Omid Tofighian Explained

Region:	Western philosophy
Era:	21st century Philosophy
Omid Tofighian
Birth Place:	Tehran
Institutions:	University of Sydney
Thesis Title:	Myth and philosophy on stage in Platonic dialogues
Thesis Url:	https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/14566
Thesis Year:	2010
Doctoral Advisor:	Frans de Haas
Education:	PhD
Alma Mater:	Leiden University
Influences:	Plato

Omid Tofighian (Persian: امید توفیقیان) is an Iranian-Australian philosopher and Honorary Research Associate at the University of Sydney. He is known for his research on ancient Greek philosophy and his translation of the award-winning book by Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker Behrouz Boochani, No Friend But the Mountains from Persian into English.

Education and career

Tofighian graduated with a combined honours degree in philosophy and religious studies at the University of Sydney, and earned his PhD at the Leiden University in the Netherlands. He has worked as a university teacher at the Abu Dhabi University, in the UAE, was a visiting scholar at K.U. Leuven in Belgium and later became an assistant professor in philosophy at the American University in Cairo.

Tofighian works as a Honorary Research Associate for the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. He is also a faculty member of Iran Academia as well as campaign manager for the "Why Is My Curriculum White? - Australasia" campaign.^[1] As an activist, he advocates for asylum seekers and refugees in Australia.^[2]

He has published works on Greek philosophy and mythology,^[3] adopting an interdisciplinary approach.^[4]

Tofighian's translated asylum seeker Behrouz Boochani's , which was sent to him one WhatsApp message at a time, from Persian to English, leading to its publication in 2018.^{[5] [6] [7] [8]} Writing about the process of working with Boochani on the translation (which took five years^[9]), Tofighian wrote:^[10]

Awards and recognition

He and colleagues were awarded the “Living Together Safely” grant by the federal Attorney-General's Department Grant from 2015 to 2016. In 2016 he was awarded the Dean's "Commendation for Excellence in First Year Teaching for Writing: Style and Method (WRIT1000)" at Sydney University, in the same year being nominated for the university's Faculty Overall Teaching Award.^[2]

Tofighian's translation of Boochani's No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison won Australia's richest literary prize, the Victorian Prize for Literature, as well as the Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction, awarded by the Wheeler Centre, on 31 January 2019.^{[11] [12]} The book later won further awards, including a special award at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards,^[13]

Publications

Author

• Macpherson, R., Tofighian, O. "Preparing and Developing School Leaders in the Middle East: Mediating Westernization with Indigenous and Evidence-based Practice and Theory of Educative Leadership". In Jacky Lumby, Gary Crow and Petros Pashiardis (Eds.), International Handbook on the Preparation and Development of School Leaders, (pp. 383–409). New York: Routledge. (2008)
• "Contemporary Liminal Encounters: Moving Beyond Traditional Plots in Majidi's Baran". In Asghar Seyed-Gohrab and Kamran Talattof (Eds.), Conflict and Development in Iranian Film, (pp. 103–116). Leiden: Leiden University Press. (2013)
• Book: Tofighian, Omid . 0. Myth and Philosophy in Platonic Dialogues . Palgrave Macmillan UK . London . 2016 . 978-1-137-58043-6 . 10.1057/978-1-137-58044-3 .

Translator

• Book: Boochani, Behrouz . No friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison . Omid . Tofighian . October 2018 . 9781760555382 . Picador Australia .

Further reading

• Web site: Tofighian, Omid. [search] ]. .
• Web site: Results for 'au:Tofighian, Omid,' [search]]. .
• Tofighian . Omid . 'Behrouz Boochani and the politics of naming' by Omid Tofighian . Australian Book Review . August 2019 . 413.
• Omid Tofighian: Being Australian...it all comes down to chance. . Tofighian . Omid . The Pin. June 2019 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tofighian . Omid . To tackle extremism in schools we must challenge the 'white curriculum' . The Conversation . 5 October 2015 . 8 January 2021.
2. Web site: Staff Profile . The University of Sydney . 26 September 2019 . 8 January 2021.
3. Book: Tofighian, Omid . Myth and Philosophy in Platonic Dialogues . Mutual Scaffolding: Unifying Myth and Philosophy . Palgrave Macmillan UK . London . 2016 . 978-1-137-58043-6 . 10.1057/978-1-137-58044-3_2 . 33–52.
4. Book: Tofighian, Omid . Myth and Philosophy in Platonic Dialogues . Where Does Myth Belong? . Palgrave Macmillan UK . London . 2016 . 978-1-137-58043-6 . 10.1057/978-1-137-58044-3_8 . 205–218.
5. Web site: Poetry and memoir win at Victorian Premier's Literary Awards . The University of Sydney . 1 February 2019 . 8 January 2021.
6. Meanjin Quarterly. The Last Days in Manus Prison. Behrouz. Boochani. Omid. Tofighian. Summer 2018. 2018. 6 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190309064039/https://meanjin.com.au/essays/the-last-days-in-manus-prison/. 9 March 2019. live.
7. Web site: Omid Tofighian . . 6 March 2019.
8. Web site: Omid Tofighian . Pan Macmillan Australia . 6 March 2019.
9. Web site: Tofighian . Omid . Writing from Manus prison: a scathing critique of domination and oppression . . 31 July 2018 . 8 January 2021.
10. Web site: Tofighian . Omid . Truth to power: my time translating Behrouz Boochani's masterpiece . The Conversation . 15 August 2018 . 8 January 2021.
11. News: Behrouz Boochani: Refugee who wrote book using WhatsApp wins top prize. BBC News. Kevin. Ponniah. 31 January 2019. 1 February 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190201004223/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47072023. 1 February 2019.
12. Web site: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2019. The Wheeler Centre. 2019-01-31.
13. News: Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. History of Aboriginal archaeology wins Book of the Year at NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Dee. Jefferson. ABC Arts. 29 Apr 2019. 6 May 2019.