About
Narges Bajoghli (pronounced: Nar-guess Baa-jogh-lee) is a scholar, public intellectual, and award-winning author whose work explores the intersections of media, power, and resistance in global politics. She serves as the Faculty Lead of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and is the co-director of the Rethinking Iran Initiative.
Her first book, Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic (Stanford University Press), received widespread acclaim and multiple awards for its groundbreaking ethnographic approach, including the Margaret Mead Book Award. Her second book, How Sanctions Work in Iran, offers an in-depth analysis of the impact of sanctions on Iranian society. Narges’s forthcoming book examines the legacy of chemical warfare in the Middle East and its broader implications for global military experimentation and violence.
Narges's research has been supported by numerous national grants and has appeared in peer review publications. She has led global research teams to investigate chemical warfare, propaganda wars, and economic sanctions. As a cultural anthropologist who works in a leading school of international affairs, Narges has been at the forefront of producing research that takes seriously the lived realities of foreign policy decisions.
Narges’s public writing have been featured in prominent outlets, including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair. She is a frequent commentator on issues such as sanctions, resistance movements, and the role of media in shaping political ideologies.
As a trained visual anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, Narges is the director of the film The Skin That Burns, on survivors of chemical warfare. Her graphic novella, Sanctioned Lives, visually captures the everyday realities of life under sanctions and is part of a broader transmedia project bringing critical discussions of sanctions to new audiences. She is currently at work on a new film and graphic novel.
As an educator, Narges has received multiple teaching awards for her innovative courses on ethnography, media, and the politics of resistance. She is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of global leaders and thinkers, fostering intellectual curiosity, and bridging the gap between academia and public discourse.
Her first book, Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic (Stanford University Press), received widespread acclaim and multiple awards for its groundbreaking ethnographic approach, including the Margaret Mead Book Award. Her second book, How Sanctions Work in Iran, offers an in-depth analysis of the impact of sanctions on Iranian society. Narges’s forthcoming book examines the legacy of chemical warfare in the Middle East and its broader implications for global military experimentation and violence.
Narges's research has been supported by numerous national grants and has appeared in peer review publications. She has led global research teams to investigate chemical warfare, propaganda wars, and economic sanctions. As a cultural anthropologist who works in a leading school of international affairs, Narges has been at the forefront of producing research that takes seriously the lived realities of foreign policy decisions.
Narges’s public writing have been featured in prominent outlets, including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair. She is a frequent commentator on issues such as sanctions, resistance movements, and the role of media in shaping political ideologies.
As a trained visual anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, Narges is the director of the film The Skin That Burns, on survivors of chemical warfare. Her graphic novella, Sanctioned Lives, visually captures the everyday realities of life under sanctions and is part of a broader transmedia project bringing critical discussions of sanctions to new audiences. She is currently at work on a new film and graphic novel.
As an educator, Narges has received multiple teaching awards for her innovative courses on ethnography, media, and the politics of resistance. She is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of global leaders and thinkers, fostering intellectual curiosity, and bridging the gap between academia and public discourse.
For Narges' CV, please click here.
