November 27, 2025
Online (Zoom)

The Japan Office of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, will host the international workshop “Actors/Performers, Audience, and Narrative Strategies in Naqqāli: New Approaches.” The event will feature Mohammadali Mirzaee, Sara Mashayekh, and Radman Rasooli Mehrabani, who will discuss various aspects of naqqāli—the traditional Persian art of storytelling—in terms of performance, audience, and narrative.The program will also include a special Shāhnāma-khᾱni performance by Mohammadali Mirzaee, a distinguished naqqāl.

Contact: Naoki Nishiyama (nishiyama@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)

Program

Chair: Kazuo Morimoto (ASPS Japan Office; IASA, UTokyo)

15:00-15:15: Kazuo Morimoto

Opening Remarks

15:15-15:45: Mohammdali Mirzaee Jadideslam (PhD candidate, University of

Hamburg):

“Naqqāli, Narrating or Acting?”

15:45-16:15: Sara Mashayekh (PhD candidate, UC Santa Barbara)

“Audience, Performer, Venue: The Role of Spectators and the Space in

Shaping Naqqāli Performances”

16:15-16:30: Shāhnāma-kh v āni by Mohammad Mirzaee Jadideslam (naqqāl)

Break

16:30-17:00: Radman Rasooli Mehrabani (Independent scholar)

“Negotiating Myth and Reality: Naqqāls’ Strategies for Constructing

Narrative Credibility”

17:00-17:20: Kumiko Yamamoto (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)

17:20-17:45: Discussion

Registration link:
https://forms.gle/YFENy7uJwiqWMix67