PhD defence M. (Amin) Yousefi

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

This dissertation examines how organizations and communities pursue their purposes and sustain everyday forms of agency in institutionally demanding environments. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Iran—including over 300 interviews and a visual archive of approximately 6,000 photographs—it documents, through an organizational lens, how different groups navigate economic and social life in theocratic contexts. The research pays particular attention to women and minority communities, including Zoroastrians, Christians, and Sunni Muslims in Iran, to understand how people organize financial and entrepreneurial activities across diverse moral and cultural settings.