of Accomplished Metaphysics." The European Legacy 10:4 (June 2005). 375-388.
• 2004. "The Space Between Voices: Nima Yushij and the 'Receding Signfied'," in Ahman Karimi-Hakkak & Kamran Talattof (eds.), Essays on Nima Yushij: Animating Modernism in Persian Poety (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill). 193-219.
• 2001. “A Critique of Ultimate Referentiality in the Social Movement Theory of Alberto Melucci.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 26:4 (December 2001). 611-633.
• 2001. “Technological Liberalism and the Anarchic Actor,” in Ian Angus (ed.), Anarcho-Modernism: Toward A New Critical Theory, In Honour of Jerry Zaslove (Vancouver: Talon Books). 341-350.