Golbarg Bashi (; born 6 January 1974,

Ahvaz Ahvaz (; ) is a city in the Central District of Ahvaz County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is home to Persians, Arabs and other groups such as Qashqai and Kurds. Languages spok ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

) is an Iranian-Swedish

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and former adjunct lecturer of

Iranian studies Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

in the US. Among other topics, Bashi has published works and given talks about

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

in the Middle East and the situation of

women in Iran Throughout history, women in Iran have played numerous roles, and contributed in many ways, to Iranian society. Historically, tradition maintained that women be confined to their homes to manage the household and raise children. During the P ...

Biography

Golbarg Bashi was born 06.01.1974 in Iran, raised in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and educated at the Universities of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and obtained her doctorate degree from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Her doctoral research focused on a feminist critique of the human rights discourse in Iran. Bashi is the author of the 2017 children's book ''P is for Palestine: A Palestine Book'', an English-language alphabet book about

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, written from a social-justice perspective. The book also promotes Palestinian nationalism. She has also published a sequel. In 2016, she was nominated for a U.S. toy industry award where she was shortlisted in the Designer/Inventor category at the

Women In Toys A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

'Wonder Woman' Awards. Fellow nominees included executives at

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

, and

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

. Bashi is also a visual artist. Her images have been published in the New York Times, Aljazeera English, CNN, BBC News, and Amnesty International. In 2002, Bashi was a member of the

Green Party of Sweden The Green Party (, , MP), commonly referred to as in Swedish, is a political party in Sweden based on green politics. Sparked by the anti-nuclear power movement following the 1980 nuclear power referendum, the party was founded in 1981 out of ...

where she was elected as an executive member of the party's Women's Committee. She was also selected as a candidate for the Greens in the Swedish municipal elections for the city of

Kramfors Kramfors () is a locality and the seat of Kramfors Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It had a population of 5,990 inhabitants in 2010. The town grew on the western bank of the Ångerman river in the 19th century as harvested logs ...

in 2002.

Personal life

She used to be married to

professor,

Hamid Dabashi Hamid Dabashi (; born 1951) is an Iranian-American professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature at Columbia University in New York City. He is the author of over twenty books. Among them are ''Theology of Discontent'', several books ...

, with whom she has two children. She is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

Brainquake

In April 2010, Golbarg Bashi launched Brainquake together with Duke University's

Negar Mottahedeh 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 ...

. Brainquake was a criticism of the

Boobquake Boobquake was a rally which took place on April 26, 2010, which served to protest news reports of controversial beliefs blaming women who dress immodestly for causing earthquakes. It was inspired by blogger Jey McCreight. Inception The Boobquake r ...

event, which Bashi argued was an unhelpful and inappropriate way of drawing attention to legitimate issues. The issue at hand was a statement by Tehran's leader in Friday Prayer, saying that women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously cause earthquakes. Bashi and Brainquake advocates argued that instead of highlighting one's physical differences, women should show off their CVs and lists of accomplishments.

Publications

Books

*P is for Palestine (2017) (with Golrokh Nafisi) *Counting Up the Olive Tree (2024) (with Nabi H Ali)

Other publications

Among other topics, Bashi has published works about the situation of women in Iran. * March 2006: ' (''An eyewitness of history...'') With

Ayatollah Montazeri Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer, and human rights activist. He was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution and one ...

Payvand This is a list of notable news agencies in Iran: There are 48 Iranian news sites according to Minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance there will be only IRNA remaining while all five state news websites are being merged into it as of 2023. ...

. * July 2006: ''A Historic Landmark: Women's Rights Gathering in Tehran on June 12, 2006''. NetNative. * July 2006: ''The Proper Etiquette of Meeting

Shahrnush Parsipur Shahrnush Parsipur (; born 17 February 1946) is an Iranian-born writer and translator. Biography Shahrnush Parsipur was born on 17 February 1946; she was born and raised in Tehran. Parsipur received her B.A. degree in 1973 in sociology from T ...

in the United States''.

. Also in ''The Persian Book Review'' (ISSUE XVI, NO. 48, FALL 2006). * September 2006: ' (''Citizenship Rights in Iran: One Step Forward, Many More to Take''; ').

Qantara Qanater (plural of Qantara, the Arabic word for bridge) may refer to: Places Algeria * El Kantara * El Kantara District Egypt * El Qantara, Egypt, a city on both sides of the Suez Canal Giza Governorate * Manshiyat al Qanater Qalyubia Governor ...

. * January 2007: ''Genre in the Service of Empire: An Iranian Feminist Critique of Diasporic Memoirs''. With Niki Akhavan, Mana Kia, and Sima Shakhsari.

Znet ZNetwork, formerly known as Z Communications, is a left-wing activist-oriented media group founded in 1986 by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent.Max Elbaum''Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che'' London, England, UK; ...

. * June 2009: ''Feminist waves in the Iranian Green Tsunami?'' With Zillah Eisenstein.

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. * June 2009: ''Iranian Feminism after June 2009''.

. * July 2009: ''Picturing Ourselves: 1953, 1979 and 2009''. With

. * January 2010: ''From One Third World Woman to Another''. With

Gayatri Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (; born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Li ...

References

External links

Official homepageGolbarg Bashi's photography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bashi, Golbarg Iranian feminists Swedish people of Iranian descent Living people People from Ahvaz Women's rights in Iran Green Party (Sweden) politicians Swedish anti-war activists Feminist studies scholars Feminist writers 1974 births