Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology News

Congratulations to Folk Studies MA student Zahra AbedinezhadMehrabadi, who has just been named the 2019-2020 Outstanding Graduate Student for Potter College of Arts and Letters! The Graduate School announced the winner for each college on Friday, April 11. 

Zahra came to WKU with a background in law. Her MA thesis, grounded in ethnographic research in the US and Iran, examines strategies of resistance to patriarchal norms and gendered expectations of Iranian women, particularly as expressed through dress. Upon completion of her MA in Folk Studies, Zahra will pursue her PhD in Comparative Studies and Folklore at The Ohio State University, where she has been awarded a Distinguished University Fellowship.

Zahra's faculty advisor and thesis director, Dr. Ann K. Ferrell, says of Zahra that “though new to folklore studies, Zahra has demonstrated engagement with folklore studies at a level that places her among the top graduate students I have taught. Her thesis challenges many of the assumptions westerners make about the experiences of Iranian women, particularly in terms of their desires and abilities to express themselves through dress.” Dr. Kate Horigan, another Folk Studies faculty member who has worked closely with Ms. Abedi, says that "her proposed doctoral research, integrating her law background with ethnographic research to investigate Iranian women’s lives at the intersection of legal and cultural contexts, promises to be groundbreaking." Zahra is a delightful member of the Folk Studies community and we are proud to celebrate this most recent accomplishment.