2026 BIPS AGM Lecture

Sovereignty in Iran: Challenges to Eurocentrism from Ancient Iran to the Islamic Republic

With Shabnam Holliday

The event will take place in person at the the Society of Antiquaries of London, and online on Zoom. The event is free to attend, but booking is necessary via Eventbrite. 

Registration for online participation is open at this link. Registration for in-person participation will open on the 16th of October for current members. General admission tickets will be released on the 28th of October. 

The lecture will take place between 6:45-8PM and it will be followed by a light reception.

Lecture outline:

The lecture is based on Dr Holliday’s recently published edited book ‘Sovereignty in Iran: Challenges to Eurocentrism from Ancient Iran to the Islamic Republic’.

Sovereignty in Iran is a multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary collaborative project examining sovereignties as a plural concept through the case of Iran. In so doing, it challenges Eurocentric assumptions in the Humanities and Social Sciences and covers sovereignty from Ancient Iran to the Islamic Republic.

A non-Eurocentric framework requires the reader to think about co-existing and competing sovereignties with an ‘Area Studies’ lens. This approach moves beyond periodised understandings of history, and not only contributes to better understanding Eurocentrism but also enables a greater appreciation of contexts, complexities and agencies as a means of challenging Eurocentrism.

About the speaker:

Dr Shabnam Holliday is a Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Plymouth. Her research focuses on de-centring the discipline of International Relations through the case of Iran. Her publications include ‘Defining Iran: Politics of Resistance’ (Routledge, 2011) and, with Edward Wastnidge, ‘Towards a Post-imperial and Global IR?: Revisiting Khatami’s Dialogue among Civilisations’ (Review of International Studies, 2025). She is the co-editor, with Philip Leech, of ‘Political Identities and Popular Uprisings in the Middle East’ (Bloomsbury, 2016). In April 2023, Shabnam was appointed Research Director at the British Institute of Persian Studies following her time as Director of the Modern Research Project, ‘Iran and the International’.