Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani

Areas of interest

What intrigues Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani about world literature is that it tells the story of stories: the life literature acquires when it is translated into different languages and as it begins to speak to the spirit of different times and cultures. Her research focuses on the movement of literature between Iran and Germany, which exposes world literature as a form of cultural resistance. She has published on Goethe’s conception of world literature with respect to his engagement with Hafez; Nietzsche’s appropriation of Zarathustra in the context of moral philosophy and power; and the influence of Heidegger and Marx on the Islamic Revolution. Her latest research looks at the role world literature played before and after the Islamic Revolution, and the ways in which religion and technology become weaponized in post-colonial discourse. In her teaching she enjoys exploring themes around technology and culture, revolution, exile and migration, money and power, creativity and the work of art, and love.