Melinda Cohoon

Published Article “The Digital Borderlands: (Counter)Discourse and Metadata Analysis of Iranian Video Games” in the IDEAH journal

On 15 December 2022, my article “The Digital Borderlands: (Counter)Discourse and Metadata Analysis of Iranian Video Games” was published in Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in Arts & Humanities. To read the article, click the hyperlink.

Published Article “The Digital Borderlands: (Counter)Discourse and Metadata Analysis of Iranian Video Games” in the IDEAH journal Read More »

Awarded Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship for 2023: Digital Iran Reloaded

I have been awarded the Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship by the Simpson Center for the Humanities to continue Digital Iran in summer 2023. Digital Iran Reloaded: Iranian Censorship of Citizens and the Gaming Industry builds on digitaliranproject.com with the aims of creating dynamic online appendices for the dissertation “Affective Entanglements and Precarious Lifeworlds: Iranian Gamers

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Critical Pedagogy, 1979 Revolution: Black Friday Paper Video Game for Near East 101

In November 2022, I developed an exercise for students to think empathetically about how revolutions begin in the Islamic Republic. Students engaged with a paper version of the 1979 Revolution: Black Friday. I also provided co-TAs directions to follow, which I have provided below with the in-class activity.

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Presented at the Middle East Studies Association Conference

On 1 December 2022, I presented “Politics of the Everyday: Iranian Women Gamers and Cyberspace Censorship” for the panel Rethinking Women’s Empowerment at the Middle East Studies Association Conference. Abstract My research uncovers the everyday experiences of Iranian women gamers in online gaming by tracing the history of internet, social media, and the game industry

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Presented at the Human Rights Huddle: Protest, Censorship, and Repression in Iran

On 15 November 2022, I did a public presentation for the Human Rights Huddle: Protest, Censorship, and Repression in Iran, sponsored by the Physicians for Human Rights. Below is a transcript of the presentation, which builds off the 8 October 2022 public panel: Hello everyone. My name is Mindy Cohoon, and I am a PhD

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Public Presentation at University of Washington-Bothell for the “Iran: Gender & Rights After State Violence” Panel

On 8 October 2022, I presented for the panel “Iran: Gender & Rights After State Violence” sponsored by the department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures and the Middle East Center. Below is my presentation transcript: Thank you for your introduction Aria. I will begin with two short quotes from my field research on social

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Presented at the Open Digital Collaborative Preservation in the Humanities Conference

On 7 June 2022, I presented “Digital Iran Reloaded: Preserving Video Games and Ethnographic Data” at the Open Digital Collaborative Project Preservation in the Humanities Conference. Abstract The intellectual legacy of preservation has mostly been the onus of institutions like libraries or museums. In these repositories, the user may have access to a plethora of

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Chaired “Panel 3: Bodily Knowledge Part 1” for the Graduate Students of Art History Symposium

On 19 May 2022, I chaired “Bodily Knowledge Part 1” as part of the Dismantling the Body: Possibilities and limitations in Art Making Symposium. During the panel, professionals and artists discussed affect, solitary confinement in prisons and the transformative nature of space, the female body, and other challenging issues like eating disorders. Through parsing out

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Presented at GeoDat’s EverybodyHacks Interdisciplinary Panel

On 8 April 2022, I co-presented with other professionals at the GeoDat’s EverybodyHacks Interdisciplinary Panel. Together, we discussed some of the major hurdles that first generation, low income, culturally, and ethnically diverse students face while entering graduate school. For those on the panel, we have all faced some level of gatekeeping in the academy, which

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Presented at Digital Humanities Summer Institute Virtual Conference & Colloquium

I presented “Digital Iran: Narratives of (De)colonization in Video Games” at the DHSI Conference & Colloquium on June 7th, 2021. Throughout my presentation, I discussed the nuts and bolts of the Digital Iran project, including the theoretical frameworks of affect and soft power, discussions on video game examples, project management, and the project’s future trajectories.

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Presented at Open/Social/Digital Humanities Pedagogy, Training, and Mentorship

On June 17th, 2021, I presented “Critical Digital Pedagogy and Mentorship: A Syllabus for the Digital Middle East” at the Open/Social/Digital Humanities Pedagogy, Training, and Mentorship Conference. During the presentation, I shared a syllabus entitled “Digital Middle East: Social Media and Gaming in Iran, Turkey, and Arab Countries” for a proposed course at the University

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Presented at Project Management in the Humanities Virtual Conference

I presented “Digital Iran Project Management” as lightning TALK at the Project Management in the Humanities Virtual Conference at University of Victoria on June 9th, 2021. For this presentation, I particularly focused on my role as principal investigator and project manager for the collaborative team. As collaborators, we aimed to dive deeply into multimodality-text, image,

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Accepted to Digital Forays 2020-2021 Series – LIGHTNING TALKS with Honorarium

I am excited to announce that I am among 6 PhD Candidates, junior scholars, and practitioners accepted to the Digital Forays lightning talk held by the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University. The presenters will speak for 6-8 minutes each about their digital scholarship. The themes that we will touch on

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Moderated “In Conversation with Mana Kia” Webinar

On 9th March 2021, I delightfully moderated the webinar “In Conversation with Mana Kia.” Sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization (NELC) and the Persian and Iranian Studies Program, Mana Kia discussed her book Persianate Selves: Memories of Place and Origin Before Nationalism (2020). In Persianate Selves, Kia touches on the larger

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Article written about my research, fellowships, and grant writing advice #PhilanthropyFriday #WritingGrants

Kate Stringer from the UW Graduate School wrote an article about my experience in acquiring fellowships, and advice for graduate students. You may click on the hyperlink to read the article. The article also gained traction on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Hacking the Academy: Digital Iran Presentation

On 13th October 2020, I presented the Digital Iran project at “Hacking the Academy: Simpson Center Digital Humanities Summer Fellows Showcase.” I discussed the project’s multifaceted approach including mentorship as praxis, the blog, curated video essays, and streaming online on twitch.tv/digital_iran. Follow the press releases from NELC and the Simpson Center.

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Awarded the SSRC Social Data Research and Dissertation Fellowship

I am proud to share that I am the recipient of the Social Data Research and Dissertation Fellowship, funded by the Omidyar Network, for the 2020-2021 academic year. The funds will assist my field research entitled “The 2020 US Elections Post-GamerGate: Political Discourse among Iranian and Iranian-American Gamers on Social Media.” Learn more about my

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