Hajar Kabiri

Academic Mentor: Anupama Rao, professor of History at Barnard, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia

Research Topic: Women, Life, Freedom, and the Question of Intersectionality in Iran

Country: Iran

Columbia Global Center: Amman

The academic activities of Hajar Kabiri, originally from Iran, have been deeply influenced by her experiences of patriarchy and assimilation, which have shaped her engagement in political activism (particularly focusing on women's and student movements).

Kabiri completed her master's degree in ociology in 2012 and her Ph.D. in 2022, both at Hacettepe University in Türkiye. In her dissertation, entitled, “The Role of Turkish Women in the Process of Identity and Language Transfer in the Context of the Policies Implemented in Iran,” she discusses the hierarchical orders and relationships that developed with the construction of the nation-state in the context of Iran's modernization experience.

Since 2017, she has worked with the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency,  in Türkiye, gaining insights into the experiences of refugee women — especially victims of violence — and observing the intersectional dynamics among refugee women. Her objective is to continue researching the intersectionality of gender, ethnicity/nationality, queer identity, and class in the Middle East, with a focus on marginalized groups.