Negar Mottahedeh
Iranian cultural critic and film theorist
Negar Mottahedeh is a cultural critic and film theorist specializing in interdisciplinary and feminist contributions to the fields of Middle Eastern Studies and Film Studies.
Early life
She is known for her work on Iranian Cinema, but has also published on the history of reform and revolution, on `Abdu'l-Baha's vision of human solidarity and peace in the 20th Century, on Bábism, Qajar history, performance traditions in Iran, the history of technology, visual theory, Majid Tavakoli and the Men in Scarves Movement (also known as the "I am Majid" campaign), and the role of social media in the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests. With the publication of #iranelection: Hashtag Solidarity and the Transformation of online life in 2015, she expanded her focus to the cultures and practices of the web, writing on the political efficacy of selfies, memes and gifs in The Hill (2017), and pieces on internet security and Iranian hacker culture on WIRED's platform Backchannel (2017). She also wrote articles for Observer, covering the effects of President Trump's travel ban, and the persecution of the Jews and the Baháʼí (2017).
She received her Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Minnesota. She has taught at the Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, and in 2002 began teaching at Duke University, where she is Professor in the Program in Literature. Mottahedeh curated the "Reel Evil: Films from the Axis of Evil" film festival with Miriam Cooke in 2003.
Later career
Mottahedeh became a full professor at Duke University in 2019.. In 2026 she became the inaugural visiting lecturer for a new annual Bahá'í Faith lectureship and course at Stanford Iranian Studies Program..
Publications
Books
Negar, Mottahedeh (2008).
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6987123. VIAF identifies the subject as 70845677. The Library of Congress control number is n2007070781. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2017.
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