
Bahar(eh) Badiei is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies. Her research centers on feminist theories, critical technology studies, and digital activism, with a particular focus on the SWANA region and its diasporas. Using qualitative and critical research methods from an intersectional perspective, her work examines how transnational diasporic projects may simultaneously reproduce imperialist practices while also rupturing the violence inherent in such agendas and opening up spaces for genuine feminist maneuvers. She explores issues of co-optation, erasure, and the potential for resistance, seeking to produce public-facing knowledge that challenges the simplified representation of women from the SWANA region. Before immigrating to the US, she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in communication studies in Iran and worked as a freelance journalist. In her second master's degree in the US, her research focused on how the Muslim Ban influenced the possibility of transnational familyhood for US-based Iranian students.
Education
Western Michigan University
M.A., Communication
Allameh Tabataba'I University
M.A., Communication
University of Tehran
B.S., Social Communication Science
Awards & Recognitions
2025: IRW Graduate Seminar Fellowship · Feminism, Academic Freedom & Democracy, Institute for Research on Women (IRW), Rutgers University
2025: Top Student Paper Award · Feminist and Gender Studies Division, National Communication Association (NCA)
2025: Top Student Paper Award · Critical and Cultural Studies Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference (AEJMC)
2024: Dissertation Fieldwork Grant · Wenner-Gren Foundation
2024: Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award · Department of Journalism & Media Studies, Rutgers University
2024: Best Instructional Support Award · Department of Journalism & Media Studies, Rutgers University
2023: Graduate Research Grant · Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University
2022: Decolonizing the Representation of Muslim Women Fellowship · Muslim Women and the Media Training Institute, University of California Davis