Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABC) is thrilled to announce that on November 27th, 2024, one of our co-founders, Dr. Ladan Boroumand, has been awarded an honorary professorship in the field of history by the University of Parma, Italy. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to our co-founder, Ladan Boroumand, for this prestigious recognition, which honors not only her scholarly achievements but also her lifelong dedication to advancing human rights through ABC’s online Omid Memorial.

The ceremony took place in Parma University's centuries-old Aula Magna (Great Hall), in the presence of the directors of various university departments, as well as professors from the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Cultural Industries, and the Laboratory for the History of Political Thought De Cive. Also present at the ceremony were Parma University’s vice rectors.

In his introductory speech, and after referencing Ladan’s scholarly work, Professor Paolo Martelli, the Rector of the University of Parma, noted that Ladan Boroumand’s crucial work has been accomplished in collaboration with her sister Roya through the creation of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center’s signature project, Omid Memorial, which he described as a "masterpiece:" 

"The Omid Memorial is one of the most significant and groundbreaking projects of historical research on contemporary Iran and forms the basis for awarding the Honorary Professorship in History to Ladan Boroumand by our University… The Omid Memorial seeks to denounce human rights violations in Iran, to keep alive the memory of the victims, and to pay tribute to them. But it is also much more. It is a way to 'resist,' to transform that 'virtual city' of those killed into a lever for collective renewal, into a wellspring of life through an extraordinary reversal: the victims become active agents of resistance and universal memory, writing history…"

Addressing Ladan Boroumand, Rector Martelli concluded:

"With you, we also welcome the 26,000 individuals you have memorialized, along with those who will tragically be added to that number, none excluded. We embrace them as an active memory for the present and the future, embodied in the name you have so aptly chosen for your (and our) Memorial: Omid, Hope. Thank you, and welcome."

In their laudatio (commendation speech), Professors Mario Tesini and Luca Iori, who had sponsored Ladan Boroumand’s candidacy for this honorary professorship, remarked:

"[Omid] is a work of huge and impressive historical reconstruction, distinguished by methodological rigor and meticulous impartiality in the use and updating of sources… Its goal is to document and preserve, alongside the biographies of the persecuted, the specific nature of the human rights violations reflected in these life stories. Through the close examination of individual persecutions, placed within a precise historical and legal context, we are able to discern the logic of state violence and the mechanisms of the repressive machinery underpinning Iranian totalitarianism… But Omid also holds a cathartic value… From this mosaic of collective suffering, vivid voices emerge-diverse human characters and stories that transcend the tragic moment of persecution and resonate in our present. The Memorial thus binds victims, their mourners, and a broader international public, fostering solidarity among all these groups."

Professors Tesini and Iori emphasized that, through Ladan Boroumand’s person, the University of Parma was recognizing the collective work she spearheaded with her sister Roya, to which many dedicated researchers have contributed over the years. They also shared Ladan and Roya’s vision for the future of Omid Memorial:

"It is easy to imagine that the greatest hope of Omid’s creators, Ladan and Roya Boroumand, and of all those who have contributed over the decades to this extraordinary endeavor, is to one day close the memorial and hand it over to the historians of the future. In doing so, they would provide them with an invaluable wealth of data and sources, an essential foundation for any further historiographical exploration and interpretation. This ideal culmination ultimately completes Ladan Boroumand’s exceptional intellectual journey, connecting all its stages: the twenty-year-old student grappling with the nature of the Khomeinist order; the young scholar in Paris investigating the historical origins of the notion of human rights; the tenacious researcher of Iran’s criminal power system; and the equally tenacious custodian of the memory of its victims."

To welcome Ladan as one of their own, Professors Tesini and Iori concluded:

"Today, we have the honor of accepting Ladan into the academic body of the University of Parma, offering her a teaching space that historical events sought to deny her. In this way, our university aims to support future historical research in Italy, Europe, and in an Iranian nation, hopefully restored to the free exchange of ideas, actively engaged in preserving and studying its historical memory. Welcome Ladan!”

In her Lectio Magistralis (inaugural lecture), Professor Boroumand expressed her deep gratitude for the prestigious honor bestowed upon her by the University of Parma and the trust its faculty had placed in her by welcoming her as one of their colleagues. She aligned her work with a liberal tradition in Modern Iran’s political history that began in the late 19th century and culminated in the Constitutional Revolution of 1906. Against this historical backdrop, Dr. Boroumand acknowledged the debt of gratitude she owes to historical figures, such as Shapur Bakhtiar, who have inspired her, the academic luminaries who trained her, and the friends and supporters without whose help Omid Memorial would not have developed into what it is today. In a vibrant homage to her sister Roya, Professor Boroumand reminded the audience that Omid Memorial could not exist without Roya’s commitment and dedication. Professor Boroumand also seized the opportunity to gratefully recall the memory of her late father, Abdorrahman Boroumand, as her first teacher of democracy and her mother, who revealed to her children the emancipatory virtue of truth:

"When we decided to stand up against evil, truth was our only weapon. We know from experience that it has irreplaceable firepower against the lies and alternate realities that are shaking the foundations of liberal democracies around the world."

All of us at Abdorrahman Boroumand Center join Professor Ladan Boroumand in thanking the University of Parma for the prestigious and heartwarming recognition of the academic value of our work and look forward to future collaboration with this venerable institution.