Academic

Oveisy, F. (2025) [Forthcoming]. Toward a Folklore of the Left: Retracing the Strategic Models of Fiction from English Realism to Streaming Television. Cultural Critique.

Abstract: "This article engages with the modern history of the “hammer model” of art and literature, which reconstructs the representational passage from reflection to action. This model is crucial for understanding the cynical portrayals of realistic action in contemporary art and literature. Marxist cultural theory generally understands these portrayals as indicative of a widespread acceptance of the governing logic of capital. This article argues that they also valorise “strategic cultures” that help individuals thrive in capitalism. This approach is particularly evident in streaming television, where fictional professionals, activists, and scientists tackle challenges in life and politics using strategic tools and trades endorsed by capitalism. These portrayals promote strategies that allow individuals to manage difficulties related to capitalism for personal profit while also limiting the imagination of radical alternatives. This article contends that streaming television acts as a Trojan horse for the strategic cultures of capital, underscoring the necessity for a different hammer model of art and literature."

Oveisy, F. (2022, December). The Philosophical Case for Strategic Thinking as a Democratic Necessity. In D. J. Smith (Ed.), Rethinking Democracy in Kurdistan [Special issue]. Philosophy, World, Democracy.

 

Journalism

My articles in English, Persian, and French have appeared in venues such as Jacobin, ROAR, Socialist Project, Rabble, Diversité Artistique Montréal, New Socialist, The Hampton Institute and Radio Zamaneh.

I write regularly on international relations and political economy in English, and contribute periodically to Iranian news sites on subjects concerning Middle Eastern Politics, the Kurdish Question and Iranian Cinema.

A select few of my contributions include:

"The Authoritarian Turn of Global Capital and its Contradictions in the USA"

"A Mutating Neoliberalism, Socialist Transitions, and Their Foreign Policies"

"Rojava After Rojava"

"Rojava is Under Existential Threat"

"The Iran Protests: The Revolution is Dead. Long Live the Revolution!"

I am the former English editor of The Rojava Strategy, where we published English, Persian and Kurdish articles on the Rojava Revolution. In 2019, our associated media would attract roughly 30,000 interactions every week.

 

Fiction & Poetry

I am currently working on my first novel whose working title is Impotence. This long and complicated project is nearly halfway finished and reflects my attempts at narrating a folklore of the left, the kind I argue for in the namesake academic article. 

I am also working on my first collection of poems, Mortal Kisses. At the moment, this new project consists of fewer than ten poems narrating midlife concerns with health, mortality and being loved. 

My poetry and short fiction in English and Persian have appeared in venues such as Leodegraunce and Shahrvand. 

 

Translation