Shahin Nasiri is a lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, with research interests spanning phenomenology, theories of freedom and democracy, migration and citizenship, sustainability and circular innovation, critical (race) theory, critical genealogy of state violence and political resistance. Prior to joining the University of Amsterdam, Shahin served as a lecturer in Philosophy at the Tilburg University and the University of Wageningen & Research (WUR). Over the past years, Shahin instructed courses on a wide range of topics on BA, MA, and PhD levels. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Amsterdam and studied Political Theory (LSE), Philosophy (Leiden), and Aerospace Engineering (Delft).

Research:
Shahin's ongoing research situates itself at the intersection of phenomenology and political theory. In this interdisciplinary research project, he develops a theoretical examination of (un)freedom and refugeehood and explores the meaning and political significance of (un)freedom based on lived experiences, cultural narratives, and epistemic resources of refugees. Employing phenomenological fieldwork conducted in refugee camps combined with philosophical analysis, his study delves into the multifaceted and undertheorized dimensions of refugeehood and fugitivity, lived experiences of unfreedom and indigenous practices of liberation, racial-colonial structures of abandonment and violence, and autonomous relations and arrangements by which refugees enact freedom in receiving states. In 2024, this research project received the Praemium Erasmianum Dissertation Prize and the ASCA Dissertation Award 2024. For this research project, Shahin also received the Peter Baehr Prize and the Young Talent Award from the Cultuurfonds.

In his second line of research, Shahin focuses on the legal-philosophical nature of mass political violence and experiences and practices of resistance by which political agents unsettle conditions of violence and unfreedom. Together with a group of scholars and investigative journalists, he studied the 1981 Massacre in Iran and investigated this highly neglected mass atrocity based on legal-philosophical and archival research combined with extensive fieldwork and geolocation methods. The main results and findings of this research were published in the Journal of Genocide Research and Rastyad: the Online Database Concerning the 1981 Massacre. 
For the first time in 40 years, this research led to the official recognition of the 1981 Massacre by the United Nations and its key findings were highilghted in a landmark UN Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran.

Teaching:
Shahin Nasiri has taught on a wide range of topics on BA, MA, and PhD level in philosophy, including contemporary social and political philosophy, history of political thought, critical theories of migration and human rights, diversity, race & gender, critical theories of freedom, equality and democracy, climate ethics, ethics of otherness, environmental philosophy, moral psychology, and philosophy of science & technology, and scientific integrity. 

Additional academic roles: 

Shahin serves as a Board Member for Diversity and Inclusion at the Faculty of Humanities. He is also a researcher and Director of R&D for Sustainability and Circular Innovation in the high-tech sector.

Book:
Nasiri, S. & Faghfouri Azar, L. (2020). The Repressed voices of the Iranian Revolution [Ravayat-haye az khak Barkhaste-ye enghelab]. Sweden: Baran (ISBN: 9789185463954)

Database:
Nasiri. S & Rastyad Collective. (2022) First online database concerning the 1981 Massacre in Iran  https://rastyad.com/en/home_en/

Articles and book chapters:

Nasiri, S. (Forthcoming). Refugees’ (un)freedom. In Y. L. Espiritu (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Refugee Studies. Sage. 

Nasiri, S. (Forthcoming). Refugees’ Abandonment: Beyond Persecution. In L. Corrias & R. Tinnevelt (Eds.), European Ways of Life: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives. London: Elgar.

Nasiri, S. (2023). The idealised subject of freedom and the refugee. In M. Wuth & V. Clavé-Mercier (Eds.), Decolonising political concepts. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003293460-5

Nasiri, S. & Faghfouri Azar, L. (2023). Paknejad’s political theory and the National Democratic Front: lessons for today [paknejad va tajrobeye jebhe-ye democratic-e melli]. Pecritique, 6, 47-59. https://pecritique.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/zan-zendegi-azadi-no-6.pdf

Nasiri, S. (2022). Freedom and the imaginary dimension of society. Iranian Yearbook of Phenomenology, 1(1), 217-238.  https://doi.org/10.22034/iyp.2020.239890

Nasiri, S. & Faghfouri Azar, L. (2022). Investigating the 1981 Massacre in Iran: On the law-constituting force of violence. Journal of Genocide Research, 1-24.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2022.2105027

Nasiri, S. & Faghfouri Azar, L. (2021). Paknejad’s trial: Fifty years later [Defaeeyat-e Paknejad: Panjah sal ba’ad]. Pecritique, 16, 941-976.

Nasiri, S. (2020). Hybrid violence and the law of the despot [Khoshunat-e Dorag-e va ghanun-e yekke farmanravayan]. Pecritique, 14, 65-76.

Castoriadis, C. (2019). Democracy as procedure and democracy as regime. (S. Nasiri & L. Faghfouri Azar, Trans.). Pecritique, 12, 301-338.

Panikkar, R. (2019). Is the notion of human rights a Western concept? (S. Nasiri & L. Faghfouri Azar, Trans.). Pecritique, 10, 462-497.