Contact Information
Biography
Aria's classroom is a place of laughter and reflection where we lean into the sociability of humanistic education to cultivate real hope (with minimal reliance on edibles outside of class). Aria remembers the loving memory of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi whose courage and moral clarity forever changed the UW community for the better. He will use his platform to keep alive her name and memory for Ayşenur no se murió, sino se multiplicó.
Aria's research and teaching focus on modern Persian literature and translation studies. His first book, Reading across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Literary Nationalism, published by the University of Texas Press, details the dynamic and interconnected ways Afghans and Iranians invented their modern selves through new ideas about literature (adabiyāt). Its Persian translation was published by Shirazeh Press in Iran in September 2024. Shape of Extinction, his co-translations of the modernist poet Bijan Jalali (d. 1999), done with Adeeba Shahid Talukder, is forthcoming by the Toronto-based independent publisher, Asemana Books (May 9, 2025).
Aria co-directs the Middle East Center at JSIS as well as the Translation Studies Hub, funded by the Simpson Center for the Humanities. In the academic year 2024-25, TS Hub will be laying the groundwork for a minor and an advanced certificate in translation studies. Aria engages in social advocacy for non-citizen Americans, particularly Central American asylum seekers, which richly nourishes both his teaching and research.
Teaching (2025/26):