Nassim Mehran

Nassim Mehran

Research Topic

Manifestation of “Normative Violence” in Public and Private Space: Spatiality of Violence Against Women in Ethnically Segregated Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, Iran

Dr. Phil. Nassim Mehran is an urban sociologist and architect. She gained her master’s degrees in Iran and Germany and has several years of professional experience as an architect and urban designer. Since 2014, she has been working as a research fellow and lecturer at different institutions, including the Humboldt University of Berlin, Charité University of Berlin, and Orient Institut—Beirut. In December 2020, she defended her Ph.D. thesis in Sociology at Humboldt University of Berlin. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Orient Institut Beirut.

In research, she focuses on spatial justice, urban inequalities, social and psychological ecology of settlement, (mental) care, refuge and migration, and participatory alternatives in a time of crisis and conflicts. Nassim has developed knowledge and experiences in the context of Germany and the Middle East.

Nassim’s research at Columbia Global Centers | Amman unfolds the multi-layered relation between the experienced violence against women spaces and ethnic segregation within the cityscape of Ahvaz. It seeks to unfold the complex path of the re/production of violence against women, not as an abstract social disorder but as a spatially institutionalized urban reality reinforced through the intersection of different multi-scale legal, administrative, and social procedures.

Selected Publications

  • Adli M., Berger M., Brakemeier EL., Engel L., Fingerhut J., Gomez-Carrillo A., Hehl R., Heinz A., Mehran N., Tolaas S., Walter H., Weiland U., Stollmann J., “Neurourbanism: towards a new discipline,” Lancet Psychiatry , vol.4, no.3, 2017, pp.183-185. DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30371-6.
  • Adli M., Berger M., Brakemeier EL., Engel L, Fingerhut J., Hehl R., Heinz A., Mayer H,. Matussek T., Mehran N., Tolaas S., Walter H., Weiland U., Stollmann J., “Neurourbanism—a joint methodological approach between urban planning and neurosciences/ Neurourbanistik – ein methodischer Schulterschluss zwischen Stadtplanung und Neurowissenschaften,” Die Psychiatrie , vol.13, 2016, pp.70-78. DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1670122.
  • Heinz, A., Abi-Jumaa, J., Mehran, N., “Space, Art, and Psyche,” in: Pollmann, TC., Visions4people, Artistic research meets psychiatry. Berlin: jovis Verlag GmbH. 2019.
  • Abi-Jumaa, J., Kluge, U., Weingold, S., Mehran, N., “Peer-to-Peer Self-help Interventions for Refugees: A Pilot Study/ Peer-to-Peer-Selbsthilfe-Interventionen für Geflüchtete;eine Pilotstudie,” Fortschritte der Neurologie – Psychiatrie, vol.88, no.02, 2019, pp.89-94. DOI: 10.1055/a-1011-4232.
  • Kluge, U., Rapp, M., Mehran, N., Abi-Jumaa, J., Aichberger, M.C., “Poverty, migration and mental health/ Armut, Migration und psychische Gesundheit,” Der Nervenarzt, vol.90, no.11, 2019, pp. 1103-1108. DOI: 10.1007/s00115-019-00790-2.
  • Mehran, N., Abi-Jumaa, J., Hertner,L., Valensis, L., Bach, E., Strasser, J., Kluge, U. 2020. „Exploring the relationship between refugee women and female volunteers/ Zur Beziehungsgestaltung zwischen geflüchteten Frauen und weiblichen Freiwilligen,” Fortschritte der Neurologie – Psychiatrie, vol.88, no.2, 2020, pp.76-81. DOI: 10.1055/a-1041-3225.
  • Tonne, C., Adair, L., Adlakha, D., Aguelovski, I., Belesova, K., Berger, M., Brelsford, C., Dadvand, P., Dimitrova, A., Giles-Corti, B., Heinz, A., Mehran, N., Nieuwenhuijsen, M., Schreckenberg, F., Ranzani, O., Rodenstein, M., Rybski, D., Samavati, S., Satterthwaite, D., Schöndorf Dirk, J., Stollmann, J., Taubenböck, H., Tiwari, G., van Wee, B., Adli, M., “Defining Pathways to Healthy Sustainable Urban Development,” Environment International, vol.146, 2021,pp.146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106236.
  • Mehran, N., Abi-Jumaa, J., Heinz, A., Foroutan, N., Kluge, U. 2021. “Spatiality of Social Stress in Initial Reception Centers, Experienced by Refugee Women.” Int. Migration & Integration (2021) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00890-6.
  • Mehran, N., 2021, “Architecture and Beyond: In/formal Spaces of Urban Refuge – Berlin,” in: Seethaler-Wari, S., Chitchian, M., Momic, M., (eds.), Inhabiting Displacement Spaces and Subjects of Alter-Architecture. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035623710-011.
  • Böge, K., Karnouk, C., Hoell, A., Tschorn, M., Kamp-Becker, I., Padberg, F., Übleis, A., Hasan, I., Falkai, P., Salize, H., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Banaschewski, T., Schneider, F., Habel, U., Plener, P., Hahn, E., Wiechers, M., Strupf, M., Jobst, A., Millenet, S., Hoehne, E., Sukale, T., Dinauer, R., Schuster, M., Mehran, N., Kaiser, F., Bröcheler, S., Lieb, K., Heinz, A., Rapp, M., Bajbouj, M., “Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness for the Treatment of Depressive Symptoms in Refugees and Asylum Seekers: a Multi-centred Randomized Controlled Trial by Dr. Malek Bajbouj,“The Lancet Regional Health – Europe (forthcoming)