Prof. Minou Arjomand
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellow in the program area Knowledge of Life
CV
- since 2022 Associate Professor of English and affiliated faculty member in Comparative Literature and Performance as Public Practice, University of Texas Austin
- 2016-2022 Assistant Professor of English, University of Texas Austin (tenure track)
- 2013-2016 Assistant Professor of English, Boston University (tenure track)
- 2013 PhD in Theater and Performance Studies, Columbia University
- 2008-2013 PhD student in Theater and Performance Studies, Columbia University, with research stipends including from the DAAD and Council for European Studies.
- 2008-2010 Dramaturgy Fellow in the Academy Musiktheater Today, Deutsche Bank Foundation
- 2007 postbac. in Theater Studies at the Freie University Berlin as well as internships at the Komischen Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, und Staatsoper Berlin in conjunction with a Fulbright Fellowship
- 2002-2006 B.A. in Comparative Literature and in German Studies, Columbia University
Fellowships
- 2021-2022 Visitor, Institute for Advanced Study Princeton
- 2020-2021 Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study Berlin
- 2016-2017 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Jury, Council, and Board Memberships
- 2026, 2020, und 2018 Jury Member, Harry Ransom Center Archive Research Fellowships
- since 2025 Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Studies on the Interaction of Art, Thought, and Power (Brill)
- since 2024 Core Convener, Performance Philosophy Network
- 2024 Jury Member, Audre Rapoport Prize, Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice
- 2020-2025 Advisory Board Member, Plan II Honors Program University of Texas Austin
- since 2017 Board Member, Rude Mechs Theater Ensemble
Research Interests
- Aesthetics and Politics
- Law and Theater
- Theories of the Public Sphere and Representation
- Reproductive Justice
Publications
Monographs
- Staged: Show Trials, Political Theater, and the Aesthetics of Judgment. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018 (paperback edition 2022).
Articles
- Performative Casting: Bridgerton from Regency Romance to Social Media, in: Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 39.1 (Fall 2024), 73-92.
- 'Ladies and Gentlemen, We Interrupt this Broadcast…’: News, Propaganda, and Resistance in Radio Broadcasting, in Performance Research 26.3 (May 2022), 113-118.
- Erwin Piscator: Staging Politics in the Weimar Republic, in David Barnett (Ed.): Great European Stage Directors: Meyerhold, Piscator, Brecht. London: Bloomsbury 2018, 69-90.
- 'At Least I'm Not Innocent: Arendt, Brecht, und Benjamin, in Erdmut Wizisla (Ed.): Benjamin und Brecht: Denken in Extremen. Irmgard Müller (Trans.), Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2017, 245-257.
- Animal Friendship: A Docudrama, in Daniel Sack (Ed.): Imagined Theatres: Writing for a Theoretical Stage, New York and London: Routledge 2017, 28, 83.
- Christoph Schlingensief and Richard Wagner #CheckTheirPrivilege, in The Opera Quarterly 32.1 (Winter 2016): 94-102.
- Old Documents, New Media: Elevator Repair Service’s Documentary Theatre, in Maska 30 (July 2015): 138-147.
- From Bayreuth to Mahagonny: Brecht and Wagner at the Kroll Opera, in The Brecht Yearbook 38 (2013): 193-207.
- E.M. Forster’s Billy Budd and the Collaborative Work of Opera, in Theatre Survey 51.2 (November 2010): 225-245.
Reviews
- Review of Martin Harries: On Theater After Film. University of Chicago Press, 2025, in The Georgia Review, Spring 2026.
- Expanding the Archive of Show Trials [Review of Agata Fijalkowski: Law, Visual Culture, and the Show Trial. Routledge, 2024], in Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies, January 2025.
- “Aesthetics after Trump” [Review of Hal Forster: What Comes After Farce? Verso, 2020], in Cultural Politics 17.2 (July 2021): 246-248.
- with Grace Clark, Max Grimes, Hannah Jordan, Sophia Kontos, Echo Nattinger, Eliza Pillsbury, Jackson Reich, Ben Shipman. Review of: St. Matthew's Passion, directed by Romeo Castellucci, Hamburg State Opera 2016, in Theatre Journal 72.4 (Dezember 2020), 522-525.
Short Essays
- In Weimar Germany, Women Fought for Abortion Justice, in Jacobin, 14.1.2022.
- What Can a Play Show Us about Justice? A Conversation with Minou Arjomand and Kristen Fallica, Chicago Humanities Festival Blog, 2019.
- Acts of Mothering, in Public Books, 7.8.2019.
- TED and Trump, in Politics/Letters, 25.11.2016.
- Status Updates, in Public Books, 1.9.2015.
- Fifty Shades of Grey: Capitalism’s Erogenous Zones, in Public Books, 5.6.2013.
- All the Libraries, A Stage, in n+1, 19.9.2011.
Translations
- Erika Fischer-Lichte, The Routledge Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies [Theaterwissenschaft: Eine Einführung in die Grundlagen des Fachs]. Translated by Minou Arjomand, expanded and revised by Minou Arjomand and Ramona Mosse. New York and London: Routledge, 2014.
- Axel Töpfer and Jakob Kirch, Main Street. Translated by Minou Arjomand and Stefan Höhne. Leipzig: Institute for Book Art, 2012.
- Christian Jost, The Arabian Night (Opera). English version by Minou Arjomand after the translation by Melanie Dreyer. Mainz and New York: Schott, 2008.
Lectures
(Selected)
- Humanities Texas. Keynote, “The Plays of Tennessee Williams,” Austin, Texas, 29.10.2025.
- American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference. “Glamour and Misperception.” Montreal, Canada. 15.3.2024.
- Modern Languages Association (MLA) Annual Conference. “Reviving Fake News.” Online via Zoom. 8.1.2022.
- Institute for Advanced Study Berlin, Podiumsdiskussion, “Truth and Lies in Times of Transforming Media,” Berlin, Germany. June 2021.
- Institute for Advanced Study Berlin, “Radio Publics: A Zoom Radio Play.” Berlin, Germany. 13.4.2021.
- Muhlenberg Center for American Studies, “War of the Worlds: Radio, Fake News, and Resistance in 1938.” Martin Luther-University. Halle, Germany. 13.1.2021.
- Experiments in Opera Today Conference and Symposium, "Radio Opera," Columbia University. New York, NY. 21.4.2017
- American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference, “Innovation Realism.” Utrecht, Netherlands. 7.7.2017.
- Mahindra Humanities Center, “Documents Old and New: Performing History through Digital Media.” Harvard University. Cambridge, MA. 29.3.2014.
Courses
University of Texas at Austin
- Spring 2026: The Archival Imagination in Research and Performance (Graduate Seminar); Twentieth-Century Drama (Lecture)
- Fall 2025: Tennessee Williams (Seminar); British Drama from 1660-1900 (Lecture)
- Summer 2025: Contemporary British Drama (Seminar)
- Spring 2025: Twentieth-Century Drama (Lecture); British Drama from 1660-1900 (Lecture)
- Fall 2024: Contemporary Drama (Lecture); Archives, Memory and Performance (Seminar)
- Spring 2024: Storytelling from Radio to Podcasts (Seminar); World Literature: People, Politics, and Performance (Seminar)
- Fall 2023: World Literature: People, Politics, and Performance (Seminar); Theater and Revolution (Graduate Seminar
- Spring 2020: Theater In Austin (Seminar); World Literature: People, Politics, and Performance (Seminar)
- Fall 2019: Twentieth-Century Drama (Lecture); World Literature: People, Politics, and Performance (Seminar)
- Fall 2018: World Literature: People, Politics, and Performance (Seminar); Theater and Revolution (Graduate Seminar)
- Summer 2018: War and Literature in 20th Century Britain (Seminar)
- Spring 2018: Contemporary Drama (Lecture)
- Fall 2017: British Drama from 1660-1900 (Lecture)
Harvard University
- Mellon School for Theater Research, Sommersemester 2015: Dissertation Workshop
Boston University
- Fall 2015: Theater in Boston (Seminar); Modern Drama 1 (Lecture)
- Spring 2015: Modern Drama 2 (Lecture); Narrating the City (Seminar)
- Fall 2014: Modern Drama 1 (Lecture); Introduction to Drama (Lecture)
- Spring 2014: Modern Drama 2 (Lecture); Narrating the City (Seminar)
- Fall 2013: Modern Drama 1 (Lecture)