In this episode, Rustin is joined by Dr. Neda Maghbouleh and Dr. Amy Malek to interview Dr. Narges Bajoghli, Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, about her new book, [“Iran Re-Framed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic.”](http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29666) Dr. Bajoghli talks about how she came to spend ten years in the field as an anthropologist studying members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Ansar Hezbollah, and Basij paramilitary organizations. Through a study of their media production, she explores how these men developed strategies to reach the youth, how they understood their own life trajectories, and tellingly, their deep anxieties about the future and their place in it. She also explains how she takes a “3D look at power in Iran” and its relation to the ethics of fieldwork, particularly among subjects that one disagrees with. This book offers a multilayered story about what it means to be pro-regime inside the Islamic Republic of Iran, challenging what we think we know about those who continue to support its revolution. ...
In this episode, Rustin speaks with Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, Lecturer in Comparative Political Theory at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of [Revolution and its Discontents: Political Thought and Reform in Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2019).](https://www.cambridge.org/ge/academic/subjects/history/middle-east-history/revolution-and-its-discontents-political-thought-and-reform-iran?format=HB#contentsTabAnchor) Dr. Sadeghi-Boroujerdi gives an overview of the history and ideological development of Reformism in Iran. Following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, left-leaning factions of the Islamic Republic's political elite found themselves sidelined and kicked out of the corridors of power in the Islamic Republic. Throughout the discussion, Dr. Sadeghi-Boroujerdi outlines how the reformist movement was not only shaped by their members' political marginalization, but also by a global network of post-cold-war theoretical writings championing incrementalism, economic liberalism, and strengthening civil society. The conversation concludes with current state of reformism--of its contradictions, lessons learned, and opportunities missed. ...
In this episode, Rustin is joined by Neda Maghbouleh, Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Toronto. She is the author of [The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race (Stanford University Press, 2017).](https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=24756) Neda is a long-time friend of Ajam and an early guest of the first iteration of the Ajam podcast back in 2014. Since our first conversation, she has published her book, which explores the history of ethnic and racial classification in the United States and how Iranians and other Middle Eastern Americans have moved across the color line from "white" to "brown." After discussing the major themes and reception of her book, Dr. Maghbouleh talks about her latest project focusing on the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada since 2015. The five-year study follows newcomer mothers and their teenage children as they adjust to their new environment and deal with a wide variety of stressors Rustin closes out the episode with "Chiftetelli," a 1949 Armenian song by the Nore Ike Orchestra. ...
