Women Kolbars: The Burden of Poverty on Forgotten Shoulders/ Pardis Parsa

Kolbari, a practice most common in the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan, is a phenomenon tightly intertwined with structural poverty, underdevelopment, and centralized governance policies. The state, through continuous underdevelopment of non-Shia and non-Persian regions, has exacerbated this issue—particularly in the Kurdish border areas. Years of neglect, historical insecurity, and a securitized view […]...

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Breaking Taboos or Reproducing Vulgarity?/ Pardis Parsa

These days, few Iranians have not heard of the internet show Eshgh-e Abadi (“Eternal Love”). A group of young Iranian migrants gathers in a seaside villa in Turkey to choose a partner or lover from among each other. They compete, and their daily routines generate content that draws astonishing numbers of views online. The show’s […]...

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A home that we have never had / Pardis Parsa

Iran has been hosting Afghans for years and has occasionally expelled illegal immigrants, but after the war with Israel, the intensity of actions against Afghans has reached an unprecedented level. This complex humanitarian crisis has had consequences for both remaining migrants in Iran, returning citizens, and has also caused devastation for the crisis-stricken country of […]...

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