Seyed Keivan Moussavi Aghdam, M.A.

Keivan Moussavi Aghdam is a PhD Candidate at Humboldt University in Berlin. He received his Master's degree in Art Theories and BA in Photography from Azad University of Tehran. He was a lecturer at Zanjan University and Tehran University of Art. He taught philosophy, history of art and photography at Zanjan University, Tehran University of Art in Tehran and some private institutes in Tehran. He has written and translated articles for Iranian art magazines. His MA dissertation was on the relationship between the state and artistic movements and events between the 1950s and 1970s. In his current research, Moussavi Aghdam focuses on the role of Western archaeologists in shaping the discourse of Iranian identity during the Pahlavi period and the effect of this "modern identity" on Iran's visual culture (1925–79).

His current research could be divided into three areas:

• The role of Western archaeologists, specifically Ernst Herzfeld and Arthur U. Pope, in the formulation of Iranian Identity during Pahlavi period.
• Iranian intellectuals and religious-national identity in the 1970s.
• Iranian visual artists and "Iranian Modern Identity" in the 1960s and 1970s.