Saba Soomekh

Who is Saba Soomekh?

Saba Soomekh is an Iranian-born American professor and writer.

Soomekh was born in Teheran, Iran to a Persian Jewish family that moved to Los Angeles, California to escape the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Saba is a sister to actress Bahar Soomekh. She received her Bachelors degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and her Masters in Theological studies from Harvard Divinity School in 2001. Saba earned a Ph. D in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Saba Soomekh is now a visiting professor at Loyola Marymount University where she teaches world religions, women and religion and Modern Israel courses. Her focus is on the history of religions, feminist anthropology and Middle Eastern Jewry. She has written extensively on the Iranian Jewish community and on women in the Middle East. Her book "From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture" will be published by State University of New York Press. Soomekh has studied in Spain, Jerusalem and India and has traveled extensively through Europe, the Middle East, Central and South America, South East Asia, India and Southern Africa.