Mina's Substack

The Dandy Your Decolonial Theory Needed

My article, “Epistemic Translation of Modernity: Negotiating Science and Technology under Semi-Colonial Conditions,” is officially out in the July 2026…

11 hrs ago • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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Why the Left Has So Little Traction in Iran

On anti-imperialism, repression, and the Left’s distance from Iranian society

Jul 8 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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June 2026

The Cold That Stays

The 1953 Coup and Its Afterlife in Iranian Political Memory

Jun 24 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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The Political Cage: Marjane Satrapi and the Burden of the Non-Western Memoir

When Marjane Satrapi passed away on June 4—tragic, unexpected, and far too soon—the tributes to Persepolis were accompanied by a critique that has…

Jun 23 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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April 2026

Sentenced to Survive A voice from Tehran

on the sixtieth day of blackout

Apr 29 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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From Fox News to the Noose: How a Claim About Kurds Became a Useful Narrative

In an earlier essay, I argued that the Islamic Republic governs through the geopolitical alibi: the habit of recasting domestic repression as a…

Apr 9 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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Teaching in the Ruins of Sharif

Teaching in the Ruins of Sharif After the Bombs

Apr 7 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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The Ghost in the Machine: Iranian Society and the Failure of Opposition Politics

As American and Israeli bombs fall on Iran, a question long central to Iranian political life returns with new urgency: How did we reach this point?

Apr 1 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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The Morgue Is Karbala, Mourning in Each Other’s Skin

Part III: Sideways Belonging

Apr 1 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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March 2026

The Morgue Is Karbala, Mourning in Each Other’s Skin

Part II: The Kinetic Testimony

Mar 26 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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The Morgue Is Karbala, Mourning in Each Other’s Skin

Part I: The Lexicon in Exile

Mar 25 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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February 2026

Someone Else’s War: The Geopolitical Alibi in Iran’s 2026 Protests

Despite the Islamic Republic’s transformations since 1979, one governing reflex has remained: it rules through the language of external crisis—war and…

Feb 20 • Mina Khanlarzadeh

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