NARGES BAJOGHLI
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Updated May 2022

NARGES BAJOGHLI, PhD
Assistant Professor
Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International Studies 

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS 

Political anthropology; anthropology of media; revolutions and media; paramilitary and military organizations; war; visual culture; documentary films and documentary filmmaking; 
Middle East; Iran. 

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
 
2018           Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 
School of Advanced International Studies

2016-18   Postdoctoral Research Associate in International and Public Affairs, The Watson Institute, and Affiliated Fellow at the Humanitarian Innovation Initiative, Brown
                      University


EDUCATION

2016  Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, New York University
       
2014  Graduate Certificate, Program in Culture and Media, New York University
                
2013  MPhil, Anthropology, New York University                  

2012  M.A., Anthropology, New York University
           
2008  M. A., Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

2004  B.A., Department of Political Science, Wellesley College
                     

FELLOWSHIPS

2016-18    Postdoctoral Research Associate in International and Public Affairs, The Watson Institute, Brown University
 
2016-18     Affiliated Fellow, Humanitarian Innovation Initiative, Brown University
 
2015-16     Fellow, The Center for Humanities, NYU
 
2015-16     Dean's Dissertation Fellowship, NYU
 
2009-15     MacCracken Graduate Fellowship, NYU
 
2009-10     Alice Palmer Fellowship for Graduate Studies, Wellesley College


GRANTS
 
2022.        The Wenner Gren Foundation: "Building the Field of Anthropology of Sanctions"
 
2021         Dean's Innovation Fund, Johns Hopkins University
 
2021-22     Accelerator Grant, Johns Hopkins University

2019-20     Discovery Award, Johns Hopkins University
​
2013-14     Social Science Research Council: International Dissertation Research Fellowship
 
2013-14     National Science Foundation: Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Awarded/Declined
 
2013-14     The Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research: Dissertation  Fieldwork Grant
 
2013-14     American Institute of Iranian Studies: Pre-Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
 
2013-14     Torch Prize Fellowship, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, NYU
 

AWARDS
 
2022           Catalyst Award, Johns Hopkins University

2022           Excellence in Teaching Award, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS
​
2021            Silver Medal, Independent Publisher Book Awards for Current Events (Political/Economic/Foreign Affairs)  (
Iran Reframed)

2020            Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title, American Library Association (Iran Reframed)

2020            Margaret Mead Book Award from the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology (Iran Reframed).
​
2016-17     Dean’s Outstanding Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences, NYU


PUBLICATIONS
 
Book
 
2019          Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic, Stanford University Press
 
Journal Articles
 
2023        "Iran in Latin America: Striver Cosmopolitans and the Limits of U.S. Sanctions." Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development, Vol 14, Issue 2. 

2023.       "The Need for Critical Studies of Sanctions." Introduction for special issue on sanctions in 
Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development, Vol 14, Issue 2. 

2022       "#MyRedLine and #MyStealthyFreedom: Internationalism, US Imperialism, and the Afghan and Iranian Women's Rights Movements" with Wazhmah         
                      Osman. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies. ​Forthcoming.

2020         "American Media on Iran: Hostage to a Worldview." Anthropology Now. Vol 11, Issue 3
​
2019          
“The Researcher as National Security Threat: Surveillance, Agency, and Entanglement in Iran and the United States.” Comparative Journal of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Vol 39, Issue 3.

2017          “The Outcasts: The Start of ‘New Entertainment’ in Pro-Regime Filmmaking in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Middle East Critique 26(1).*
 
Book Chapters
 
2016           “Iran and the Arab Spring,” with Arang Keshavarzian in The Arab Spring: Change and Resistance, 2nd Edition. David W. Lesch and Mark L. Haas, eds. Westview Press.
 
2014           “Digital Technology as Surveillance: The Green Movement in Iran” in Wired Citizenship: Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East, Linda Herrera, ed. Routledge Press.
 
Documentary Films
 
2014           Director and Editor, The Skin That Burns (25mins). Distributed by Film Media Group. Documentary on Iran’s volunteer soldiers who were exposed to chemical warfare
                      during Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). For the Graduate Program in Culture and Media.
 
Book Reviews
 

2022           “Television and the Afghan Culture Wars” in Visual Anthropology Review, 38(1).

2018           “Prozak Diaries: Psychiatry and Generational Memory in Iran” in Anthropological Quarterly 91(1).
 
2016           “Captive Society: The Basij Militia and Social Control in Iran” in International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES) 48(3).
 
2016           Review Essay: “Media in Iran: From the 1979 Revolution to the Green Movement.” Review of Middle East Studies 50(1): 1-5.
 

SCHOLARLY CONFERENCES
 
Conferences and Symposia Organized
 

2019-Present   Rethinking Iran Initiative at SAIS, Johns Hopkins: www.rethinkingiran.com
​
2023          Anthropology of Sanctions Conference, forthcoming.

2017          Middle East Toxic Wars, Brown University Engaged Scholarship Conference, Providence, November 10.
 
2015-16   Animating the Archives: A Series of Symposia on Iranian Cultural History, Series of Symposia, New York University: www.iranarchives.org.
 
2012           Fifth International Conference on the Iranian Diaspora, UCLA, October 13-14.
 
2010           Inside/Outside/Offside: The Role of Ideology and Citizenship in Iran from the 1979 Revolution to the 2009 Green Movement, UCLA, October 9.
 
2006           Bam and Beyond Seminar Part 2, Tehran, Iran, January 21.
 
2005           Bam and Beyond Seminar Part 1, Columbia University, November 6.
 
2004           First International Conference on the Iranian Diaspora, Tufts University, April 11-12.
 
Panels Organized
 
2020         "A New Era in the Islamic Republic: Politics in Iran and Perceptions in Washington," Middle East Studies Association, Virtual Conference (COVID-19) October 5-17.

2019          "Competing for Attention: The State and its Others in the Digital Age," 
American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC, November 20-24.

2019           "Islamic Media and Political Futures,"  Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, November 14-17.

2016           “Evidence in National Security Contexts,” American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN, November 16-20.
 
2015           "The Politics of 'Moderate Islam' Beyond U.S. Empire," American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Denver, CO, November 18-22.
 
2013           “Religion, Media, and Politics in the Middle East: An Anthropological Perspective,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, November 10-13.
 
Conference Papers
 

2022         "Iran in Latin America: Striver Cosmopolitans and the Limits of U.S. Sanctions," American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, November 9-13, 2022.
​
​
2021         “The Study of Power, Media, and Revolution in Iran and the U.S.: From a Ginsburg-ian Lens,” American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, November 18-21, 2021.

2019         “The Digital War: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran’s Media Production at Home and Abroad,” American Anthropological Association Annual
                     Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, November 20-25.
 
2019       “Iranian Regime Media: Islam, Nationalism, and Political Control” Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, November 14-17.

2016       “Research with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij Paramilitary Organization: Negotiating Access, Gathering Evidence, and Attempting Distance,” American
                   Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN, November 16-20.
 
2016       “Transmitting the Revolution: An In-Depth Look at Pro-Regime Cultural Centers and Cultural Activists in Iran,” Surveying Iran Conference, Central European University 
                   and University of Pennsylvania, Budapest, Hungry, September 1-2.
 
2016        “Research with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij Paramilitary Organization: Negotiating Access, Questioning Collaboration, and Attempting Distance,” 
                    Society for Cultural Anthropology, Ithaca, NY, May 12-14.
 
2015        “Creating Moderate Shi’a Heroes for Youth in Iran,” American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Denver, CO, November 18-22.
 
2014        “'Vaccinating Society': Soft War Politics in the Islamic Republic's Media World," Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, November 22-25.
 
2012        “Anthropology and Social Change,” organized by Emily Martin and Katherine McCaffery, American Ethnological Society Annual Conference, New York, April 21.
 
2011a      “Censors and Cultural Producers: The Basij and Revolutionary Guards as Media Makers,” Conference: Cinema in Iran: Circulation, Censorship, and Cultural Production.  Annenberg School for Communication at  
​                     University of Pennsylvania. Presented in Berlin, Germany, December 15-17.
 
2011b       “Chemical Warfare, Invisible Traces, and Photographed Pain: Evidence from the Iran-Iraq War,” in Unsettling Accounts: Photographs, Traces, and Evidence Panel,
                      American  Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada, November 16-20.
 
2008a       “The Outcasts: Reforming the Internal ‘Other’ by Returning to the Ideals of the Revolution,” Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT), The University of
                     Chicago, May.
 
2008b       “The Outcasts: Reforming the Internal ‘Other’ by Returning to the Ideals of the Revolution,” Visual Representations of Iran Conference, St. Andrews University, 
                      Scotland, June.
 
2008c       “The Outcasts: Reforming the Internal ‘Other’ by Returning to the Ideals of the Revolution,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference, Washington, DC,
​                      November.
 

INVITED TALKS
 

2022         "Studying State Media Through a Nafician Lens," Hamid Naficy Encomium, Northwestern University, June 3. 

2019           “The Production of Revolutionary Media,” Johns Hopkins University, February 19.
 
2019           “Iran, A Revolution at Forty,” University of Washington, January 28. 

​
2017           “The Politics of Counting,” Princeton University, NJ, April 4.
 
2016           “Pro-regime Media in Revolutionary Iran,” Boston University, MA, November 3.
 
2016           “Anxieties of Power,” Oklahoma State University, OK, November 10.
 
2016           “Iran after the Nuclear Deal,” San Jose State University, CA, October 21.
 
2015           “Battling Truths: Defending the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Sacred Memories in Film and Literature,” Iranian Studies Initiative, New York University, NY, February 19.
 
2014           “Islamic Media: Technology and the Sacred,” Duke University, NC, February 6-7. 
 
2013           “Social History of Iranian Cinema” Workshop, Northwestern University, IL, February 8.
 
2012           “The Green Revolution and Beyond: Religion, The Internet, and Politics in Iran,” Digital Religion: Knowledge, Politics, and Practice Conference at NYU’s Center for                                  Religion and Media, NY, February 17.
 


BOOK TALKS
 
2020             SOAS, University of London
2020             Seminary Coop (University of Chicago)
2020             New York University
2020             George Mason University
2020             Stanford University
2020             San Francisco State University
2020             Penn State
2020             University of Michigan
2020             UCLA
2020             Brown University
2020             George Washington University
2019             University of Nebraska (Omaha and Lincoln)
2019             Tufts University
2019             American University of Beirut
2019             University of Arizona
2019             Princeton University
2019             Johns Hopkins University, SAIS
2019             Boston College
2019             Boston University
2019             Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2019             Yale University

FILM SCREENINGS
* Indicates a Q/A or a talk
 
The Skin That Burns
2017          University of Pennsylvania*
2015          Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival
2014           Naval Postgraduate School
2013           Ohio State University
2013           Noor Iranian Film Festival
2013           Princeton University*
2013           Peace on Earth Film Festival
2013           Columbia University School of Journalism*
2013           Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, NYU*
2013           Jaipur Film Festival
2012           Cantor Film Center, New York, NY*
2012           University of California, Irvine*
2012           Hiroshima, Japan
2012           The Hague, Netherlands
2012           Tehran Peace Museum, Tehran, Iran
 
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
 

Johns Hopkins University, Sole Instructor

          Fall 2020 Media Wars (Graduate level course) 
          Spring 2020 Ethnographic Research Methods (Graduate level course)
           Fall 2019 Iran a Revolution at 40 (Graduate level course)
           Fall 2019 Media Wars (Graduate level course) 
           Fall 2018 Media and the Middle East (Graduate level course) 
           Spring 2019 The Iranian Revolution at 40 
(Graduate level course) 

Brown University, Sole Instructor
         Fall 2016 Middle East: Media Wars (Upper-Level Undergraduate course)
         Spring 2018 
Middle East: Media Wars (Upper-Level Undergraduate course)
 
New York University, Teaching Assistant
         Video Production, Graduate Course (Fall 2015-Spring 2016; Fall 2014-Spring 2015)
         Introduction to Anthropology (Fall 2012; Fall 2011)
         Anthropology of Language (Spring 2012)
 
Certificate: Preparing Future Faculty: Achieving Success Through Communication, Spring 2015
 
ACADEMIC SERVICE
 
Professional
 

2021           Member, Margaret Mead Book Award Committee, American Anthropological Association
2021           Chair, Program Committee, Middle East Studies Section, American Anthropological Association
2021           Conference Program Committee, Middle East Studies Association
2020           Nominating Committee, Middle East Studies Association
2020           Reviewer, Cultural Anthropology
2019           Contributor, Book Forum, Cultural Anthropology        
2019           Reviewer, Visual Anthropology Review 
2018           Reviewer, Public Culture
2017           Reviewer, American Anthropologist 

2016           Reviewer, International Journal of Conflict Management
2016           Reviewer, Middle East Critique
2015           Reviewer, British Journal of Middle East Studies
2015           Reviewer, Medicine Anthropology Theory
2014-15    Association of Middle East Anthropology, Steering Committee for Conference Panel Planning
2012-14    Contributing Editor, Cultural Anthropology Journal
2011-13    Director, Outreach and Public Relations, Anthropology Now Journal
2011           Founder, Iranian Studies Graduate Students Association
 
Johns Hopkins University


2021         DELTA Grant Committee Member 

New York University
 
2011-15    Steering Committee, Speaker Series, Iranian Studies Initiative, NYU
2014           Graduate Student Member, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Discipline
2012           Organizer, Radical Ethnography Study Group, NYU
2010           Steering Committee, Anthropology Graduate Students Association
 
Selected Media Publications and Appearances
 

2020
 
                    "How Trump's Sanctions on Iran will Worsen the Pandemic" New York Times
 
                    “Suleimani’s Death Changes Nothing for Iran” New York Times
                    
                      “Soleimani’s Death Could Galvanize Shia Coalitions Against One ‘Foreign Aggressor’--
                     The U.S.” Democracy Now!
 
                     “What killing of Iranian general means for US, nuclear deal” PBS Newshour
​
2019
                 "A Closer Look at Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps" CNN

                  "Trump's Iran Strategy Will Fail. Here's Why." New York Times

                 "Iran's Other Generation Gap, 40 Years On." Foreign Affairs

2018
                   “Did a Terrorist Attack Just Save the Iranian Regime?” Foreign Policy.
 
                   “Iran Will Never Trust America Again.” Foreign Policy.
 
                   “Behind the Iran Protests.” Jacobin.
 
                   “A London Television Station Has Convinced Iran the Shah was Great.” Foreign Policy.


2017
                  “IRGC Media Producers Open New Front Against Rouhani.” Al Monitor.
 
                  “The Genesis of a New Iranian Nationalism.” Al Monitor.

           
                  “Syria Chemical Attack Unsettles Iran’s Chemical Weapons Survivors.” Al Monitor.
 
                  Story in the Public Square, The Pell Center, May 12, 2017:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=270niN_Bq0g
 
                  FoxNews, Dan Yorke State of Mind: "Chemical warfare expert discusses trade, uses, and effects post-Syria attack," April 17, 2017: 
                  http://foxprovidence.com/2017/04/17/417-chemical-warfare-expert-discusses-trade-uses-and-effects-post-syria-attack-on-state-of-mind/
 
                   BBC WorldService NewsHour: "The Lasting Impact of a Chemical Attack," April 10, 2017. 
 
2016          
                   “Tipsy in Tehran.” The New York Times Magazine.
 
                   “Learning to Play by Ear in Iran.” The New York Times Magazine.
 
                   PBS NewsHour: “Enforcing Iran sanctions still tangles Iranian-Americans in ‘spider’s web of laws’”
 
                   “The IRGC's Plans to Win Hearts and Minds.” Al Monitor.
 
                   “How Women, the Green Movement, and an app Shaped Iran's Election.” The Washington
                   Post.
 
                   “Women Win Big in Iran's Parliamentary Elections.” Al Monitor.
 
                   “Towards an Archive of the Basij: Memories from Iran’s Volunteer Militia.” Ajam Media
                   Collective
 
2015          
                   “How Iran is Trying to Win Back the Youth.” The Guardian.
 
                   “Iranian Vets Also Push for Nuclear Deal.” LobeLog. 
 
                   “Why Iran's Revolutionary Guard Supports the Deal.” LobeLog.
 
                   “Iran’s Unfair Nationality Laws.” Middle East Research and Information (MERIP).
 
2014
                   Adviser, CNN, Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown: Iran.
 
                   “Debating the Iran-Iraq War on Film.” Middle East Research and Information Project, 271.
 
2013          
                   Op-Ed “US-Iran Nuclear Deal Should Open Up Academic Exchanges As Well.” The Guardian.
 
                   Guest on DemocracyNow! with Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh: Obama and Rouhani  Welcome New Talks, Offering Hope to Iranians Suffering Under U.S.-Led                                 Sanctions.
 
                   Op-Ed: "President Rouhani's Overtures to the West are Genuine. Iran Voted for Change." The Guardian.
 
                   “Iran's Chemical Weapons Survivors Show Twin Horrors of WMD and Sanctions." The Guardian.
 
2012          
                   “Principled Defiance.” Interview with Shirin Neshat. Bespoke Magazine.
 
                   “Blisters and Sanctions.” Middle East Research and Information Project.
                   (http://www.merip.org/blisters-sanctions). (with Shahriar Khateri).
 
                   “Missed Opportunities: A Review of Arab Media.” The Revealer.
                   (http://therevealer.org/archives/11895)
 
                   “Iranian Cyber-Struggles.” Middle East Research and Information Project
                   (http://www.merip.org/mero/mero050312)
 
                   “Engaging the Public: Shirley Lindenbaum and Anthropology Now.” Anthropology News.
                    (http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/04/02/engaging-the-public/)
 
                   “OWS, Anthropology, and New York City Student Engagement.” Anthropology News,
                   (http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/01/10/january-aes-news/)
                   (with Natasha Raheja)
 
2011
                   PBS Frontline: “Empowering Iranian American Youth: The Camp Ayandeh Story – A
                   Conversation with Co-Founder Narges Bajoghli” by Arash Karami, August 14, 2011:
                   http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/08/empowering-iranian-american-youth-the-camp-ayandeh-story.html
 
                  Wellesley Magazine: “After the Revolution: Spotlight on Alum, Narges Bajoghli” by Marcy Barack Black, Spring 2011.
2009          
                   “Devouring Their Own: The Basij in the Islamic Republic.” Huffington Post.
 
2005          
                   Researcher and Sound Director, Red Lines and Deadlines, PBS Documentary
 
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
 
2009-13   Director, Oral History Project of Survivors of Chemical Warfare, Tehran Peace Museum
 
2003-12  Co-Founder Iranian Alliances Across Borders (a 501c3 non-profit organization)
                     Chair, Board of Advisors, Iranian Alliances Across Borders
2002-06   Executive Director, Iranian Alliances Across Borders

​Raised over $500,000 through grants. Recruited and managed staff of 25. Curator of TRANSFORM/NATION: Contemporary Art of Iran and its Diaspora, sister-exhibitions in Washington, DC and Tehran (Summer 2007) with supplemental academic talks in both cities.
 
LANGUAGES
Fluent in Persian and Spanish
 
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Anthropological Association
Society for Cultural Anthropology
Middle East Studies Association 
​Association for Iranian Studies 
​Society for Cinema and Media Studies

© Narges Bajoghli 2014-2022

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