Houman Oliaei

Houman Oliaei is a PhD Candidate in sociocultural anthropology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. His research focuses on lived experiences of displaced Yezidis (Êzîdî), an ethnoreligious minority in northern Iraq, in the aftermath of collective violence and mass displacement. He explores the complex interplay between humanitarian intervention, forced displacement, belonging, and politics of recognition among displaced Yezidis and studies the ways displaced Yezidis struggle to gain cultural and legal recognition, both as an ethnoreligious minority and as refugees. Oliaei received a BA in music from the University of Tehran and an MA in anthropology from Brandeis.