Farideh Heyat (, born 20 June 1949 in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

) is a British-Iranian anthropologist and a writer based in London. She is a retired lecturer of

SOAS, University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, ...

and

American University of Central Asia The American University of Central Asia (AUCA) (; ), formerly the Kyrgyz-American School and the American University in Kyrgyzstan, is a liberal arts university located in Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. History AUCA began its exis ...

Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...

. Heyat is the author of numerous articles on women in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. She is also the author of the following books: ''Azeri Women in Transition: Women in Soviet and post-Soviet Azerbaijan'' and ''The Land of Forty Tribes''.

Early life

Heyat was born to Azeri parents. She spent her childhood in Tehran, growing up bilingual in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and Azeri languages.

Education

After graduating from school, she moved to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

for a year and studied physics at

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

. To follow her higher education, she moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1967. Her first degree was in computing and statistics. Following that, she obtained a master's degree in computer science. She then switched her subject and began her studies in

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

at SOAS University of London, where she obtained an MA in anthropology, followed by Ph.D. in the subject.

Career

After a couple of years of working in the computer industry, she trained as a teacher and began teaching computing at further education colleges in London, until 1989. She started her career in teaching anthropology and development studies in SOAS after obtaining her Ph.D. in 1999. In 2002 she started teaching these subjects at American University of Central Asia.

Research

From 1992 until 1997, she conducted research on the historical situation of women in Azerbaijan and the post-soviet changes for them. During 2002 to 2003 she traveled and did research across Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on women, culture, and society of the region.

Bibliography

Books

*''Azeri Women in Transition: Women in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan'', Routledge, 2002. *''Land of Forty Tribes'', Hertfordshire Press, 2015

Book chapters

*''Post-Soviet Islam in Azerbaijan'', Cultural Archetypes and Political Change in the Caucasus, Nino Tsetsishvili (ed.), Nova Science Publishers, 2010 *''Women and the Culture of Entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan'', Markets and Moralities: ethnographies of post-socialism, R. Mandell & C. Humphrey (eds.), London: Berg, 2002 *''Azeri Professional Women's Life Strategies in the Soviet Context'', Gender and Identity Construction: Women of Central Asia The Caucasus and Turkey, F.Acar and A. Ayata (eds.), E.J. Brill, Boston, USA, 2000 *''The Azaris'', Some Minorities in the Middle East, R. Tapper (ed.), Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, SOAS, University of London, 1992

Journal articles

*''New Veiling in Azerbaijan: gender and globalizing Islam'', European Journal of Women's Studies, vol. 15, no.4, October 2008 *''Globalisation and Changing Gender Norms in Azerbaijan'', International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 8, no.3, September 2006 *''Re-Islamisation in Kyrgyzstan: gender, new poverty, and the moral dimension'', Central Asian Survey, vol.23, no.3-4, Dec. 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyat, Farideh 1949 births Living people Alumni of SOAS University of London British anthropologists British people of Azerbaijani descent British women anthropologists British academics of women's studies Women in Azerbaijan Women in Kyrgyzstan Ankara University alumni Writers from Tehran Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom Iranian people of Azerbaijani descent Women in Uzbekistan History of the Caucasus under the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union Academics of SOAS University of London Iranian Azerbaijanis Iranian women academics Iranian expatriate academics