Babak Rahimi

Ph.D. (European University Institute)
Associate Professor of Communication, Culture and Religion
Director of the Program for the Study of Religion
Director of the Middle East Studies Program

UCSD Hellman Fellow

Iran; Shi'i Islam; Medieval and (early) modern history, sensory religion, technology studies, public sphere, and theories of modernity.

Babak Rahimi holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (2004), and an M.A. in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy from the University of Nottingham, UK (1997). He has held Visiting Fellowships at the Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science (2000-2001), and at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania (2011-2012). Rahimi’s first monograph, Theater-State and the Formation of the Early Modern Public Sphere in Iran: Studies on Safavid Muharram Rituals, 1590-1641 C.E. (Brill, 2011), offers a historical-sociological exploration of the interplay between public rituals, state power, and social dynamics in the Safavid era. His forthcoming book, Senses of Mourning: Moharram Performances in Shi‘i Iran from the Qajar to the Covid Era (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2026), delves into the role of sensory religion within Iranian historical contexts. Rahimi is also the editor of Theatre in the Middle East: Between Performance and Politics (Anthem Press, 2020) and Performing Iran: Culture, Performance, Theatre (I.B. Tauris, 2021). In addition, he co-edited Social Media in Iran (with David Faris, SUNY Press, 2015), The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam (with Armando Salvatore and Roberto Tottoli, Wiley Blackwell, 2018), and Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World (with Peyman Eshaghi, University of North Carolina Press, 2019). His scholarly articles have been published in journals such as Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology, Critical Research on Religion, International Political Science Review, International Communication Gazette, International Journal of Middle East Studies, The Middle East Journal, The Communication Review, Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies, and Utopian Studies. Rahimi’s research interests focus on the intersections of culture, religion, and technology, with a particular emphasis on the historical and social contexts of early modern Islamicate societies and the Global South.

Pronouns: He

Languages: Persian

Books

• Theater-State, and Formation of Early Modern Public Sphere in Iran: Studies on Safavid Muharram Rituals, 1590-1641 C.E. (Brill, 2011)
• Senses of Mourning: Moharram Performances in Shi‘i Iran, 1866/7-2020 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025)
• Editor, Performing Iran: Culture, Performance, Theatre (I.B. Tauris, 2021).
• Editor, Theatre in the Middle East: Between Performance and Politics (Anthem Press, 2020)
• Co-editor Peyman Eshaghi, Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World (co-editor Peyman Eshaghi, University of North Carolina Press, 2019).
• Co-editor Armando Salvatore and Roberto Tottoli,The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, Wiley Blackwell 2018)
• Co-editor David FarisSocial Media in Iran (SUNY Press 2015)

• Visiting Fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania (2011-2012).
• Ph.D. in Soical and Political Science, European University Institute, 2004
• Visiting Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, the London School of Economics and Political Science (2000-2001)
• M.A. in Philosophy, Univeristy of Nottingham, 1997
• B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science, UCSD, 1996