AUTHOR
“Mahdavi’s narrative style immerses the reader into forgotten worlds”
- Booklist
“Pardis Mahdavi’s research is impeccable but even more, she is also a gifted storyteller”
- Elizabeth Letts
Book of Queens
“A lively and lyrical chronicle of female freedom fighters in Iran and Afghanistan and the once nearly extinct Caspian horses which they fostered and rode…. This vivid narrative weaves together a surprising array of historical threads to tell a bracingly inspirational tale of women and horses saving each other.”―Publishers Weekly
“A story worthy of Graham Greene… Horse lovers will be fascinated, but with her focus on geopolitics and women’s rights, Mahdavi reaches many audiences.”―Kirkus Reviews
“This sweeping narrative is part memoir, part history, and part adventure tale…. Mahdavi's narrative style immerses the reader into a forgotten world that highlights the strength and courage of women in Middle Eastern history while showing how they saved the oldest breed of horse. Readers interested in women's history or horses will be fascinated by this book.”―Booklist
“In this magnificent story, Mahdavi unearths the tale of the feminist horsewomen warriors who from Persia to the contemporary Middle East overcame political tragedy and personal cruelty, creating a fighting force of their own and passing on their skills, defiant wisdom, and courage from generation to generation. Mahdavi weaves memoir, history, and recent events into an unforgettable narrative about East and West, the tragic costs of war, and the transformative power that bravery coupled with the bonds of sisterhood can unleash.” ―Karen J. Greenberg, Center on National Security, Fordham Law
“A fascinating story that follows Iranian women and their horses through generations of history. The window into their extraordinary bravery and resilience should serve as an inspiration to women everywhere. A must-read for those seeking stories of female empowerment and courage.”―Jessica Donati, author of Eagle Down: The Last Special Forces Fighting the Forever War, a Financial Times Book of the Year
“An exciting, passionate story about a long bond of women and horses set against a backdrop of upheaval and war. Pardis Mahdavi’s research is impeccable but even more, she is also a gifted storyteller who immerses us deeply into this world of courageous women and their incredible devotion to their horses. I loved this book!”―Elizabeth Letts, #1 bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Ride of Her Life
"Book of Queens is a riveting tale of intergenerational strength and the sheer power of cross-species bonds. A virtuoso storyteller, Pardis Mahdavi weaves together the voices and experiences of these fearless horsewomen and their fierce dedication to protecting each other, their horses, and the land they love. Inspiring and captivating from page to page, Book of Queens makes the mind and heart race—almost as if the reader is spirited along by a Caspian itself made out of words." ―Christopher Schaberg, author of Adventure: An Argument for Limits
“Book of Queens tells the astonishing story of the horsewomen of Iran, their strength and courage forged out of violence, oppression, and wars, annealed by their soulful relationship the remarkable Caspian horses with whom they lived and rode into battle. Pardis Mahdavi honors the legacy of these ‘feminist justice warriors.’…This is a breathtaking book that revisits nearly one-hundred years of Iranian history, highlighting the power and beauty of women who refuse to be subdued.”―Alison Hawthorne Deming, author of A Woven World
"With her latest fascinating book, Pardis Mahdavi brings some long-since-buried history into the light. In it, she expertly traces the genealogy of generations of Middle Eastern horsewomen who not only fought for freedom but who also saved Caspian horses from extinction." ―Ms. Magazine
“A breathtaking history, told masterfully. These tapestries of geopolitical history are connected by the author’s personal search for her ancestors and her quest to confirm the existence of the original stud book that authenticates the Caspian horse lineage.”―Library Journal (starred review)
Hyphen
"The hyphen, which may not technically qualify as a punctuation mark, because it operates at the level of the word rather than the sentence―it doesn’t make you pause (though it may give you pause)―has inspired not one great book but two: 'Meet Mr. Hyphen (And Put Him in His Place),' a classic by Edward N. Teall, published in 1937, and Hyphen, by Pardis Mahdavi, which came out in 2021. Mahdavi, an Iranian-American (hyphen hers), was a dean at Arizona State University when she tackled this project, as part of a series for Bloomsbury Academic called Object Lessons, 'about the hidden lives of ordinary things.'" - Mary Norris, The New Yorker
"While the hyphen shines as a connector of compound words and allows them, over time, to take on new meanings, for the author its true magic lies in its ability to harmonize and honor a person's individuality." - Shelf Awareness
"Mahdavi's compelling histories offer guidance for a way out of a struggle that binds us all within so many unhelpful and frankly boring binaries. The book rules." - The Stranger
“Part memoir, part meditation, this book, like the hyphen, is small but mighty. Mahdavi weaves together the line-breaking history of a typographical mark with the heart-breaking choices faced by those living hyphenated lives-Chinese-American, African-American, Mexican-American-in the United States. Mahdavi draws on her ethnographic skills to reveal how the hyphen can punctuate lives, tearing them apart. Yet the hyphen's connective force cannot be underestimated. Ultimately, as an Iranian-American, Mahdavi urges refusal, showing us that to embrace the hyphen is to choose wholeness.” ―Elizabeth Chin, Professor of Media Design Practices, ArtCenter College of Design, USA, and Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist
Gridlock
"This is essential reading for all migration practitioners and trafficking policy-makers, and a solid ethnography for inclusion in migration and gender courses."―Olga Demetriou, Royal Anthropological Institute
"Mahdavi's book Gridlock offers a fascinating report of the negative consequences in the Middle-East, specifically in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Dubai, as a result of the impact of the UN Trafficking Protocol and the U.S. anti-trafficking law . . . [S]uccessfully argue[d]."―Prabha Kotiswaran, rightswork.org
"Pardis Mahdavi provides a valuable service by exposing the contradictions and complexities that so often muddle the discussions and debates surrounding the issue of human trafficking. She makes an impassioned call for a more rational policy for dealing with this scourge, a call that eschews the sometimes simplistic and often melodramatic rhetoric surrounding the problem of international human trafficking."―Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Beyond Fundamentalism
"Gridlock is a lively, provocative and timely book that challenges many long-held and misinformed popular beliefs about human trafficking. Mahdavi astutely and engagingly examines the connections between migratory experiences and trafficking in the UAE, providing an insightful and constructive, ethnographically-based critique of U.S. and international anti-trafficking initiatives."―Nicole Constable, University of Pittsburgh
"This is an extraordinarily well-researched and gripping book on human trafficking in Dubai. With impressive clarity, Professor Mahdavi describes the complex problem of trafficked women, migrants and foreign workers and the role of the international community and the host country in dealing with it."―Haleh Esfandiari, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, author of My Prison, My Home: One Woman's Story of Captivity in Iran
"Mahdavi's examination of the labor conditions in the UAE, teases out the differences between trafficking into forced labor and migration for work-albeit under lousy conditions. Her analysis reveals the perverse effects that anti-trafficking policies have had on migrants' rights. At the heart of the book is a plea for greater worker protections. A must-read for those interested in labor and migration issues-not just trafficking."―Denise Brennan, Georgetown University, the author of What's Love Got to Do with It? Transnational Desires and Sex Tourism in the Dominican Republic
Passionate Uprisings
"Mahdavi's Tehran orgy signals a profound shift in post-revolutionary Iran, as young adults in a young world (two-thirds of the Iranian population consists of urbanites under 30) challenge the regime, although not by anything so political as street rebellion or samizdat pamphleteering. Their preferred methods of protest are sexual adventurism -- the orgy or drug and booze-fuelled party -- and sexual self-expression of a more subtle kind: skimpy underwear, worn beneath the hijab, sends a f..k-you message to the morality police and plants a sly inward smile on the face of the wearer. Passionate Uprisings will...dispel the ignorance in the West about Iran, its people and their tragedy. It should also check any residual sympathy anti-American Westerners may hold for the regime simply on account of its belligerence towards President George W. Bush. This is a cruel regime, loathed by its young citizenry, but it will not prove easy to dislodge." ―The Australian
"The book is in essence an academic work but it will attract the general reader with its occasionally titillating subject matter (she does not shy away from describing sexual encounters and orgies). For Mahdavi's thesis is that the changes in sexual practices and in the sartorial choices of Iran's youth indicate a 'revolution' of conscious resistance to the regime." ―Financial Times
"Part academic treatise, part titillation, Mahdavi's work argues that the social and sexual practices of the urban young adults 'who comprise two-thirds of Iran's population' constitute a form of political dissent and rebellion. While the punishments for premarital sex, drinking and dancing are severe, the author, a journalist and assistant professor of anthropology at Pomona College, captures a hedonistic, postadolescent and pure pop culture spirit, reflecting the interests and activities of the 'highly mobile, highly educated... underemployed' and secular young Tehranis she followed over a seven-year period." ―Publishers Weekly
"Passionate Uprisings offers a unique and amazing look into the ongoing Iranian sexual revolution. That's right―hot sex in the Islamic Republic! Mahdavi documents the secret parties, trysts, and even orgies of rebellious Iranian youth, constantly asking whether a sexual revolution can evolve into a political one. As a close friend of her informants and often a participant in their high-jinks, she's the perfect companion on this unlikely journey―sympathetic, knowledgeable and super-smart!" ―Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author of Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (2005)
"Passionate Uprisings carves a clear trail through the jungle of ideology about life in modern-day Iran, and breaks new ground to show how sex is used by young people in a Muslim country to resist political oppression. A fascinating book unlike any other." ―Sally Guttmacher, New York University
"The controversial change in sexual attitudes and mores the author documents is real, present, and a major factor in the transformation of Iranian life. I particularly welcome Mahdavi's sincere portrayal of Iranian women as strong, in control of their destinies, and able to make decisions for themselves, even if those decisions fly in the face of conventional morality. The book is exceptionally true and honest." ―William Beeman, University of Minnesota
"Kudos to Pardis Mahdavi for shining the light on the most taboo subject in the Iranian culture, sex. Her book shows the degree to which the Islamic government has failed the younger generation―how the constant presence of the Morality Police and the accompanying lack of personal freedoms has led to a breakdown in morals. Mahdavi's work brings to the forefront the long-term consequence of this high-risk sexual behavior and the importance of basic personal freedoms, even under an Islamic government."―Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
"Mahdavi's best and most groundbreaking material has to do with the public health implications of this rift between generations and between acknowledged and unacknowledged behaviors, as well as the society's slow and patchy but often ingenious educational response." ―The Nation
"Passionate Uprisings dispels the one-dimensional and overly simplified view of Iran and its people through the oft-recycled image of women in veils." ―Women's Review of Books
Crossing the Gulf
"Crossing the Gulf paints an intimate portrait of laborers, attentive to their diverse circumstances, contexts, and histories. Pardis Mahdavi has found the anthropological sweet spot―her work is deeply engaged in scholarly conversations, has clear application to policymakers and the regulations they steward, and is penned in the broadly engaging style of the best public anthropology. This book is a gem." -- Andrew Gardner ― University of Puget Sound
"Crossing the Gulf is a path breaking book that offers a powerful and poignant analysis of women's intimate lives lived in migration. Pardis Mahdavi adeptly reveals migrant women's complex subjectivities and agentic power amid the structural contradictions of national development, migration-securitization policies and citizenship laws." -- Christine Chin ― American University
"The main value of the book is the detailed narratives that show how migrants and their children confront strict government policies that shape their mobility and immobility....I recommend Crossing the Gulf for scholars of international migration, gender and the family, and the Gulf states. It is written accessibly and would be a useful course text for undergraduate and graduate students." -- David Scott FitzGerald ― American Journal of Sociology
Migrant Encounters
"The edited volume by Sara L. Friedman and Pardis Mahdavi provides rich and nuanced accounts of the intricate and often precarious circumstances fallen into by many migrant women. It also sheds light on the unusual but innovative measures they come up with to counteract the difficulties they meet in foreign lands." ― PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review
From Trafficking to Terror
“I read this book in one day…and to this day it remains one of my favorite books.”
Human Rights at the Intersections
“This book offers a rich repertoire of theoretical and pragmatic tools to address mounting economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental challenges and crises. It makes a compelling call for the need of innovation, experimentation, cross-sectoral collaboration, and multidisciplinary approaches. A must-read for anyone in civil society, academia, or subnational, regional, and national governments grappling with the need for new solutions and analytical frames. Besides constituting a practical toolkit, the case studies and snapshots from across the globe are also a timely and compelling case for the potential utility of human rights on the ground at a moment in which their relevance and impact are questioned.” ―Claudia López Hernández, Mayor of Bogotá
“This volume assembles a diverse array of experience and expertise that compels a re-imagination of human rights to help analysts and practitioners escape conventional boundaries imposed by powerful groups working to divide communities and otherwise preserve the status quo. By questioning state-centrism and the issue silos that compartmentalize policy processes and social movements, contributors address the structural foundations of human rights and point to productive and novel solutions. A range of timely cases shows how human rights advocates are engaging in innovative and replicable strategies to build power, using the largely untapped normative and institutional resources of human rights to respond to deep-seated problems like structural racism, COVID-19, climate change, and austerity.” ―Jackie Smith, Professor of Sociology University of Pittsburgh, USA, and Co-ordinator of the U.S. Human Rights City Alliance
“This volume aims high in terms of both substance and structure. And it achieves. The through-lines of “intersections” and “transformations” link chapters grouped around the themes of cosmopolitanism, the city, sexual rights, and feminism. The deft introductions by the editors bring these chapters into illuminating conversation. Short snapshots throughout the volume ground the theoretical discussions in the empirical realities out in the world. At a time when human rights are under stress from a rise in global authoritarianism and rejection of the rule of law, these chapters underscore human rights' dynamism and resilience. The result is stimulating, essential reading for those interested in navigating the current challenges to human rights theory and practice.” ―Martha F. Davis, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Northeastern University
“Most studies of human rights have been concerned with the vernacularization of the global – that is, with the making of the lingua franca of international human rights and its contested adoption at the local scale. We need to be equally concerned with the globalization of the vernacular – that is, with the legal and political processes whereby local actors, including subaltern groups, introduce modifications and neologisms into the vocabulary and even the grammar of human rights. This volume gives us precisely this type of well-rounded and complex account of human rights. Rather than remaining in the comfort of partial views of the movement, it embraces the messiness of the practice of rights and the possibilities of this transitional moment. And it rekindles our imagination at a time when we need it most.” ―César Rodríguez-Garavito, Professor of Clinical Law, Faculty Director and Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, USA
Coming Soon: Riding
In her upcoming release Riding, Pardis Mahdavi meditates on the lessons learned over a lifetime of horseback riding and the falling, failing, and joy it brings. At once a history of Caspian horses, an exploration of Mahdavi’s Iranian-American identity and family history, and a reflection on the capacity for self-reflection and self-compassion through human-animal relationships, Riding offers a roadmap for learning to live in harmony with the self and the environment around us. Mahdavi shows how her relationship with horses gives her insights into intergenerational strength and tools for healing intergenerational trauma. Riding from the mountains of Iran to the beaches of California, Mahdavi shares her love affair with horses, rediscovers a homeland she longs for, and ultimately, finds her strength.