Paniz Edjlali

PhD Candidate Sociocultural Anthropology

Matriculated September 2015

Research Interests

Iran; youth; morality; identity & personhood

About

Paniz Edjlali’s research project highlights the plurality of Muslims and their varied minority experiences in contemporary France and Europe more broadly. Using a nontraditional lens—that of love, romance, and marriage—she explores the integration strategies of French Muslim youth of Iranian origins, the descendents of first generation Iranian immigrants. Her work investigates how this group negotiates their minority status and identity—marked simultaneously by their cultural and religious attachment to their origins and their upbringing in France—in their romantic and most intimate relationships. She is interested in understanding whether varied forms of relational aspirations (imagined/desired relationships) and practices among this youth cohort correlate with wider attitudes towards social integration. On the one hand, this project addresses the problems at the heart of the French society—i.e. generational immigration and integration, and the role and place of religion, particularly Islam, within it. On the other hand, this work concerns Muslims of Iranian origin, a category of actors that is rarely studied in the field of transnationalism.

Paniz’ interest in anthropology began at a very young age. Her family moved multiple times from one continent and country to another and Paniz became consciously aware of her surrounding cultural structures, her own fluid positionality within each culture, and perpetual emic and etic stance. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Georgia State University with a minor theater. While working towards her doctorate degree at Boston University, Paniz has also collaborated with BETC (Boston Experimental Theater Company). She is interested in the intersection of visual arts and anthropology and hopes to bring the two together and enter the field of visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking.

Awards & Grants

  • Department of Anthropology Summer Research Grant. $2000. (2020).
  • Chateaubriand Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship. 15000 EUR. (2019-2020).
  • Boston University Department of Anthropology Summer Research Grant. $2500. (2018)
  • Boston University Department of Anthropology Summer Research Grant. $4,920. (2017)
  • Boston University Dean’s Fellowship (Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020). 

Publications

  • forthcoming