Azadeh Kian

Azadeh Kian-Thiébaut (Persian: آزاده کیان; born 1958) is an Award-winner Iranian-French academic, Professor of Sociology, Director of the Social Sciences department and Director of the Center for Gender and Feminist Studies at the University Paris Cité. She is included and recognized in the BBC project 100 Women.

Azadeh Kian-Thiébaut
آزاده کیان
Azadeh Kian (2022)
Born	1958 (age 65–66)
Nationality	Iranian-French
Alma mater	University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) (DPhil)

Azadeh Kian is a prominent scholar in political sociology and gender studies, known for her work on Iranian and Maghreb societies. She earned her PhD at the prestigious UCLA, where she was mentored by the renowned political sociologist Michael Mann. Her early academic career began with a teaching position at UCLA from 1987 to 1990, where she lectured in political sociology, a subject through which she developed a nuanced understanding of power structures, especially as they related to gender and politics in Muslim societies.

In 1995, Kian relocated to France, joining the faculty of University Paris III and later the University of Paris VIII Saint-Denis. This transition marked a pivotal moment in her career as she began to immerse herself further in interdisciplinary studies, focusing particularly on the sociopolitical dynamics of Iranian and Maghreb societies. She became a key figure at the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), where her research on Iran gained international recognition for its critical analysis of Islamic law (shari'a) and its implications for women’s rights and gender equality.

Kian’s work is characterized by her deep commitment to understanding the intersection of gender, religion, and state power. Her 1999 book, Avoir vingt ans en Iran (Alternatives, 1999), offers a vivid portrayal of Iranian youth, navigating the complexities of tradition and modernity in a politically charged environment. Her 2002 book, Les femmes iraniennes entre islam État et famille (Maisonneuve & Larose), further develops her exploration of gender, focusing on the ways in which Iranian women negotiate their roles within the Islamic state, family, and society. In La République islamique d'Iran : de la maison du Guide à la raison d'État (Michalon, 2005), she provides a comprehensive analysis of the Iranian political system, dissecting the intricate relationship between religious authority and state governance.

Kian has also contributed extensively to academic journals and public discourse. In 1996, her article Des femmes iraniennes contre le clergé: islamistes et laïques pour la première fois unies was published in Le Monde diplomatique. This article was significant as it highlighted the rare unity between Islamist and secular Iranian women in their opposition to the clergy’s grip on power. In 2010, she continued her critique of patriarchal structures in her article Islamic Feminism in Iran: A New Form of Subjugation or the Emergence of Agency?, published in Critique internationale, where she critically examined the contradictions of Islamic feminism and questioned whether it truly empowered women or served as a new form of subjugation. Her voice has been a persistent and critical force against the perpetuation of Islamic laws that undermine gender equality, advocating instead for universal human rights.

Kian’s influence extends beyond academia into public life, where she is recognized as a key figure in the Iranian diaspora. The Servizio d’informazione religiosa (SIR) described her as "the most listened-to woman of the Iranian diaspora," emphasizing her role as a critical thinker and commentator on the political and social upheavals within Iran.

In 2020, Kian lead as main Editor the international work Genre et transgressions : Représentation, agentivité, autodétermination, a collective work published by Les Cahiers du CEDREF. This project brought together contributions from international scholars and gender researchers, creating a rich dialogue on transgression and agency in gendered experiences involving social scientists from both OECD countries and the Global South.

Her academic contributions culminated in 2024 with the publication of Rethinking Gender, Ethnicity and Religion in Iran: An Intersectional Approach to National Identity, released by Bloomsbury Publishing in Canada. This groundbreaking work earned her the prestigious Latifeh Yarshater Award, an honor bestowed by the Persian Heritage Foundation, in recognition of her insightful and transformative exploration of the complexities of identity in Iran. Through her tireless scholarship and activism, Azadeh Kian continues to shape and challenge the discourse around gender, religion, and politics, making her one of the most influential voices in her field.

Activism

She is among the most consulted Iranian diaspora women in the world to comment the social and political evolutions of her native country.

She described the moment of the death of Mahsa Amini as a turning point where civil society openly contradicts Iranian power (“What's unprecedented about these protests is that women are leading the chargel”) and she delivered a pitch as invited guest in the European Parliament in october 2022 after a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. She spoke at Les Echos Belgium about talebanization of power in Iran. [1] In November 2022, she affirmed that the crisis in Iran is a revolution aiming to change the regime, and not just a protest from civil society.[2]

Publications

• Thiébaut, Azadeh. Secularization of Iran: a Doomed Failure? The New Middle Class and the Making of Modern Iran (Travaux et memoires de l'Institut d'Etudes iraniennes). Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 1998. ISBN 9042900326
• Thiébaut, Azadeh. Les femmes iraniennes entre islam, Etat et famille. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 2002. ISBN 2706816147
• Eshraghi, Isabelle, Azadeh Thiébaut Thiébaut, and Seyyed E. Nabavi. Avoir 20 ans à Téhéran. Paris: Ed. Alternatives, 1999. ISBN 2862271942