USC.edu

Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani

Farhang Foundation Chair in Iranian Studies and Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies and Environmental Studies
Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani
Email cmovahed@usc.edu

Research & Practice Areas

Development in Iran; Energy Infrastructures in the Middle East; Scientific and Technological Imaginaries in Iran; Technology and Environmental Change; Social and Cultural Understandings of the Environment; History of Modern Iran

Center, Institute & Lab Affiliations

  • USC Dornsife Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life,

Biography

Ciruce A. Movahedi-Lankarani is the Farhang Foundation Early Career Chair in Iranian Studies and Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. Ciruce studies modern Iran, focusing on the country’s recent history through the interwoven perspectives of technology, development, and the environment.

 

Ciruce’s current book project, tentatively titled Accelerant: Energy Infrastructures, Development, and the Environment in Modern Iran, studies the history of natural gas in twentieth century...

Education

  • Ph.D. History, University of Pennsylvania, 2020
  • M.A. Social Sciences, University of Chicago, 2012
  • B.S. Computer Science & Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 2005

  • Tenure Track Appointments

    • Farhang Foundation Early Career Chair in Iranian Studies & Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies and Environmental Studies, University of Southern California, 2021 –

    PostDoctoral Appointments

    • Postdoctoral Scholar – Research Associate, University of Southern California, 2020-2021

  • Research Keywords

    development, energy, environment, fossil fuel, Iran, infrastructure, technology

    Research Specialties

    Development in Iran; Energy Infrastructures in the Middle East; Scientific and Technological Imaginaries in Iran; Technology and Environmental Change; Social and Cultural Understandings of the Environment; History of Modern Iran

  • Contracts and Grants Awarded

    • NEH Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities, (National Endowment for the Humanities), Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani, $70,000, Spring 2024
    • International Dissertation Research Fellowship, (Social Science Research Council), Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani, $50,000, 2016-2017

  • Book

    • Movahedi-Lankarani, C. A.Accelerant: Natural Gas Energy, Development, and the Environment in Iran. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Book Review

    • Movahedi-Lankarani, C. A. (2024). Review of “Petroleum and Progress in Iran: Oil, Development, and the Cold War,” by Gregory Brew. American Historical Review. pp. 1367-1368. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhae345
    • Movahedi-Lankarani, C. A. (2024). Review of “Iran in Motion: Mobility, Space and the Trans-Iranian Railway,” by Mikiya Koyagi. The Journal of Development Studies. pp. 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2024.2359216

    Journal Article

    • Movahedi-Lankarani, C. A. (2025). A Firm Policy Decision: Infrastructural Form and Pahlavi Developmentalism at the Ahvāz Pipe Mill. Iranian Studies. pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1017/irn.2024.31
    • Movahedi-Lankarani, C. A. (2024). Precarious Petroleum: Volatile Reservoirs, Varied Natural Gas Compositions, and Development in 1960s Iran. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Vol. 44 (1), pp. 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-11141519
    • Movahedi-Lankarani, C. A. (2022). Ghoul at the Gates: Natural Gas Energy and the Environment in Pahlavi Iran, 1960-1979. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge University Press. Vol. 54 (1), pp. 80-99. https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S002074382100132X
    • Iran: Antiquity to Modernity, MDES, Fall 2022
    • Surviving Climate Change in the Middle East, GESM, Spring 2022

  • Conferences Organized

    • Petrocultures 2024: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 2023-2024

    Review Panels

    • Middle East Studies Association, Annual Meeting Program Committee, Spring 2024

    Reviewer for Publications

    • Engineering Studies, , 2023 –
    • The Extractive Industries and Society, , 2023 –
    • International Journal of Middle East Studies, , 2022 –
    • Iranian Studies, , 2021 –

    Media, Alumni, and Community Relations

    • Interviewee for “Women. Life. Freedom.” documentary, 01/2023
    • Consulting for Los Angeles Conservancy, Fall 2022
USC Dornsife faculty and staff may update profiles via MyDornsife.