Hospitable Globe

The Hospitable Globe: Persia and Early Modern English Drama

Can we imagine a world that is more hospitable than hostile?

This book examines how representations of Persia present models of intercultural hospitality for early modern English and Shakespearean drama. English playwrights depict Persia and its legendary monarchs, such as Cyrus the Great, as alternative spaces and figures of cosmopolitanism in the period. By focusing on an archive of Persian themed plays staged between 1561-1696 in conversation with Shakespeare’s works, European peace proposals, and contemporary theories and practices of hospitality, this project reconstructs the capacities called upon to imagine hospitable constellations of global relationships in the early modern period.

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About

Sheiba Kian Kaufman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English, Saddleback College
Lecturer, University of California, Irvine

I study Shakespeare, Persian history, theories and policies of toleration, peace-building, and interreligious hospitality, both on and off the stage. I'm a Persian-American Baha'i raised in Los Angeles, California after my family left Iran in the 1970s, journeying to South Africa, England, and finally, the US.

Conversations on the Hospitable Globe:
Public Lectures
A series of public humanities talks at the University of California, Irvine, Jordan Center for Persian Studies, Spring 2018
Cuisine of the Hospitable Globe:
The Virtuous Table @ UC Irvine
Collaborative public humanities project with Professor Julia Lupton to engage with the campus "combating extremism " initiative.
Persian Table: Zoroastrian, Muslim, Jewish, Bahá'I
"Ancient Persia (modern Iran) has been home to many wisdom traditions and faith practices. Learn about Persian food and Persian hospitality at this engaging and informative meal with UCI faculty, including Touraj Daryaee (Director of the Jordan Center for Persian Studies), Ketu Katrak (Professor of Drama), and Sheiba Kian Kaufman (English PhD)."

Analyzing the Hospitable Globe
Student creative project on the hybrid inhabitants of The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish from the Global Renaissance course at UC Irvine (Winter 2018)
Writing the Hospitable Globe:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
Collaborative curriculum writing with author and educational advisor, Homa Sabet Tavangar, for 7 Mindsets (2021-2022)
Education
Ph.D. in English Literature, University of California, Irvine, 2016
M.ST. in English Literature 1550-1780, Oxford University, 2005
B.A. in English, summa cum laude, University of California, Los Angeles, 2004
Publications
"Persian Virtues in the Age of Shakespeare," in Shakespeare and Virtue: A Handbook, University of Cambridge Press, edited by Donovan Sherman and Julia Lupton (2023).

“Care” in Entertaining the Idea: Shakespeare, Philosophy, Performance, University of Toronto Press, edited by Lowell Gallagher, James Kearney and Julia Reinhard Lupton, 2021.

“Persian Habits at the Clark,” The Center and Clark Newsletter,UCLA Center for 17^th -and 18^th -Century Studies. No. 65,Spring 2017, pp. 13-14.

“Her father loved me, oft invited me”: Staging Shakespeare’s Hidden Hospitality in The Travels of the Three English Brothers in Shakespeare and Hospitality: Ethics, Politics, and Exchange, Routledge Studies in Shakespeare Series, editors Julia Lupton and David Goldstein, 2016.
Images

The Cyrus Cylinder
The Cyrus Cylinder Tour (2013)
The Sherley Brothers
Robert Sherley and his "Persian" Wife
Cyrus in European Tapestries
Reflections and Ruminations
Gate of all Nations
May 19, 2024
Horizons falling from a home of elasticity to a heath far beyond our pastures, moving around...
Persian Cowboy
March 21, 2024
Big Blue rumbles up the well worn road, Etching its path with wheels as big as those cows on...
Connect
sheibak@uci.edu

Email

The Hospitable Globe: Persia and Early Modern English Drama

About

Sheiba Kian Kaufman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of English, Saddleback College

Lecturer, University of California, Irvine

Conversations on the Hospitable Globe:
Public Lectures

A series of public humanities talks at the University of California, Irvine, Jordan Center for Persian Studies, Spring 2018

Cuisine of the Hospitable Globe:
The Virtuous Table @ UC Irvine

Analyzing the Hospitable Globe

Student creative project on the hybrid inhabitants of The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish from the Global Renaissance course at UC Irvine (Winter 2018)

Writing the Hospitable Globe:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice

Collaborative curriculum writing with author and educational advisor, Homa Sabet Tavangar, for 7 Mindsets (2021-2022)

Education

Ph.D. in English Literature, University of California, Irvine, 2016
M.ST. in English Literature 1550-1780, Oxford University, 2005
B.A. in English, summa cum laude, University of California, Los Angeles, 2004

Publications

Images

The Cyrus Cylinder

The Cyrus Cylinder Tour (2013)

The Sherley Brothers

Robert Sherley and his "Persian" Wife

Cyrus in European Tapestries

Reflections and Ruminations

Connect

sheibak@uci.edu

The Hospitable Globe: Persia and Early Modern English Drama

About

Sheiba Kian Kaufman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of English, Saddleback College

Lecturer, University of California, Irvine

Conversations on the Hospitable Globe:Public Lectures

A series of public humanities talks at the University of California, Irvine, Jordan Center for Persian Studies, Spring 2018

Cuisine of the Hospitable Globe:The Virtuous Table @ UC Irvine

Analyzing the Hospitable Globe

Student creative project on the hybrid inhabitants of The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish from the Global Renaissance course at UC Irvine (Winter 2018)

Writing the Hospitable Globe:Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice

Collaborative curriculum writing with author and educational advisor, Homa Sabet Tavangar, for 7 Mindsets (2021-2022)

Education

Ph.D. in English Literature, University of California, Irvine, 2016M.ST. in English Literature 1550-1780, Oxford University, 2005B.A. in English, summa cum laude, University of California, Los Angeles, 2004

Publications

Images

The Cyrus Cylinder

The Cyrus Cylinder Tour (2013)

The Sherley Brothers

Robert Sherley and his "Persian" Wife

Cyrus in European Tapestries

Reflections and Ruminations

Connect

sheibak@uci.edu

Conversations on the Hospitable Globe:
Public Lectures

Cuisine of the Hospitable Globe:
The Virtuous Table @ UC Irvine

Writing the Hospitable Globe:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice

Ph.D. in English Literature, University of California, Irvine, 2016
M.ST. in English Literature 1550-1780, Oxford University, 2005
B.A. in English, summa cum laude, University of California, Los Angeles, 2004