babakm@princeton.edu
Babak Manouchehrifar, 2022-2025 Stewart Fellow in the Council of the Humanities and Princeton School of Public and International Affairs Fellow
Babak Manouchehrifar is an urban planner and a scholar of urban humanities, studying the interplay between religion, secularism, and urban space. He received his Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his dissertation, “Urban Planning and Religious Practice: Three Challenges,” explored how the tensions between religious traditions of urban communities and secular principles of urban governance affect spatial planning processes and the administration of justice in Western and non-Western cities.
He holds degrees in Civil Engineering, City Planning, and Regional Studies. He has several years of experience as a professional planner and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at both MIT and the National University of Iran (SBU).
At Princeton, Manouchehrifar’s research focuses on the intersection of race, place, and religion. His pedagogy and research center on exploring inclusive strategies to create egalitarian and equitable urban settings and seeks to advance faith-centered calls for racial justice and spatial equity in contemporary cities. In Spring 2023, he taught Religion and the City [HUM 339, REL 398, URB 339] in the Humanities Council’s Program in Humanistic Studies, and in Fall 2023 he taught a seminar on “Religion and Public Policy: At Home & Abroad” [SPI 403-7] at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, which examines how religious beliefs and values shape public policy debates and outcomes in various domains. He will again offer this class in Spring 2025.
Babak Manouchehrifar’s fellowship is made possible for a third year through the support of the Mellon Foundation, the Humanities Council, and the School of Public and International Affairs.
