Included in the 2018 summer reading list by New York Times Books A modern-day glimpse into the surprising reality of life in Iran. Iran: A destination that is seldom seen by westerners yet often misunderstood. A country that simultaneously “enchants and enrages” those who visit it. A place where leading a double life has become the norm. In Couchsurfing in Iran, award-winning author Stephan Orth spends sixty-two days on the road in this mysterious Islamic republic to provide a revealing, behind-the-scenes look at life in one of the world’s most closed societies. Through the unsurpassed hospitality of twenty-two hosts, he skips the guidebooks and tourist attractions and travels from Persian carpet to bed to cot, covering more than 8,400 kilometers to recount “this world’s hidden doings.” Experiencing daily what he calls the “two Irans” that coexist side by side—the “theocracy, where people mourn their martyrs” in mausoleums, and the “hide-and-seek-ocracy, where people hold secret parties and seek worldly thrills instead of spiritual bliss”—he learns that Iranians have become experts in navigating around their country’s strict laws. Though couchsurfing is officially prohibited in Iran—the state fears spies would be able to travel undetected through the country—more than a hundred thousand Iranians are registered with online couchsurfing portals. And thanks to these hospitable, English-speaking strangers, Orth gets up close and personal with locals, peering behind closed doors and blank windows to uncover the inner workings of a country where public show and private reality are strikingly opposed.

Social Media in Iran is the first book to tell the complex story of how and why the Iranian people—including women, homosexuals, dissidents, artists, and even state actors—use social media technology, and in doing so create a contentious environment wherein new identities and realities are constructed. Drawing together emerging and established scholars in communication, culture, and media studies, this volume considers the role of social media in Iranian society, particularly the time during and after the controversial 2009 presidential election, a watershed moment in the postrevolutionary history of Iran. While regional specialists may find studies on specific themes useful, the aim of this volume is to provide broad narratives of actor-based conceptions of media technology, an approach that focuses on the experiential and social networking processes of digital practices in the information era extended beyond cultural specificities. Students and scholars of regional and media studies will find this volume rich with empirical and theoretical insights on the subject of how technologies shape political and everyday life.

The Inspiration for the New Podcast Featuring Jason Rezaian. “544 Days” is a Spotify original podcast, produced by Gimlet, Crooked Media and A24. The dramatic memoir of the journalist who was held hostage in a high-security prison in Tehran for eighteen months and whose release—which almost didn’t happen—became a part of the Iran nuclear deal In July 2014, Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian was arrested by Iranian police, accused of spying for America. The charges were absurd. Rezaian’s reporting was a mix of human interest stories and political analysis. He had even served as a guide for Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Initially, Rezaian thought the whole thing was a terrible misunderstanding, but soon realized that it was much more dire as it became an eighteen-month prison stint with impossibly high diplomatic stakes. While in prison, Rezaian had tireless advocates working on his behalf. His brother lobbied political heavyweights including John Kerry and Barack Obama and started a social media campaign—#FreeJason—while Jason’s wife navigated the red tape of the Iranian security apparatus, all while the courts used Rezaian as a bargaining chip in negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal. In Prisoner, Rezaian writes of his exhausting interrogations and farcical trial. He also reflects on his idyllic childhood in Northern California and his bond with his Iranian father, a rug merchant; how his teacher Christopher Hitchens inspired him to pursue journalism; and his life-changing decision to move to Tehran, where his career took off and he met his wife. Written with wit, humor, and grace, Prisoner brings to life a fascinating, maddening culture in all its complexity. “An important story. Harrowing, and suspenseful, yes—but it’s also a deep dive into a complex and egregiously misunderstood country with two very different faces. There is no better time to know more about Iran—and Jason Rezaian has seen both of those faces.” — Anthony Bourdain “Jason paid a deep price in defense of journalism and his story proves that not everyone who defends freedom carries a gun, some carry a pen.” —John F. Kerry, 68th Secretary of State

“Between Two Worlds is an extraordinary story of how an innocent young woman got caught up in the current of political events and met individuals whose stories vividly depict human rights violations in Iran.” — Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Between Two World is the harrowing chronicle of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi’s imprisonment in Iran—as well as a penetrating look at Iran and its political tensions. Here for the first time is the full story of Saberi’s arrest and imprisonment, which drew international attention as a cause célèbre from Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and leaders across the globe.

"To bring more awareness to the revolutionary international impact of #MeToo, The Other #MeToos brings together chapters that look at specific iterations of the #MeToo movement across multiple communities, cultures, and countries. Going beyond gender, the book takes into account the intersectional assemblage of location, history, religion, ethnicity, race, class, and neoliberal aspects that inform #MeToo and its place in local and transnational feminisms. From Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Tunisia, and Morocco to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka to South Africa to Latin America to South Korea, Japan, and China to Czech Republic - #MeToo has inspired local movements and hashtag trends as well as transnational and collective hashtags like #MosqueMeToo. Therefore, by making feminism mainstream, it has rendered possible international feminist solidarities unlike any other feminist movement that precedes it. It is critical to document this defining feminist moment of #MeToo and its variants to acknowledge the diversity and multidimensionality of transnational feminisms, along with looking at the various ways they have been changed by the #MeToo, internationally. To that argument, the contributions in this collection examine, analyze, and interrogate the reception, translation, and adaptation of #MeToo in their local, indigenous, minoritized, othered, and/or postcolonial contexts. Overall, The Other #MeToos highlights the adaptation, translation, and impact of #MeToo in non-Western, postcolonial, minoritized, and othered locales to expand the larger discourse and praxes of the #MeToo movement beyond its Americentric focus to explore other feminist possibilities that the movement has enabled"--

The post-revolutionary state in Iran has tried to amalgamate ‘Sharia with electricity’ and modernity with what it considers as ‘Islam’. While sympathetic to private capital, through quasi anti-capitalist politics, the state began to restrict market-relations, confiscate major assets of sections of the Iranian bourgeoisie, and nationalize major aspects of Iran’s industry, including its communications system. Since the end of war with Iraq and the start of the process of ‘reconstruction’, market-driven development and economic policies have been key aims of the state.