Mehr Latif, PhD

  • Post-Doctoral Associate

Mehr Latif is a Post-doctoral Associate at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on the state and civil society in Asia, including issues related to civil society formation, civic engagement, and decentralization in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Cambodia. She also focuses on radicalization, including current research on white supremacist groups within the United States. Prior to the University of Pittsburgh, Mehr worked for over a decade with non-profit international development organizations, principally The Asia Foundation. 

Education & Training

  • PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 2017
  • MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2013
  • MA, Johns Hopkins University, 2004
  • BA, Grinnell College, 2000

Representative Publications

Latif, Mehr. 2022. Review of Grandmothers on Guard: Gender, Aging, and the Minutemen at the US-Mexico Border by Jennifer L. Johnson. Mobilization.

Latif, Mehr. 2022. “Negotiating the State: The Construction of Local-State Boundaries in
Pakistan.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.

Latif, Mehr. 2022. “Performances and Politics in Pakistan: A Case-Study of a Micro Public Sphere.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.  

Latif, Mehr, Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Pete Simi. 2020. “Do White Supremacist Women Adopt Movement Archetypes of Mother, Whore, and Fighter?” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.

Latif, Mehr, Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, Pete Simi, and Shayna Alexander. 2019. “Why White Supremacist Women Become Disillusioned, and Why They Leave.” Sociological Quarterly 61(3): 367-388.

Latif, Mehr, Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Pete Simi. 2018. “How Emotional Dynamics Maintain and Destroy White Supremacist Groups.” Humanities & Society 42(4): 480–501.

Blee, Kathleen and Mehr Latif. 2021. “The Sociology of the Far Right,” In Stephen Ashe, Joel Busher, Graham Macklin, and Aaron Winter (eds.), Researching the Far Right: Theory, Method and Practice. London: Routledge Series on Fascism and the Far Right.

Blee, Kathleen and Mehr Latif. 2019. “Ku Klux Klan – Vigilantism against Migrantsand Minorities.” In Tore Bjorgo, ed. Vigilantism Against Minorities & Migrants. London: Routledge.

Blee, Kathleen, Matthew DeMichele, Pete Simi, and Mehr Latif. 2017. “How Racial Violence is Provoked and Channeled.” Socio. 7: 257-276.

CV