Claudia Yaghoobi - Böcker

The Iranian #MeToo movement was a crucial form of resistance, with ordinary Iranian women sharing their experiences of sexual harassment and assault in the public sphere of digital media. This is the first book of its kind providing a comprehensive analysis of the Iranian #MeToo movement.Based on archival, empirical, ethnographic, literary and cultural research, the contributors discuss the abuse of women and society’s responses to it. Contextualizing the historical framework of Iranian MeToo activism within larger Iranian feminist movements, as well as the historical background within the context of Middle East, the contributors address how the privileged position of men who have been outed as rapists, helps them to aggregate social, political, sexual, and economic capital through various networks in order to delegitimize the narratives of survivors. The volume also covers the intersections of various systems of oppression specifically highlighting marginalized voices. The contributors highlight the power dynamics within digital feminist networks in Iran and its unique attributes due to political, social, and religious structures. The volume ends with a chapter focusing on cultural productions, specifically cinematic works, through which some filmmakers have challenged normalizations ofsexual harassment by offering alternative discourses which have arguably paved the way for the #MeToo in Iran movement.

The Iranian #MeToo movement was a crucial form of resistance, with ordinary Iranian women sharing their experiences of sexual harassment and assault in the public sphere of digital media. This is the first book of its kind providing a comprehensive analysis of the Iranian #MeToo movement.Based on archival, empirical, ethnographic, literary and cultural research, the contributors discuss the abuse of women and society’s responses to it. Contextualizing the historical framework of Iranian MeToo activism within larger Iranian feminist movements, as well as the historical background within the context of Middle East, the contributors address how the privileged position of men who have been outed as rapists, helps them to aggregate social, political, sexual, and economic capital through various networks in order to delegitimize the narratives of survivors. The volume also covers the intersections of various systems of oppression specifically highlighting marginalized voices. The contributors highlight the power dynamics within digital feminist networks in Iran and its unique attributes due to political, social, and religious structures. The volume ends with a chapter focusing on cultural productions, specifically cinematic works, through which some filmmakers have challenged normalizations ofsexual harassment by offering alternative discourses which have arguably paved the way for the #MeToo in Iran movement.

Proposing a methodology that brings feminist theories of embodiment to bear on the Iranian literary and cinematic tradition, this study examines temporary marriage in Iran, not just as an institution but also as a set of practices, identities and meanings that have transformed over the course of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. Based on analysis of novels and short stories from the Pahlavi era, and cinematic works produced after the Islamic Revolution, Claudia Yaghoobi looks at the representation of the sigheh women, or those who entered into temporary marriages. Each work reflects the manner in which the practice of sigheh impacts women by calling into question how sexuality works as a form of political analysis and power, revealing how a sigheh woman's sexual bodily autonomy is used as ammunition against what governments deem inappropriate gendered expression. While focusing mainly on modern Iranian cultural productions, Yaghoobi moves beyond the literary and cinematic realms to offer an in-depth examination of this controversial social institution which has been the subject of disdain for many Iranian feminists and captured the imagination of many Western observers.

Proposing a methodology that brings feminist theories of embodiment to bear on the Iranian literary and cinematic tradition, this study examines temporary marriage in Iran, not just as an institution but also as a set of practices, identities and meanings that have transformed over the course of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. Based on analysis of novels and short stories from the Pahlavi era, and cinematic works produced after the Islamic Revolution, Claudia Yaghoobi looks at the representation of the sigheh women, or those who entered into temporary marriages. Each work reflects the manner in which the practice of sigheh impacts women by calling into question how sexuality works as a form of political analysis and power, revealing how a sigheh woman's sexual bodily autonomy is used as ammunition against what governments deem inappropriate gendered expression. While focusing mainly on modern Iranian cultural productions, Yaghoobi moves beyond the literary and cinematic realms to offer an in-depth examination of this controversial social institution which has been the subject of disdain for many Iranian feminists and captured the imagination of many Western observers.

Examines the ways diasporic Iranian Armenian authors and artists negotiate their identities in Iran and in the USHighlights a defining characteristic of Iranian Armenian diaspora which concerns Armenians' ability to negotiate their identity within a codified legal hierarchy in Iran within a codified legal ethno-religious hierarchy and in the US via a legally codified racial hierarchy Theorizes a concept specific to Iranian Armenian diaspora named verants'ughi (??????????) a transformational passagewayStudies a variety of literary works written in Persian, Armenian and English, as well as other cultural pieces in music, art and filmAs an Iranian Armenian living in the US, the author includes first-hand life experiences as a minoritized member of Iranian Armenian populationProblematizes our understanding of concepts such as multiculturalism and transnationalism in Iran and in the U.S., comparatively.Contributes to the broader topic of Iranian nationalism and the historical marginalization of Iranian minoritized populations, resulting in their global migration, but also examines multiculturalism and transnationalism within Iran.Transnational Culture studies the ways that diasporic Iranian Armenian authors and artists negotiate their identities as minoritized population within a liminal space that includes religious, ethnic, national, racial, cultural, gender, and sexual factors. Yaghoobi argues that this liminal state of fluidity helps them to develop a resilience towards ambiguity and handling ambivalence in dealing with various cultures as well as resisting dualistic thinking. This in turn allows them to move beyond national boundaries to transnationalism, yet simultaneously display the collective Armenian identity characterized by flexibility, adaptability, and continuity as a result of both multiple uprooting and a Genocide that continues to this day. They serve as a bridge between the homeland and the host nation, occupying what the author theorizes as verants'ughi the transformational passageway, which requires them to not only risk being in a transitory space and give up the safe space of home and the power that comes with it, but also through doing so, they create transformative works of literature and art.

Transnational Culture studies the ways that diasporic Iranian Armenian authors and artists negotiate their identities as minoritized population within a liminal space that includes religious, ethnic, national, racial, cultural, gender, and sexual factors. Yaghoobi argues that this liminal state of fluidity helps them to develop a resilience towards ambiguity and handling ambivalence in dealing with various cultures as well as resisting dualistic thinking which in turn allows them to move beyond national boundaries to transnationalism, yet simultaneously display the collective Armenian identity characterized by flexibility, adaptability, and continuity as a result of both multiple uprooting and a Genocide that continues to this day. They serve as a bridge between the homeland and the host nation, occupying what the author theorizes as verants'ughi the transformational passageway, which requires them to not only risk being in a transitory space and give up the safe space of home and the power that comes with it, but also through doing so, they create transformative works of literature and art.