PROFESSOR DR. MINOO DERAYEH

The keynote speaker is Professor Dr. Minoo Derayeh. She is a distinguished scholar in Islamic Studies, World Religions and Gender Studies and an Associate Professor at York University in Toronto. She previously taught at Concordia University and at McGill University. 

Dr. Derayeh received her MA at the Institute of Islamic Studies and her PhD in the Department of Culture and Values, at the Faculty of Education at McGill University. Her research interests are related to gender and religion, modernity and tradition, and religion and social justice. 

Among her select publications are Gender Equality in Iranian History: from Pre-Islamic Times to the Present and her articles entitled “Depiction of Women in Iranian Cinema, 1970s to Present”, “The Myths of Creation and Hijab: Iranian Women, Liberated or Oppressed?” and “De-hyphenate, and De-theorize my voice: ‘I act, therefore, I am’.”

Dr. Derayeh is presently teaching a variety of courses, including, Islamic Thought & Politics: Human Rights in Islam, Equity and Human Rights in Education, Racism and Diversity in Educationand Women, Gender, Religion and Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspective. 

Her forthcoming book revisits Iranian historiography and explores Iranian history and the notion of the “Saviour and the Saved” in the Persian mythology, literary works, religious text, and popular culture from the era of the Pishdadian to the present.

The title of her talk will be Iranian Women’s Literary Contributions.