After listening to Narges Bajoghli speak, you might just reconsider your preconceived notions about Iran. She’s a post-doctoral research associate in international affairs at the Watson Institute at Brown University, and recently received her PhD socio-cultural anthropology from New York University. Her research focuses on pro-regime cultural producers in Iran, and is based on fieldwork conducted with Basij, Ansar-e Hezbollah, and Revolutionary Guard media producers in Iran, from 2009 to 2015. Narges is also the co-founder of the non-profit organization Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB), and she’s been featured in media outlets such as the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, and NPR, among many others. Narges and I talked about the Iran-Iraq war playing a key role in contemporary Iranian politics; the biggest misconceptions about the IRGC and Basij; the relationship between Iran’s government and people; survivors of chemical warfare in Iran; and how a 24-year old 2Pac song speaks to a lot of what’s going on in America today. She tweets at @nargesbajoghli