- Assoc. Prof. Dr.
- Elham Etemadi
Bio
Elham Etemadi holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Leuven, Belgium. She is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Textile and Fashion Design at ARUCAD, Cyprus. Her previous academic positions include Hunan Normal University in China and Azad University in Iran. Her research focuses on Iranian art, particularly iconology, book illustration, image-text relations, gender representation, and cultural sociology. She has presented her work at conferences across North America, Europe, and Asia. Her recent book, Sani‘ ol-Molk’s The Thousand and One Nights, was published by Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature).
SDG Areas Worked
Research Areas
Art History; Iconology; Comparative (visual) Narrative; Book Illustrations, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies; Islamic Art; Iranian Studies; Qajar Painting.
| Degree | University | Graduated Year |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor | Art University, Tehran, Iran | 2003 |
| Master | Tehran University, Tehran, Iran | 2007 |
| PhD | KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium | 2015 |
| Title | University | Area | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assist. Prof. Dr. | Department of Art and Architecture, Science and Research branch of Azad University, Iran. | Art History | 2016 |
| Assoc. Prof. Dr. | Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, China | Art History | 2019 |
Articles published in peer reviewed international journals (SCI,SSCI,Arts and Humanities)
| Publication Name | Published Date | SDG Areas |
|---|---|---|
The Changing Landscapes of Iranian Art: Tehran Auction As a Mirror”, Journal of Iranian Studies | 2026 |
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Other Publications
| Publication Name | Published Date | SDG Areas |
|---|
Articles published in other peer reviewed international journal
| Publication Name | Published Date | SDG Areas |
|---|---|---|
"Sani ‘ ol-Molk Voyage of Discovery in Europe”, Journal of Persianate Studies | 2026 |
|
“Nineteenth-Century Persian Book Illustration: Portraying the Lovers of The Thousand and One Nights.” Journal of Foreign Languages and Cultures | 2021 |
|
Symbolic Values and Visual Representations of Majnun,” Waikato Islamic Studies Review | 2021 |
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“Title and Persian Paintings: an Iconographical Reading of The Two Young Lovers and Coiffeuse.” Fine Arts Journal | 2021 |
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Co-edited Journal Issue -With Omid Azadibougar: “New Persian Studies: Perspectives in Arts and Literature.” Special issue of Journal of Foreign Languages and Cultures | 2021 |
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“An Iconological Reading of ‘Majnoun’ in Illustrations of Safavid Era.” Fine Arts Journal | 2019 |
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“A Study of the Application of Iconological Approach to Pre-Modern Persian Paintings.” Biquarterly, Scholarly Journal of Theoretical Principles of Visual Arts | 2017 |
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“Shahrzad and Shahbaz: A Story Illustrated in Signs.” Anthropology of the Middle East | 2017 |
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“perho, Irmeli. Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts: Codices Persici, Cordices Eyseriani, Codex Persicus Add. Copenhagen: NIAS Press and Det Kongelige Bibliotek.” Persian Literary Studies Journal 6 | 2017 |
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Papers presented in National conferences and printed as proceedings
| Publication Name | Published Date | SDG Areas |
|---|
Papers presented in international conferences and printed as proceedings
| Publication Name | Published Date | SDG Areas |
|---|---|---|
| “Iranian Paintings and its Contextual Reading,” 35th Deutscher Orientalistentag DOT 2025, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany | 2025 |
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| “Transforming Cultural Capital: Sohrab Sepehri, A Renowned Poet, High-Selling Painter,” 13th International Conference on Economic and Social Sciences, ARUCAD, North Cyprus | 2025 |
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| “Tehran Auction: The Commodification of Art and the Shift in Cultural Values,” Visual Arts, Narrative and Social Class, University of Turku, Finland (Online) | 2025 |
|
| “The Triumph of Capital; The Social Prestige of Art in Iran,” 15th International Congress on Current Debates in Social Sciences, Grigol Robakidze University, Georgia | 2024 |
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| “Qajar King in Sani‘ ol-Molk The Thousand and One Nights,” Iconic Figures: Intersecting Religious and Political Narratives of the Past, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin | 2022 |
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| “Narrative-Image Relationships: The Classical Illustration Tradition in Iranian Art History,” UAAC Annual Conference, University of Toronto, Canada (Online) | 2022 |
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| “Imagining Character Transformation: The Case of Shahrzad in Thousand and One Nights,” RAA19 double session at UAAC Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada (Online) | 2021 |
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| “The Storyteller vs. the Wife: Shahrzad in Thousand and One Nights,” The Fourteenth Annual ASEMA Conference, Washington, US | 2021 |
|
| “Time, Narrative and Shahrzad’s clothes,” Eighth Biennial Convention of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPA), National Library and Archives of Iran | 2017 |
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| “On Methodology for Studying the Content of Pre-modern Persian Paintings,” 11th Colloquy of the Ernst Herzfeld-Society, Bamberg University, Germany | 2015 |
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| “Facial Hair as Representative of Superiority in Thousand and One Nights,” The Visual World of Persianate Culture, University of Edinburgh, Scotland | 2014 |
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| “Relevant Introduction? Examining the King and His Sons in Sani‘ ol-Molk’s Thousand and One Nights,” 9th Colloquy of the Ernst Herzfeld-Society, Hamburg University, Germany | 2014 |
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| “Iconography and Semiology in Persian Painting, Qajar Era (19th century),” First Future Workshop of the Ernest Herzfeld-Society, University of Bamberg, Germany | 2013 |
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| “Iconography in the 19th century Persian Book Illustration and Painting: The case of Thousand and One Nights,” at 8thColloquy of the Ernst Herzfeld-Society, Zurich University, Switzerland (poster presentation) | 2012 |
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| “Melting into the Other: the Receding Borders of Identity: Sani‘ ol-Molk’s Legacy of Colonized Iranian Art,” Under Construction: Gateways and Walls, EACLALS triennial conference, Bogazici University, Turkey | 2011 |
|
| (with Stanford university travel and conference grant) “The Verbal Conditionality of Visual Literacy: Early Modern Persian Paintings,” Language, Literacy and the Construction of Social Authority in Islamic Societies workshop, The Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University, USA | 2011 |
|
| (with KU Leuven travel and conference grant) “Homosexuality Disclosed: Iconological Analysis of Sani‘ ol-Molk’s ‘The Two Young Lovers and a Coiffeuse’,” at World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES), co-organized by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (EIMed) and Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain | 2010 |
Books and books chapters published internationally
| Publication Name | Published Date | SDG Areas |
|---|---|---|
| Sani‘ ol-Molk Thousand and One Nights: A Study of Image Content and Visual Adaptation, Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature) | 2024 |
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| “Homosexuality Disclosed: An Iconological Analysis of The Two Young Lovers and a Coiffeuse.” In New Perspectives in Iconology, edited by Barbara Baert, Ann-Sophie Lehmann, and Jenke Van den Akkerveken, Brussels: APS editions | 2012 |
Doctorate Thesis Supervised
| Doctorate Thesis |
|---|
| Parisa Taher-Khani, “A Study of the Economic Factors Influencing the Expansion of Art Patronage in the Timurid Era” (defended: October 2025 at Azad University, Tehran). |
Master Thesis Supervised
| Master Thesis |
|---|
| Ali Nosrati, “A Visual Comparison of Female Characters in 1940s Hollywood Film Noir and Film-Farsi” (defended: January 2022 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Shaghayegh Taherian, “A Study of the Representation of Gender in Illustrations of ‘Khusraw Discovers Shirin Bathing’” (defends: October 2020 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Shive Sedaghati, “A Comparison of the Representation of Female Figures in Paintings and in Photos of Qajar Era” (defends: October 2020 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Maryam Mohsenian “An Iconological Reading of ‘Transition’ in Qamar ol-Zaman’s Illustrations of Sani‘ ol-Molk’s Thousand and One Nights” (defends: October 2020 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Setareh Mostafizi “A Reading of Musical Instruments’ Representation in Shah Tahmasbi’s Shahnama” (defends: October 2020 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Elham Oraei, “A Study of Female Characters in Illustrations of Shah Tahmasbi’s Shahnama” (defended: August 2019 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Tohid Niknami, “A Reading of Zahak’s Illustrations of Shah Tahmasbi’s Shahnama” (defended: August 2019 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Neda Tahvilian, “A Study of the Reflection of Water Crisis in the Works of Iranian Environmental Artists from 2003 to 2018” (defended: August 2019 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Neda Fakhrzadeh, “Black People in Illustrations of Sani’ ol-Molk’s Thousand and One Nights” (defended: August 2019 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Zohre Zaree, “An Iconological Reading of Shahrzad: From Sani’ ol-Molk’s Illustrations of Thousand and One Nights to Thousand and One Nights Exhibition (2015)” (defended: August 2019 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Elmira Sharif, “‘Magic’ in Adolescent Book Illustrations after the Islamic Revolution” (defended: January 2019 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Alireza Bayat, “A Study of the Representation of Feminity and Masculinity in Pre-Naseri Qajar Paintings (1785-1848)” (defended: September 2018 at Azad University, Tehran). |
| Projects |
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| Awards |
|---|
| 2022 Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin: Travel and conference grant to present research at the Iconic Figures: Intersecting Religious and Political Narrative of the Past conference. |
| 2019 University of Pitesti: Erasmus Visiting Scholar |
| 2018 University of Leuven: Invited Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Arts (Short Study Visit) |
| 2011-2015 University of Leuven: Interfaculty Council for Development Cooperation (IRO) full Ph.D. fellowship |
| 2011 Stanford University: Travel and conference grant to present research at the Language, Literacy and the Construction of Social Authority in Islamic Societies conference |
| 2010 University of Leuven: Travel and conference grant to present research at WOCMES |
| 2004 Graduation Top Student Award, Art University |
| Position | Explain | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Representative of the International Office | 2023- Present | |
| Head of Textile and Fashion Design | 2024- Present | |
| Coordinator of the D.E.I Office | 2025- Present |
| Project Name | Project Date | Role on Project | SDG Areas |
|---|