Naseem is Assistant Professor of Global Studies at California State University Monterey Bay. She holds a doctorate from Oxford University, a BA from UC Berkeley, and a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute. Her book, The State of Post-conflict Reconstruction; land, urban development, and state-building in Juba, Southern Sudan (Oxford: James Currey, 2014) examines the local dynamics in the new capital of South Sudan, which changed hands from the Government of Sudan to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in 2005. She has published in academic journals and edited books, and exhibited video art in galleries in the Bay Area. Her new play, Vozara, was selected for the 2018 New Works Development program at Custom Made Theater in San Francisco.
She is an Iranian native, and proudly calls Oakland home.
Nigel Walker, Producer/Editor
Nigel is a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker based in California. He is currently working with USAID covering projects in Nepal and beyond. His film work has appeared on networks around the world including the BBC, ARTE, Al Jazeera and Canal Plus, amongst others. His multimedia articles have been published in Evotis, a quarterly publication by the UC Davis One Health Institute. In 2008, Nigel was nominated for the Olivier Quémener Award in Journalism by Reporters Without Borders for his documentary film, Shadow Work.
Taraneh Hemami, Advisor
Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, and living and working in San Francisco, multimedia artist Taraneh Hemami engages in diverse strategies including installation, object and media productions, collective and participatory projects to explore themes of displacement, preservation, and representation. Examining the careful crafting of images as propagated for power and political gain, Taraneh’s recent handcrafted replications of historical archives serve as commemoratives to events, places and people, while commenting on tools of manipulation and persuasion used across nations and histories. Her sources have varied from an image downloaded from a US governmental site for examination of perception and stereotyping in the Most Wanted series to a collection of banned books and propaganda of the Iranian underground movement that narrate the Iranian revolution in the Theory of Survival project. Taraneh’s conceptually driven works shift in material and presentation: shimmering shattered glass prayer rugs, laser cut wool carpet map of the city of Tehran, beaded curtains replicating governmental posters and postage stamps, a library of banned books. Her collective and curatorial projects create connections through experimental projects between artists, writers and scholars, while promoting and provoking dialog as part of their process and presentation, to explore various topics from martyrdom to the reflections of the everyday.
Project Assistants
Spencer Peak
Spencer is a senior Global Studies major at CSUMB. He enjoys learning about different cultures and exploring the outdoors.
Ellen Yeager
Ellen graduate from CSUMB in spring 2016 with a major in Global Studies.
Carrie Koester
Carrie is a Global Studies major at CSUMB. She has a passion for traveling, politics, and history.
Kathryn Rich
Kathryn is a Global Studies major at CSUMB.
