The Center for Resistance, Sovereignty, and Development Studies (MOHAAT) is a newly established center strategically located at the University of Tehran, created to serve as a hub for paradigm-shifting research and pedagogical interventions.
As the rise of Global South accelerates and Western imperialism declines, it is imperative to shift the locus of knowledge production. This shift necessitates moving from a framework where resistance and decolonization are merely objects of inquiry to one where they are the central agents of knowledge and narrative production. This shift in framework necessarily encompasses a geographical dimension, as the limits of established knowledge industry hinders the decolonial and resisting voices outside the tolerable epistemological thresholds in the North. Scholars from the Global South are increasingly building networks and institutions independent of traditional academic spaces globally. This is a pivotal moment to reclaim the narrative, to theorize and articulate the rise of the Global South from the South.
MOHAAT is an international interdisciplinary academic center which embodies the global transformative shift towards a polycentric world in the context of West Asia. The center aims to voice subjugated knowledge and critical perspectives by bringing together intellectuals from the Arab-Iranian region and the broader Global South to seed new intellectual debates, cultivate Indigenous knowledge production, and build connections with other Southern centers to promote a polycentric knowledge production network. The center’s mission is to mainstream intellectual perspectives of the South by building a network of scholars, students, thinkers, and organizers committed to situate and evaluate the West Asian Resistance Front in anti-systemic struggles and within the emergent polycentric global order. Our mission is to focus on the anti-systemic struggles in West Asia and to collaborate with other initiatives in the Global South to build intellectual sovereignty. We convene scholars, activists, and students dedicated to exploring and advancing anti-colonial resistance and delinking from imperial knowledge production.
Learn more about our team and core mission on About Us page:
Announcing Our Inaugural Conference: February 2026
We are thrilled to announce the Inaugural Conference of MOHAAT, themed Rethinking Critical Thoughts After Genocide: A Cognitive Turning Point.
This international conference will be held in Tehran from February 21–23, 2026.
The ongoing genocide in Palestine marks a profound turning point in our comprehension of the world system. This event compels us to critically interrogate the intellectual and political frameworks that sustain and normalize genocide. We invite scholars, activists, and students from diverse disciplines to join us in challenging dominant paradigms and advancing Southern epistemologies for our shared global future.
The conference will be organized around four core themes that explore and expand on the overarching subject of Rethinking Critical Theory After Genocide. Each theme engages with critical questions to deepen our understanding of the intersections between resistance, sovereignty, and development:
1. Genocide as a Cognitive Turning Point
2. Imperialism and Global Capitalism
3. Anti-Imperialism and Moqawama
4. Old and New World Order
The Call for Papers is now open. We welcome contributions that challenge dominant Western critical paradigms and help reclaim our narratives.
View the full Call for Papers and submission guidelines:
Our Work in Action
Our conference builds on the work we have already begun. We recently hosted an online event, “Against Imperial Confusion: International Working-Class Solidarity with Iran.”
This event centered on the anti-imperialist analyses and lived experiences of Iranians during the recent 12-day US-Zionist aggression. Featuring prominent labour organizers from Iran, alongside international scholars and journalists, the teach-in highlighted the resilience of the working class and worked to confront the ideological distortions and “manufactured political confusion” prevalent in Western discourse.
We invite you to explore our work, join our upcoming conference, and be part of this collective effort.
