Banafsheh Ranji

Academic interests

Banafsheh is a research fellow at the department of media and communication with a specialization in political communication and journalism. She has worked on journalism in Iran. The project documents Iranian journalistic practices and explains practices through Bourdieu's sociological framework. Her research interests include journalism studies in more restrictive media settings, journalistic resistance, alternative channels of communication such as social media and mobile messaging applications.

Doctoral dissertation

• The art of journalism in an uncertain context: A study of Iranian journalistic practices.

It investigates the practices of Iranian journalists and the ways in which they struggle to achieve the journalistic objectives that they set for themselves in the Iranian context. Building on Bourdieu's sociology, it establishes an explanation of why Iranian journalists behave in the way that they do in journalism practice.

Teaching

JOUR4200 – Theoretical Perspectives in Journalism Studies

Background

Banafsheh holds a master's degree in media and communication studies from the University of Helsinki, Finland (2011-2013) with a focus on Iranian women's activists in the 2009 post-election events in Iran, and their use of social media. She graduated in communication studies from the University of Tehran, Iran (2006-2010). Banafsheh has also worked as a journalist, photo-journalist, and translator in different media outlets in and outside the country such as Helsinki Times, Radio Zamaneh, ISNA news agency, and Arman newspaper.