Hamid Dabashi received a dual Ph.D. in Sociology of Culture and Islamic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He wrote his dissertation on Max Weber's theory of charismatic authority with Philip Rieff (1922-2006), the most distinguished Freudian cultural critic of his time.

He is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, the oldest and most prestigious Chair in Iranian Studies. He has also taught and delivered lectures in many North American, European, Arab and Iranian universities. He lives in New York with his wife and colleague, the Iranian-Swedish feminist, Golbarg Bashi.

Professor Dabashi has written 16 books, edited 4, and contributed chapters to many more. He is also the author of over 100 essays, articles and book reviews in major scholarly and peer reviewed journals on subjects ranging from Iranian Studies, medieval and modern Islam, comparative literature, world cinema, and the philosophy of art (trans-aesthetics).

An internationally renowned cultural critic and award-winning author, his books and articles have been translated into numerous languages, including Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Danish, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, Arabic, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Urdu and Catalan.

Among his best-known books are his Authority in Islam; Theology of Discontent; Truth and Narrative; Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present, Future; Staging a Revolution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema; Iran: A People Interrupted; and an edited volume, Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema.

His most recent work includes an Introduction to the Random House Modern Library edition of The Adventures of Amir Hamza as well as a book, Makhmalbaf at Large: The Making of a Rebel Filmmaker (I. B. Tauris, 2007). His forthcoming book is Islamic Liberation Theology: Resisting the Empire (Routledge, 2008).