University of Texas at Austin professor gives presentation on Iranian women’s protest

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Professor Nahid Siamdoust from the University of Texas at Austin (UT at Austin) gave a presentation on the ongoing protests in Iran and the cultural and historical roots of the issue. Siamdoust is an Assistant Professor of Middle East and Media Studies at UT at Austin and previously worked as a Middle East-based journalist. 

The protests were originally sparked by the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini on Sep. 13, who died in the custody of Iranian morality police for allegedly wearing her head scarf too loosely. Reports that she was beaten on the head with batons and received no care when she consequently suffered a heart attack were denied by Iranian authorities, but her death has become a rallying call for Iranians who are unhappy with the current socio-political regime in their country. 

Since her death, women across Iran have held demonstrations and protests in support of greater social freedom for women and an overthrow of the current regime of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

According to the SUNY Geneseo events calendar, the talk covered “iconic moments, photographs, and cultural products arising from Iran’s current uprising and [discussions of] the socio-political particularities of this protest movement.” 

Junior political science major Caleb Hart-Fungalei was happy that a woman from the Middle East was chosen to give the presentation, and that Siamdoust was an engaging and knowledgeable presenter. 

“We really wanted an Iranian woman talking and presenting about it. A man coming in or someone who wasn’t Iranian coming in wouldn’t be the same; we wanted someone who actually, intimately knew what was going on in Iran and I think we definitely got that,” he said. 

Hart-Fungalei said that he was surprised at the number of students in attendance of the online presentation but felt reassured that the Geneseo community cared about protest movements in the Middle East. 

“There were definitely a lot of students there. I don’t know the exact number since it was on Zoom and it was hard to tell, but it seemed to have a lot of people interested in it,” he said. “I think my pre-conceived notions would say that not many Geneseo students would be interested or care about a movement like this, but I think I was proven wrong. There was a really good turnout and a lot of really good and attentive questions posed that showed that these students were actually interested and cared.”

Hart-Fungalei said that he hopes the political science and international relations departments host more presentations on the ongoing Iranian protests like this in the future, and that other speakers are invited as events progress in the Middle East.