Department of Anthropology
University of California, Los Angeles

I'm Zia, a linguistic anthropologist at UCLA and a UX researcher.

My research is an ethnography of spiritual Persian poetry assemblies in Los Angeles.

I'm following theories and methods from different disciplines; at its core, my research focuses on language ideologies, emotions, meaning-making processes, and ethnoreligious conflicts.
 
I also sporadically work on Gilaki, a North Iranian language (my mother tongue).
My research interests in Gilaki are primarily in language ideologies, historical sociolinguistics, and language documentation and revitalization.
 
I have been awarded multiple prestigious fellowships and grants (see page Academia)