Amir Sayadabdi wins dissertation award
Congratulations to Dr Amir Sayadabdi for winning the inaugural Neda Nobari Dissertation Prize in Iranian Diaspora Studies.
Amir won this award for his recently completed PhD thesis Food and Identity: The Iranian Diaspora in New Zealand, and the award committee had this to say about his work: "This beautifully written dissertation offers a nuanced account of how Iranians in Christchurch, New Zealand negotiate the vicissitudes of migration through cooking, eating, and sharing food within and beyond their own community. Sayadabdi offers a deeply thoughtful account of his fieldwork in family homes, at parties and celebrations, in Iranian restaurants and grocery stores, in which he observes the symbolic and affective dimensions of food and foodways."
The Neda Nobari Dissertation Award is awarded biennially by the Association for Iranian Studies on behalf of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University to the author of an exceptional PhD dissertation (completed within the last three years of the nomination) that investigates topics connected to the global Iranian diaspora.