Narges Bajoghli

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 SAIS Rethinking Iran Initiative. Narges is also the co-Editor-in-Chief of Visual Anthropology Review, where she helps shape the conversation around innovative approaches to visual storytelling in anthropology.

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, Workshop of War, examines the legacy of chemical warfare in the Middle East and its broader implications for global military experimentation and violence.

Narges’s research and 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.

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.