Manata Hashemi

Manata Hashemi is the Farzaneh Family Associate Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Oklahoma's David L. Boren College of International Studies. Her work focuses on marginalized groups, poverty, and identity formation in Iran and the Middle East. She holds a PhD in Sociology from UC Berkeley, an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard, and a BA in Near Eastern Studies from Cornell University. Previously, she served as a research director at Qatar Foundation and a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in Qatar.

Her research employs qualitative methods to explore how marginalized communities navigate economic insecurity and cultural stigma. Key works include *Coming of Age in Iran: Poverty and the Struggle for Dignity* and the co-edited volume *Children in Crisis: Ethnographic Studies in International Contexts*. Her scholarship has been featured in journals like *International Journal of Urban and Regional Research* and outlets like *The Conversation*.

Hashemi’s expertise has informed projects with organizations like UNICEF. Her research interests span urban ethnography, youth studies, and the intersection of dignity and precarity in global contexts.