I am a college professor and founder of Dr. Bashi, an educational start-up based on ethical, earth-friendly and gender/race-conscious principles–maker of world’s first Persian alphabet wood blocks–now also available in Arabic.

I was born in Iran to a family of educators and artists and spent my early childhood between London, Khuzestan and eventually Shiraz. I moved to Sweden with my family when I was in middle school. I received my Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Studies from Columbia University in the City of New York in 2010, and also hold a Masters in Science degree in Women’s Studies from Bristol University, UK. I graduated summa cum laude from UK’s Manchester University (First Class with Honours) with a B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies (Persian and Arabic Languages and Literature). I am multilingual–I’m fluent in Swedish and Persian, conversational in Dari, Tajik, Danish, and Norwegian, with reading and basic comprehension in German, Spanish and Arabic.

I have reflected and written extensively on children’s media and theories and practices of human rights, feminisms, representations of race, gender, religion, class, and ethnicity in mass-media. I am also a public speaker on a whole range of subjects and a keen photographer.

I have two beautiful young children who inspire me deeply and think of me as their personal toy photographer extraordinaire! I LOVE apocalyptic movies, childhood retro, bohemian designs and fashion, museums, pottery, digital photography (esp. underwater), traveling, Nowruz, Christmas and making a positive difference…and I’m CRAZY about water lilies and woodland mushrooms! 🙂