Ehsan Estiri recently finished his dissertation fieldwork in Los Angeles area, where he studied the ways in which Iranian communities negotiate and reperform Iranianness in their everyday lives in Southern California.

Courses Taught

• The Middle East in the Media (General Education: Culture and Ideas & Diversity/Global Studies)
• Films of the Middle East (General Education: Culture and Ideas & Diversity/Global Studies)     

Peer-Reviewed Publications

“Alleviating Folkloristics Theory Anxiety: What Can Folklorists Learn from Conceptualizations of Tradition in Anthropology of Islam?” New Direction in Folkore. vol. 17, 2019

“Politics of Traditionalization: Justification and Framing Processes in Historical Continuity of the Iranian Fire Festival.” Western Folklore vol. 77 (2), 2018

“Folklore: Artistic/Literary or Anthropological Reality?” Diyar vol. 4  (in Persian) , 2018 

Selected Research Projects
Winter 2018
Resistance, Racism and Invention of History: Reconstruction of Zoroastrianism in the Iranian Social Media - Presented at Symposium on The Digital Persianate: Constructing Participatory Persian Cultures in the Digital Age, UC San Diego 

Fall 2017
What Can Folklorists Learn from Conceptualizations of Tradition in Anthropology of Islam?
Presented at 2017 American Folklore Society annual meeting

Fall 2016
The Tale of Donald J. Trump and the American Media
Presented at 2016 American Folklore Society annual meeting

Spring 2016
“Zoroaster is The Savior”: Reconstruction of Vernacular Zoroastrianism in Iranian Middle-class Everyday Life
Presented at 9th annual OSU/IU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Graduate Student Conference

The Constitutive Nature of Orientalist Narratives
Presented at 206th American Oriental Society annual meeting

Fall 2015             
Is Gharaki Folkart? Public Sexual Touch in the Northeast of Iran
Presented at 2015 American Folklore Society annual meeting                

Spring 2015        
Ghareki: Public Sexual Touch in the Northeast of Iran
Presented at 8th annual IU/OSU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Graduate Student Conference

Winter 2014      
A Secret Army of Motifs: The Shrine, Cave and Legends of Sarah Bat Asher in Esfehan, Iran
Presented at 2014 American Folklore Society annual meeting and 7th annual IU/OSU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Graduate Student Conference

Fall 2013              
Ancient Iranian Bonfire as an Act of Protest: The Traditional Performance and its Associated Beliefs
Presented at 2013 American Folklore Society annual meeting

Fall 2012                                
Nakhl Gardani: A Ritual in Rim of Desert
Presented at 6th annual IU/OSU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Graduate Student Conference

Selected Documentary and Ethnographic Films
August 2011                        
Miss Robabe is an Exception
HD/ 45:00 min, Yusefabad, Neyshaboor, Iran,
IMDB page

June 2011                             
Tireless
HD/ 30:00 min Afchang, Sabzevar, Iran

February 2011                   
Not Dead, Yet
HD/ 40:00 min, Mend, Gonabad, Iran

June 2010                             
Cellphone
HD/ 33:00 min, Falun, Sweden

Fall 2009
Kitchen, Language and Interpretation
HD/ 17:30 min, Falun, Sweden 

Talk                           
Spring 2015                          
Tradition and Nationalism

Event page