American Social Democrats, the Democrat Party of Iran, Iran-i Naw: A Secret Camaraderie
This article was published in Iran and Iranian Studies
A List of Selected Articles
Social Democracy and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911
This article was published in A Century of Revolution: Social Movements in Iran, John Foran, Editor
Where Will the Power Lie in Iran? The Role of Gender Politics
This article was published in New York Times, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The presence of Zahrad Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hussein Moussavi, was a significant factor in the election. Mr. Moussavi, who is not a very charismatic speaker and had left politics nearly 20 years ago, saw his prospects for victory increase when his wife joined him in the campaign. The well-publicized picture of them holding hands was not merely symbolic.
Iran's Hopeful First Lady and her Husband Embrace Women's Rights
This article was published in ZNet, June 9, 2009
In the upcoming June 12 presidential elections in Iran what has excited voters the most is Zahra Rahnavard, the outspoken and accomplished spouse of one of the candidates, Mir Hussein Mousavi, so much so that she has been dubbed “Iran’s Michelle Obama.” The frontrunners are the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the reformist Mir Hussein Moussavi. Moussavi, who was an important leader in the early years of the Islamic revolution, was the nation’s prime minister under President Ali Khamenei (the present Supreme Religious Leader) for a time during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.
Recreating virginity in Iran
This article was published in Guardian, May 12th, 2009
Many women in Iran opt for hymen repair to satisfy a culture that insists on bridal virginity. Now they have a cleric’s backing. Hymenoplasty, the operation through which a woman’s virginity is restored, is a surprisingly hot topic on Iranian weblogs. Vaginal reconstruction is a popular operation throughout the Middle East and among expatriate Middle Easterners of all religious backgrounds.
Is the Islamic Republic of Iran Headed for a Sexual Revolution?
This article was published in UCLA International Institute
In February there were two celebrations in Tehran – an official commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution and an unofficial and more light-hearted celebration of Valentine’s Day. Young people held hands in the streets and cafes despite warnings by the morality police. Shops did brisk business selling heart-shaped cards, chocolate, flowers, balloons, and jewelry. Husbands and wives took ads in popular Islamist journals expressing their passionate love, while Persian blogs were inundated with V-Day messages. Judging from these messages Valentine’s Day is not only a celebration of personal love, but also a way of expressing sentiments like “Make love not war.”
Tehran, city of love
This article was published in Guardian, March 5, 2009
Could the Islamic republic be heading towards a sexual revolution?
Last month there were two celebrations in Tehran, an official commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution and an unofficial and more light-hearted celebration of Valentine’s Day. Young people held hands in the streets and cafes despite warnings by the morality police. Shops did brisk business selling heart-shaped cards, chocolate, flowers, balloons, and jewellery. Husbands and wives took ads in popular Islamist journals expressing their passionate love, while Persian blogs were inundated with V-Day messages. Judging from these messages Valentine’s Day is not only a celebration of personal love but also a way of expressing sentiments like “make love not war”.
مدرنیسم، جنسیت و انقلاب در ایران: فوکوعلیه فوکو
This article was published in Sarpich (transcript of an interview), March 1, 2009
ژانت آفاري را در ايران بيشتر با کتاب نسبتا حجيمش يعني «انقلاب مشروطه» مي شناسند که در واقع پايان نامه وي به شمار ميآيد. از او مقالات بسياري در نشريات داخلي و خارجي به چاپ رسيده است. از دو کتاب آخر وي که توجهات بسياري را به خود جلب کرده است يکي با عنوان «فوکو و انقلاب ايران» است که آن را مشترکا با کوين اندرسون به نگارش در آورده است و به نقد نظرات فوکو در خصوص انقلاب ايران مي پردازد. هم چنين براي نخستين بار در اين کتاب مقالاتي که فوکو در بحبوحه انقلاب ايران در نشريات فرانسه در ارتباط با آن رخداد به نگارش درآورده نيز به زبان انگليسي ترجمه شده است. آخرين کتاب وي با عنوان «سياستهاي جنسيتي در ايران» به بررسي مناسبات حاکم بر ساختار خانواده و تغيير و تحولات آن از اواخر قرن نوزده تا به امروز مي پردازد. آفاري از همان اولين کارهاي خود به وضوح در نوشته هايش نشان مي دهد که تحولات اجتماعي در ايران چيزي نيست که به يک باره بروز کرده باشد و بتوان بي بازگشت به گذشته به تحليل آن ها پرداخت. از اين رو است که او انقلاب مشروطه را به عنوان رخدادي که سرآغاز ورود تفکر مدرن در پوششي فرهنگي است نقطه شروع کارهاي خويش قرار مي دهد. آفاري با تمرکز بر جنبش هاي زنان و نقشي که ايشان در تحولات سياسي و اجتماعي و فرهنگي ايران معاصر بازي مي کنند مي کوشد تا روند مطالبات اين جنبش و چرايي افول خواسته هاي ايشان را تشريح کند. در کتاب «سياست هاي جنسيتي در ايران» او به ارائه طرحي از مناسبات جنسيتي در ايران مي پردازد که خلاف برداشت هاي رايج و عام گرايانه از سير تحولات اجتماعي و فرهنگي ايران معاصر است
The Sexual Economy of the Islamic Republic
This article was published in Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies, Volume 42, No. 1, February 2009
This article examines the gender and sexual policies of the Islamic Republic and their ramifications. It argues that the policies if the Islamist government cannot easily be categorized as “puritanical” or “moralistic.” Rather we can argue that various functions within the state actively deployed a new s”sexual economy” for the population. Sometimes, the Islamist state privileged patriarchal interpretations of the gender norms over modern ones. At other times, it adopted modern projects such as family planing alongside a discourse that presented them as practices rooted in traditional Islam. In all cases, the state used modern institutions to disseminate and enforce these practices.
آزادي هاي مدني و نخستين قانون اساسي ايران
This article was published in ايران نامه, Vol. XXIII, Issues 3-4, 2007
اين روزها سخن از روش هاي تاريخي اي مي رود که به تدریج اسطوره صفت شده اند. نه تنها انقلاب هاي سياسي، که در سرشت خويش عقل و دل ربا و پر از تناقض اند، که حتي متن ها و سندهاي سياسي اي که در گيرو دار دگرگوني هاي بزرگ اجتماعي پديد مي آيند آماج خوانشها و تفسيرهاي گوناگون اند. نسل هاي پي در پي مردم ایالات متحده امريکا در خط خط بيانيۀ استقلال 1776 نشان غرور و افتخار ملّي خوانده اند و در عباراتی چون: «آدميان همگي برابر آفريده شده اند، و حق هاي ناستاندني از جمله حق زندگي، آزادي و نیل به شادمانی» دارند به ديدۀ ستايشگري نگريسته اند. با اين حال هنوز جاي سخن هاي بسيار در چند و چون فرآيندهائي باقي است که به تدوین اين بيانيه انجاميده اند. اين واقعيت نيز که بيانيه سال 1776 به آساني با قانون اساسي سال 1787 که برده داري را روا مي داشت سازگار نمي افتد همچنان محل گفتگو است. نخستین قانون اساسي ايران (7-1906) و متمم آن نيز کمابيش دچار چنين سرنوشتي بوده است
The Iranian Impasse
This article was published in The Nation (35-40), July 16, 2007
Co-authored with Kevin B. Anderson
During a visit to Tehran in the spring of 2005, we were impressed by the degree of intellectual freedom Iranians had carved out within the Islamic Republic. The numerous bookstores on Enqelab Avenue across from Tehran University carried an array of newly translated books by Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault, among others. A lecture on “Foucault and Feminism” at Alzahra Women’s University elicited enthusiastic responses, including one from a high university official clad from head to toe in a black chador. A visit to the literary editors of the country’s most prestigious newspaper, Shargh (daily circulation 100,000), led to a conversation that ranged easily from religion and politics to Continental philosophers like Foucault, Theodor Adorno and Giorgio Agamben.
Civil Liberties and the Making of Iran’s First Constitution
This article was published in Comparative Stidies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Duke U. Press, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2005
Retrospectives on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1905-1909.
The Seductions of Islamism: Revisiting Foucault and the Iranian Revolution
This article was published in New Politics, Vol. X, No. 1, Summer 2004
Co-authored with Kevin B. Anderson
FEBRUARY 2004 MARKED THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of the Iranian Revolution. From September 1978 to February 1979, in the course of a massive urban revolution with millions of participants, the Iranian people toppled the regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941-1979), which had pursued a highly authoritarian program of economic and cultural modernization. By late 1978, the Islamist faction led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had come to dominate the antiregime uprising, in which secular nationalists, democrats, and leftists also participated. The Islamists controlled the slogans and the organization of the protests, which meant that many secular women protesters were pressured into donning the veil (chador) as an expression of solidarity with the more traditional Iranian Muslims. By February 1979, the shah had left the country and Khomeini returned from exile to take power. The next month, he sponsored a national referendum that declared Iran an Islamic republic by an overwhelming majority. Soon after, as Khomeini began to assume nearly absolute power, a reign of terror ensued.
The Human Rights of Middle Eastern & Muslim Women: A Project for the 21st Century
This article was published in Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 106-125, February 2004
This article first explores the state of human rights of Middle Eastern/Muslim Women in a selection of North African, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern countries. It then contrasts this present state of oppression with the emerging legal reforms and attempts made by a new generation of women’s rights activists. These activists are building new institutions in their homelands despite numerous obstacles and great personal and political risk, creating the need for a new dialogue and approach to human rights in the Middle East.
Shi'i Naratives of Karbala and Christian Rite of Penance: Michel Foucault and the Culture of Iranian Revolution, 1978-1979
This article was published in Radical History Review, Issue 86, pp. 7-35, Spring 2003
In 1978-79, in the course of a massive urban revolution with several million participants, the Iranian people toppled the government of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941-79), who had pursued an authoritarian program of nationalism as well as economic and cultural modernization. By late 1978, the Islamist faction had come to dominate the antishah protests, in which secular nationalists and leftists also participated. The struggle against the shah was now cast as a reenactment of the historic battle between Hussain (grandson of the prophet Muhammad) and his opponent Yazid in the month of Muharram in 680 C.E. in the desert of Karbal (Iraq). Soon, in the name of national unity, the secular, nationalist, and leftist demands of the demonstrators were articulated in religious garb and through rituals commemorating the death of Hussain. The Islamists controlled the revolutionary slogans and demanded that the more secular women protesters don the veil as an expression of solidarity with the more traditional women.
Portraits of Two Islamic Women: Escape from Freedom or from Tradition?
This article was published in Critique, No. 19, Fall 2001
جنگ با فمینیسم با نام خدا جنسیت و اسلام بنیاد گرا
This article was published in کار، شماره ۱۷۷, ۱۳ - اسفند - ۱۳۶۷
انقلاب مشروطه ایران در بوته آزمون تئوریهای انقلاب ها
This article was published in نگاه نو، شماره 34 صص. 8-25, (پائیز 1997)
The War Against Feminism in the Name of the Almighty: Making Sense of Gender and Muslim Fundamentalism
This article was published in New Left Review 224 (89-110), July-August 1997
In recent years, some postmodern feminists have warned us about the perils of generalizations in feminist theory that transcend the boundaries of culture and region, while feminist critics of postmodernism have argued conversely that abandoning cross-cultural and comparative theoretical perspectives may lead to relativism and eventual political paralysis.’ As I will argue in this article, the two positions are not always as diametrically opposed as they seem to be. The militant Islamist movements which have proliferated across a wide variety of cultures and societies in North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, have propagated remarkably similar policies and doctrines with regard to gender issues. As a result, a comparative theoretical perspective that would focus on this issue is both essential and surprisingly neglected. But careful distinctions need be made between conservative discourses-both Sunni and Shiite -that praise women’s roles as mothers and guardians of the heritage yet deny them personal autonomy, and progressive discourses on Islam that argue for a more tolerant and egalitarian view of gender roles.
The Contentious Historiography of the Gilan Republic in Iran: A Critical Exploration
This article was published in Iranian Studies, Colume 28, Number 1-2, 1995