Hoda Katebi

Hoda Katebi (Persian: هدی کاتبی‎) is a Chicago-based Iranian-American fashion blogger and activist whose work focuses on garment workers' rights, ethical fashion production, Muslim identity, fashion in Iran, and fighting surveillance programs, and militarism.

Hoda Katebi
Nationality
  • Iranian
  • American
Occupation
  • Writer
  • activist

Early life

Katebi was raised in Oklahoma by her Iranian immigrant parents. She has discussed the challenges she faced wearing a hijab to her Oklahoma school when classmates would assault her and try to take off her scarf.[1]

Politics and writing

Katebi runs a platform called JooJoo Azad, meaning "free bird" in Farsi.[2] She is the author of a photography book entitled Tehran Streetstyle.[3]

In October 2016, Katebi was arrested for protesting the annual Illinois Tactical Officers Association Conference and Weapons Expo.[4] She has been a vocal activist against police militarization and surveillance programs such as Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) and has conducted trainings and teach-ins on the War on Terror and anti-Muslim racism around the world.[5] Katebi identifies as an abolitionist.[6] From 2016 to early 2018 she was the communications coordinator for the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).[7][8][9][10]

In February 2018, Katebi was interviewed on WGN about her book, Tehran Streetstyle, and fashion in Iran. When the discussion turned to the question of America's military presence in the Middle East and Iran's supposed nuclear weapons, the interviewer suggested that Katebi's criticism of American imperialism did not "sound like an American." Katebi defended herself by saying "that's because I've read."[11][12]

Radical global book club #BecauseWeveRead

Since its creation after the WGN interview, Katebi's radical book club #BecauseWeveRead has launched chapters around the world that host discussion sessions and mobilize communities in various social justice efforts.[13] Katebi says the book club is working toward "doing what our institutions have systematically failed to do: educate us on reality."[14] Topics covered through the readings include anti-Blackness, Orientalism, and capitalism, among other issues. #BecauseWeveRead also has launched 'Emergency Reads' on urgent, unfolding issues such as the Sudanese revolution in January 2019 or the Indian communications blackout and military escalation on Kashmir in October 2019.[15][16] #BecauseWeveRead chapters have organized community events, prison book drives, poetry slams, protests, and other events on topics related to readings. Katebi works with publishers to provide free ebooks of each reading, and ends each unit with a global conversation on Youtube Live with different guests. Past guests have included Naomi Klein and Arundhati Roy.[17][18]

Katebi's #BecauseWeveRead has been featured in media outlets including Dazed Magazine and Refinery29.[19][20]

Clothing co-operative and garment labor activism

Blue Tin Production

Katebi supports ethical fashion and advocates for the abolition of fast fashion.[21] She argues that fast fashion subjects garment workers to "systemic gender-based violence" including sexual and verbal abuse by their employers as well as dangerous working conditions in sweatshops.[22][23]

In early 2019, Katebi launched a clothing co-operative, Blue Tin Production, which is run by refugee and immigrant women and promotes ethical garment production and is the first of its kind in the United States.[22] In an interview with Vogue, Katebi stated "her overall goal is to offer designers in the U.S.—and abroad—a no-brainer alternative to sweatshops with “radical transparent production.”[24]

In December 2019 Blue Tin Production published its first annual report.[25]

Katebi's activism and Blue Tin Production has garnered attention from international fashion and journalism outlets, including Vogue, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Medium.[26][27][28][29]

'Revolution-Washing'

In 2017 Katebi coined the term 'Revolution Washing' which has since been used to describe the ways in which fast-fashion brands attempt to brand themselves as progressive to appeal to conscious consumers while simultaneously exploiting garment workers to produce their apparel.[30]

In August 2019 Katebi went on a delegation to Indonesia to meet with garment workers working in Nike, H&M, GAP, and other fast-fashion sweatshops. [31]

Acknowledgements and awards
  • The Pioneer Award given by the Chicago Foundation for Women[32]
  • 20 In Their 20s by Crain's magazine [2]

References
  1. Hoda Katebi (2018-02-09), WGN Interview with Hoda Katebi on JooJoo Azad & Tehran Streetstyle, retrieved 2019-04-16
  2. "See why @hodakatebi of JooJoo Azad & @becauseweveread is one of @crainschicago #Crain20s". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  3. "JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد: TEHRAN STREETSTYLE: A PROJECT OF IDENTITY AND PERSONAL NARRATIVE". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  4. "JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد: 4 Things You Need to Know about Police, Militarization, and Islamophobia". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  5. "PRESS + EVENTS". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  6. "Tank Magazine". Tank Magazine. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  11. Schoenberg, Nara. "WGN anchor told a Muslim blogger that she didn't 'sound like an American.' Her response went viral". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  12. Suryajaya, Leonard. "Fashion Blogger and Activist Hoda Katebi is Changing More Than Clothes". Chicago magazine. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  13. "Because We've Read 📖 (@becauseweveread) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  14. Gil, Natalie. "This Radical Book Club Has Your Summer Reading Sorted". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  15. "JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد: #BECAUSEWEVEREAD EMERGENCY READ: ON SUDAN". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  16. "JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد: BECAUSEWEVEREAD x STANDWITHKASHMIR: Emergency Read on Kashmir". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  17. "JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد: #BECAUSEWEVEREAD SEPTEMBER: THE SHOCK DOCTRINE". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  18. "JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد: #BECAUSEWEVEREAD FEB/MARCH: ARUNDHATI ROY ON EMPIRE & CORPORATE POWER". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  19. Dazed (2018-07-18). "The online book club all about real history and radical politics". Dazed. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  20. Gil, Natalie. "This Radical Book Club Has Your Summer Reading Sorted". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  21. "BOYCOTT LIST". JOOJOO AZAD | جوجو آزاد. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  22. "Hoda Katebi Is Launching a Fashion Production Co-Op for Immigrant and Refugee Women in Chicago". Vogue. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  23. "Fashion production co-op run by refugee, immigrant women to open in Chicago". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  24. Farra, Emily. "Hoda Katebi Is Launching a Fashion Production Co-Op for Immigrant and Refugee Women in Chicago". Vogue. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  25. "BLUE TIN PRODUCTION CO-OP on Instagram: "Though our social media might not have shown it (we've been too busy on the ground!) we just wrapped up our FIRST OFFICIAL YEAR OF…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  26. Voices, 90 Days, 90 (2019-01-25). "US's first refugee-owned sewing group launches". 90 Days, 90 Voices. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  27. Hawgood, Alex (2018-03-07). "A Muslim Fashion Blogger With a Fierce Message". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  28. Schoenberg, Nara. "WGN anchor told a Muslim blogger that she didn't 'sound like an American.' Her response went viral". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  29. Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (2018-02-14). "'You don't sound American', TV host tells Muslim blogger from Oklahoma". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  30. "The BoF Podcast: Iran — A Fashion Industry Operating in the Underground". The Business of Fashion. 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  31. "HODA KATEBI | هدی کاتبی on Instagram: "HI THIS IS WHERE YOUR NIKES (and underarmour, and GAP, and Levis, & others...) are made. This sweatshop. The one with the barbed wire fence…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  32. "2019 Impact Awards - Hoda Katebi". Chicago Foundation for Women. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
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