Negar Mottahedeh

In the fall of 2026, Dr. Negar Mottahedeh joined Stanford's Iranian Studies Program to teach a new course titled Iranian Visionary: On 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Modernism (GLOBAL 140). A new endowment, made possible by a generous gift from the Taslimi Foundation in 2026, enables the Program to offer an annual course on the Baha'i Faith in Iran. 

Negar Mottahedeh is a cultural critic and film theorist specializing in interdisciplinary contributions to the fields of Middle Eastern Studies and Film Studies. She is known for her work on contemporary Iranian cinema and has, in addition, published on the history of reform and the role of technology and media in revolts and revolutions; on 'Abdu'l-Bahá’s vision of human solidarity and peace in the 20th Century; on Babism and Qajar history; and on Bahram Beyzaie and performance traditions in Iran.

She is currently Professor of Literature; Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies; Professor in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies; and Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University. Her publications include Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema (Duke University Press, 2008); Representing the Unpresentable: Historical Images of National Reform from the Qajars to the Islamic Republic of Iran (Syracuse University Press, 2008); ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Journey West: The Course of Human Solidarity (Editor, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013); #iranelection: Hashtag Solidarity and the Transformation of Online Life (Stanford University Press, 2015); and Whisper Tapes: Kate Millett in Iran (Stanford University Press, 2019).