Kayhan A. Nejad

Kayhan A. Nejad is the Farzaneh Family Assistant Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Oklahoma's David L. Boren College of International Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Yale University (2021). Prior to OU, he served as a Nizami Ganjavi Centre Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford and a Senior Researcher with the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program at Sabanci University, Istanbul.

• Education: Ph.D. in History, Yale University (2021)

Nejad’s research focuses on Iran’s historical linkages with the Middle East, former Soviet Union, and imperial borderlands. His book manuscript, From the Oilfield to the Battlefield: Revolutionary Internationalism on the Imperial Borderlands, explores the re-establishment of Iran’s monarchy in 1921. His second project examines socialist left defeats and political Islam’s rise in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Chechnya (1973–2001). He teaches modern Iranian history, Iran-U.S. relations, European history, and global communism.

Nejad’s articles appear in Slavic Review, Iranian Studies, Kritika, and Middle Eastern Studies. He co-edits The Caspian World: Connections and Contentions at a Modern Eurasian Crossroads (Cornell UP, 2025) and serves as History Book Review Editor for Iranian Studies.

• Labs/Teams: Collaborations include the Nizami Ganjavi Centre and Fulbright programs. He advocates for orangutan conservation and great ape personhood.