The articles in this issue cover a wide historical range, from the seventh century BC to the twelfth, and the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This historical span attests to the journal's commitment to fostering scholarship representative of all periods of history. Similarly, the articles offer a range of disciplinary orientations and tackle subjects as varied as draught and famine in the ancient world, the literary technique of double meaning, health conditions reported by staff of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in the first half of the twentieth century, the conversion of a royal palace into a public museum to bolster the image of the Pahlavi monarchy, and human smuggling and migration from Iran to the Netherlands.
Included in this issue is a roundtable on recent protests in Iran. Initiated by my predecessor, Dr. Sussan Siavoshi, the first roundtable was launched in the previous issue of Iranian Studies. The roundtables offer concise articles on specific themes or topical issues, initiate dialogue between scholars, and offer analysis from different disciplines. The roundtable in this issue was spearheaded by Dr. Paola Rivetti and addresses the protests ignited in mid-September 2022 by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Zhina Amini, following her arrest for her apparent lax conformity with the Islamic dress code. Dr. Rivetti's introduction, “Writing in Turbulent Times,” aptly captures the dynamic nature of protests that reverberated through all sectors of Iranian society. The contributions bring into focus issues of activism, state repression, labor, and explore the music and artistic production the protests generated.
