A journalist with many years of experience in Iran, Iason Athanasiadis will share his photos and discuss the role of elites in Iranian society during the "Sleepless in Tehran: How Iran's alert elites are claiming regional supremacy" lecture at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies on Friday, April 25 at 12:30 p.m. A photography exhibition will follow the lecture.

In this photo a female Dervish performs the Sufi Samaa dance before a mixed-sex audience at a private house in north Tehran. Women are not allowed to dance in public and Sufi mysticism is strongly discouraged by the authorities. 

Athanasiadis, a writer, photographer and television producer, has written for the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Sunday Telegraph, the Guardian, the Toronto Star, the Washington Times and Australia's leading current affairs magazine The Diplomat. He is a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Language and Cultures, the Middle East Studies Center and The Mershon Center for International Security Studies. For more information contact Cory Driver at 614-688-4406 or download lecture flyer.