Levan Book Chat—Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani, Accelerant

Event details Date: Friday, October 2, 2026 Time: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM Location: Online Type: Lecture / Talk / Workshop Department: Department of Middle East Studies (MDES), Environmental Studies Program Audience: Students, Alumni, Faculty/Staff About this event A discussion of Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani's new book, Accelerant: Energy Infrastructures and the Natural World in Making Modern Iran (Stanford University Press, 2026). The author will be joined in conversation by Arang Keshavarzian (NYU) and Victor Seow (Harvard University), moderated by Joanne Nucho (USC). Registration is required. REGISTER HERE About the Book: Between the late 1940s and the end of the twentieth century, natural gas became Iran's bedrock energy source. Billed as a futuristic fuel for a future world power, gas became an avenue for the country's developmentalist ambitions. The ability to build technologically sophisticated infrastructures served as a powerful tool of state legitimation, both before and after the 1979 Revolution, and tied top-down politics of modernization to bottom-up feelings of national belonging. Accelerant analyzes the interwoven histories of energy, development, and the environment in Iran. Following the movement of natural gas from underground deposits, through infrastructures of refining and distribution, and into everyday life, Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani explores the roles of development planners, oil firms, industrialists, engineers, and consumers—as well as the mountain ranges, sedimentary rock, and natural gas itself—to show how natural gas emerged as a crucial enabler of industrialization and a strong impetus for resource nationalism. Tracing the transformation of gas from a waste product into a vital resource, this book offers a history of anticolonial developmentalism in Iran—revealing a key driver toward intensified energy use that suggests why and how societies in the Global South became voracious consumers of fossil fuel energy. About the Author: Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani is the Farhang Foundation Early Career Chair in Iranian Studies and Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. Open to attendants outside of USC. An excerpt of the book will be made available to registered attendants. Registration before the event is required. This event is part of the Levan Institute for the Humanities' “Book Chats” series, conversations about new books published by USC scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. To see more events in this series, including recordings of past events, visit https://dornsife.usc.edu/levan-institute/book-chats/. Official event details: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/levan-book-chatciruce-movahedi-lankarani-accelerant