DR HIRMAND HASSAS
SEDDIGHI
I am a historian of nineteenth-century Iran specialising in political knowledge, intellectual history, and the history of political modernity across the Persianate world[cite: 1]. My research examines how political concepts were negotiated, translated, and transformed through encounters between Persian intellectual traditions and European imperial expansion during the Qajar period (1796-1925)[cite: 1].
Combining extensive experience with Persian archival collections and manuscript sources with approaches drawn from Global Intellectual History, Conceptual History, and the Cambridge School of Intellectual History, I seek to integrate Iranian historical experience into broader debates concerning the making of modern political thought[cite: 1].
This project investigates how political concepts were translated, negotiated, and transformed within Persian political discourse during the nineteenth century[cite: 1]. The project integrates Persian archival materials with British diplomatic sources to contribute to Global Intellectual History and the history of political thought[cite: 1]. Rather than treating Iran as a passive recipient of European political ideas, it reconstructs the conceptual history of political language in Qajar Iran and argues for a more interconnected understanding of the making of modern political thought[cite: 1].
A long-term comparative research programme examining the circulation, translation, and transformation of political concepts across Iran, the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, and South Asia during the nineteenth century, contributing to Global Intellectual History and the history of political thought[cite: 1].
Critical edition of a nineteenth-century Persian manuscript preserved in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran[cite: 1]. The volume includes a scholarly introduction, extensive historical annotations, identification of historical figures and geographical locations, and an edited transcription of the original text. (In Persian)[cite: 1].
Scholarly critical edition of a nineteenth-century Persian translation by Mumtahan al-Dowleh Shaqaqi of a French work on the history of diplomacy[cite: 1]. Based on archival materials preserved in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, the edition includes a substantial scholarly introduction, extensive annotations, and a critically edited text. (In Persian)[cite: 1].
A comprehensive study of the political, diplomatic, and intellectual responses of the Qajar state and Iranian reformers to the challenges of imperial expansion, administrative modernization, and constitutional transformation[cite: 1]. Drawing extensively upon Persian archival sources, the book investigates how modernization, statecraft, and political reform evolved under conditions of sustained imperial pressure[cite: 1].
With over two decades of technical archival and historical research on nineteenth-century Iran, my empirical foundation builds upon intensive cross-reading of native administrative documentation and Western diplomatic correspondence.
Extensive practice with Persian governmental archives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs collections, Qajar administrative records, constitutional-era newspapers, political treatises, and manuscript source materials[cite: 1].
Integrated analysis combining Persian records with British diplomatic documentation, Foreign Office files, Parliamentary Papers, missionary logs, and personal papers preserved in the United Kingdom[cite: 2].
Alongside my academic research, I am deeply committed to public history and knowledge exchange[cite: 1]. Through the educational channel History in Some Minutes, I produce and present rigorous scholarly lectures designed to make advanced historical research accessible to wider global audiences beyond the university framework[cite: 1].
The archive currently comprises 77 educational lectures covering Iranian, Middle Eastern, and World History, with a particular focus on intellectual history, the history of political ideas, and comparative civilizations[cite: 1].
Access YouTube Lectures (77 Videos) ↗[cite: 1]Please communicate via the contact mechanism for research inquiries, academic coordination, or methodologies related to Global Intellectual History.
Email: hirmandhassas@gmail.com
Website: hirmandhassas.com
