Besides being used as a measure of one's clout, fashion is a powerful means of communication, oppression, and resistance -- particularly so for women. Between Kanye West's “refugee camp” collection and miniskirts being used as a sign of Afghanistan's modernization, political tensions have been expressed on women’s bodies. Starting with images of illegal fashion, which she documented in her book, Tehran Streetstyle, and ending in the United States, Hoda will guide participants through an engaging conversation exploring the politics of fashion and what it reveals about contemporary structures of violence, inequalities, and modes of resistance.



Hoda Katebi is a Chicago-based angry daughter of Muslim-Iranian immigrants. She is the voice behind JooJoo Azad, the radical, political fashion online publication hailed from BBC to VOGUE to the New York Times, and author of the book Tehran Streetstyle, the first-ever in-print documentation and celebration of illegal fashion in Iran. She also hosts #BecauseWeveRead, a radical, international book club with meet-ups in cities around the world. Offline, Hoda is an abolitionist and community organizer and is also developing a sewing co-operative of refugee women in Chicago. Her academic research explores the intersections of fashion, gender, and the state in Iran. She runs on saffron ice cream and colonizer tears.