Dr. James Gustafson

Dr. James Gustafson
Associate Professor
History, Department of
Arts and Sciences, College of
Stalker Hall 315
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Education

  • Ph.D. - History, University of Washington - 2010
  • M.A. - Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago - 2005
  • B.A. - Political Science, University of Massachusetts - 2003
  • Other - International Relations, Five Colleges - 2003

Teaching Interests

  • Middle East, Iran, World History, environmental history, historiography, academic writing, critical reading.

Research Interests

  • Qajar Iran, provincial history, economy and society, Persian Gulf trade, Eurasian commerce, Great Game, geography, environmental history.

James M. Gustafson (Ph.D, University of Washington, 2010) is an Associate Professor of History, specializing in the modern Middle East.  Dr. Gustafson has published on the social and economic history of Qajar Iran (1795-1925) and modern Central Asia in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , Iranian Studies, and Encyclopaedia Iranica.  His first book, Kirman and the Qajar Empire: Local Dimensions of Modernity in Iran, 1794-1914, was published by Routledge Press in 2015.  Dr. Gustafson also serves on the Association for Iranian Studies Council and was a two-term President of the Midwest Association for Middle East and Islamic Studies (2012-16).   His current book project, The Lion and the Sun, is an environmental history of Iran covering the decline of the Safavid Empire through the long nineteenth century, with an emphasis on the relationship between global climate change and the ecological functions of empire.

HIST 102: Studies in World Civilizations since 1500
HIST 113: Islamic Civilization
HIST 113: The Persianate World
HIST 113: The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran
HIST 300: History and Historians
HIST 478: History of Islam
HIST 484: Modern Middle East
HIST 498/598: Environmental History of the Modern Middle East
HIST 498: History of Iran
PSCI 490: Politics of the Middle East
HIST 670: World Historiography
HIST 621/661/671: History Research Seminar

Ph.D., History, University of Washington (2010)

M.A., Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago (2005)

B.A. (cum laude), Political Science, University of Massachusetts - Amherst (2003)

Certificate in International Relations, The Five Colleges, Amherst (2003)

 

Research Languages: Persian (advanced); Arabic (intermediate); Swedish (advanced); French (advanced); German (with a good dictionary) 

Publications:

Academic Monographs:

2015: Kirman and the Qajar Empire: Local Dimensions of Modernity in Iran, 1794-1914.  Abingdon, Oxon; and New York: Routledge, 2015.

In progress:

  • The Lion and the Sun: Ecology and Empire in Iran from the Fall of the Safavids to the Long 19th Century. (in progress, exp. 2019)

Peer-Reviewed Articles:

2016: “Geographical Literature in Nineteenth-Century Iran: Regional Identities and the Construction of Space” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 59, no.5, (2016)

2015: “Shabkaha-yi Khandani va Idqam-i Rustaʾi dar Kirman Dawra-yi Qajar,” trans. ʿAli Asghar Hidayati, Payam-i Baharistan 24 (2015).

2014: “Household Networks and Rural Integration in Qajar Kirman” International Journal of Middle East Studies 46, no.1 (Feb. 2014).

2013: “Qajar Ambitions in the Great Game: Notes on the Embassy of ʿAbbas Qoli Khan to the Amir of Bokhara, 1844” Iranian Studies 46, no.4. (July 2013).

 

In Progress:

  • “Environmental Crises at the End of Safavid History: The Collapse of an Imperial Ecology” first author; co/w dendrochronologist Dr. Jim Speer, in progress, exp. 2018
  • “Vaqf and Ecology: Reading the Endowments of the Madrasa-ye Soltani in Kashan from an Environmental History Perspective” in progress, exp 2018
  • “Mirza Reza Muhandis and the 1904 Newcomen Mission” in progress, exp. 2019
  • “Sharqzadegi: The Islamic Republican Party’s Discursive Struggle Against Marxism, 1979-81” in progress, exp. 2019

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Academic Encyclopaedias:

2017:  “Afzal al-Molk, Gholam Hosain Khan” Encyclopaedia Iranica.    

2014: “Kerman, viii. Afsharid and Zand Period” Encyclopaedia Iranica

2014: “Kerman, ix. Qajar Period” Encyclopaedia Iranica

2014: “Kerman, xv. Carpet Industry” Encyclopaedia Iranica

In Progress:

  • “Opium Trade” Encyclopaedia Iranica. forthcoming 2018.
  • “Narmashir” Encyclopaedia Iranica. forthcoming 2018.
  • “The Great Game in Iran” Encyclopaedia Iranica, under contract, 2018.
  • “James Morier” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd ed., under contract, 2018.
  • “Arthur Millpaugh” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd ed., under contract, 2018.
  • “Henry Martyn” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd ed., under contract, 2018.

Book Reviews:

2017:  Book Review: “H. Lyman Stebbins, British Imperialism in Qajar Iran” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 80 no.3 (October 2017)

2016:  Book Review: “Nile Green, Terrains of Exchange: Religious Economies of Global Islam” Review of Middle East Studies 50, no.1, 2016.

Association for Iranian Studies Council (2017-19)

Midwest Association for Middle East and Islamic Studies (President, 2012-16; Board of Directors/Past President 2017-)

  • Social and Economic History of 18th-19th century Iran and Central Asia
  • Local Traditions of Persianate Historiography and Geographical Writing
  • Environmental History 
  • Ecology of Eurasian Land Empires