Shervin Malekzadeh is one of the most thoughtful guys writing about Iran-related issues today. He’s a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Middle East Center. Prior to that, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor in Political Science at Swarthmore College. He received his PhD in Government from Georgetown University, and his research focuses on the politics of schooling, culture and identity in post-revolutionary Iran. Shervin and I talked about the interplay between state and society in Iran, his fieldwork in Iran during the past three elections, and female lead singers in rock bands.