Afsaneh Hojabri~Research Coordinator

I am an anthropologist and worked as a freelance researcher, project coordinator, trainer, and writer with various Non-Government Organizations and academic institutions on social policy, refugee advocacy, and minority rights, particularly the gender dimension of refugee and settlement issues.

For the past 15 years, I have been an active blogger in both English and Persian languages, with a focus on food and food writing and its significance for the Iranian diaspora. During this time, I have also worked as a freelance content producer and writer for several Persian media outlets, exploring topics ranging from culture and society to politics and current events.

Over the years, I have written several journal articles, book chapters and a culinary memoir. To cite only a few examples, my 2012 memoir, A Sip, A Bite, A mouthful, offers a glimpse into the role of food in Iranian culture, as well as my journey growing up in Shiraz. In my 2020 article, “Iranian Women’s Food Writing in Diaspora,” published in Anthropology of the Middle East, I discussed the unique ways in which Iranian women use food writing to navigate their experiences of migration and diaspora. I am deeply interested in life stories and oral history and this interest is perhaps best reflected in in my occasional paper for the Montreal Life Stories CURA project, “Methodology, Training, and Ethics” published in 2009.

I have also produced two radio programs, “Afsaneh-khane” for Radio Koocheh which ran from 2012-2014, and “Stories of Iranian Montrealers about Iran’s Post Election Uprising” for CKUT 9:30 FM in 2009.