Sex, Family and Culture in the Middle East – serie

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, there was a dramatic reversal of women’srights, and the state revived many premodern social conventions throughmodern means and institutions. Customs such as the enforced veiling of women,easy divorce for men, child marriage, and polygamy were robustly reintroducedand those who did not conform to societal strictures were severely punished. Atthe same time, new social and economic programs benefited the urban and ruralpoor, especially women, which had a direct impact on gender relations and theinstitution of marriage. Edited by Janet Afary and Jesilyn Faust, this interdisciplinaryvolume responds to the growing interest and need for literature on gender, marriageand family relations in the Islamic context. The book examines how the institutionof marriage transformed in Iran, paying close attention to the country’s cultureand politics. Part One examines changes in urban marriages to new forms ofcohabitation. In Part Two contributors, such as Soraya Tremayne, explore the waytechnology and social media has impacted and altered the institution of family.Part Three turns its eye to look at marital changes in the rural and tribal sectorsof society through the works of anthropologists including Erika Friedl and MaryHegland. Based on the work of both new and established scholars, the bookprovides an up-to-date study of an important and intensely politicized subject.

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, there was a dramatic reversal of women’srights, and the state revived many premodern social conventions throughmodern means and institutions. Customs such as the enforced veiling of women,easy divorce for men, child marriage, and polygamy were robustly reintroducedand those who did not conform to societal strictures were severely punished. Atthe same time, new social and economic programs benefited the urban and ruralpoor, especially women, which had a direct impact on gender relations and theinstitution of marriage. Edited by Janet Afary and Jesilyn Faust, this interdisciplinaryvolume responds to the growing interest and need for literature on gender, marriageand family relations in the Islamic context. The book examines how the institutionof marriage transformed in Iran, paying close attention to the country’s cultureand politics. Part One examines changes in urban marriages to new forms ofcohabitation. In Part Two contributors, such as Soraya Tremayne, explore the waytechnology and social media has impacted and altered the institution of family.Part Three turns its eye to look at marital changes in the rural and tribal sectorsof society through the works of anthropologists including Erika Friedl and MaryHegland. Based on the work of both new and established scholars, the bookprovides an up-to-date study of an important and intensely politicized subject.

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.

What is the nature of slavery as practiced and at times reintroduced over the past two centuries in the Middle East and North Africa? In spite of the rich regional diversity of the areas studied – from Morocco to the Indian Ocean to Iran – this anthology demonstrates clear commonalities across the super-region. These include the regulation of slavery by Islam and local traditions, the absence of a rigid racial hierarchy as in North American slavery, the management of the sexuality and reproductive capacity of female slaves, and views on identity and heritage among descendants of slaves. Authors also examine the economic and theological underpinnings of contemporary slavery and human trafficking.The book is among the first to focus on slavery across the Islamic world from the 19th century to the present – a period constituting the endgame of institutionalized slavery in the region but also the persistence of forms of de facto enslavement. Each chapter scrutinizes from a different vantage point – institutions, economics, the abolitionist movement, literature, folklore, and the moving image – creating a multi-dimensional picture of the phenomenon.The authors have mined government archives and statistics, memoirs, interviews, photographs, drawings, songs, cinema and television. Not only are Arabic, Persian and Turkish sources leveraged, but a variety of materials in minor and endangered languages, such as Soqotri, Balochi and Sorani Kurdish, in addition to European languages.

What is the nature of slavery as practiced and at times reintroduced over the past two centuries in the Middle East and North Africa? In spite of the rich regional diversity of the areas studied – from Morocco to the Indian Ocean to Iran – this anthology demonstrates clear commonalities across the super-region. These include the regulation of slavery by Islam and local traditions, the absence of a rigid racial hierarchy as in North American slavery, the management of the sexuality and reproductive capacity of female slaves, and views on identity and heritage among descendants of slaves. Authors also examine the economic and theological underpinnings of contemporary slavery and human trafficking.The book is among the first to focus on slavery across the Islamic world from the 19th century to the present – a period constituting the endgame of institutionalized slavery in the region but also the persistence of forms of de facto enslavement. Each chapter scrutinizes from a different vantage point – institutions, economics, the abolitionist movement, literature, folklore, and the moving image – creating a multi-dimensional picture of the phenomenon.The authors have mined government archives and statistics, memoirs, interviews, photographs, drawings, songs, cinema and television. Not only are Arabic, Persian and Turkish sources leveraged, but a variety of materials in minor and endangered languages, such as Soqotri, Balochi and Sorani Kurdish, in addition to European languages.

Winner of the Latifeh Yarshater book prize 2024Covering the Pahlavi modern nation-state as well as the Islamic regime, this book examines the crucial shifts that affected Sunnite and subaltern women once Shi’ism became the state religion after the Iranian Revolution. Focusing on women in the Baluchistan and Golestan provinces of Iran, Azadeh Kian analyses and explores issues of cultural racialization, ethno-centrism, Shi’a centrism, and patriarchal and chauvinistic ideologies in Iranian society propagated by the state and sustained by its policies. Based on quantitative and qualitative surveys taken throughout Iran, comprised of over 7,000 married women and 100 interviews with a sample of Sunnite and subaltern Persian women, Kian reveals how social hierarchy and power relations based on gender, class, ethnicity and religion operate. She argues that women have been at the heart of the process of national and ethnic re-construction as women, as potential mothers, are expected to reproduce national and ethnic boundaries. Kian argues that by examining the family institution as a site of power, analysing family dynamics as well as women’s everyday lives, the politics of ordinary Iranians and the relationship between state and society can be better understood. Kian argues that the time is ripe to achieve a non-hegemonic definition of Iranian national identity, through acknowledgement of gender, class, ethnic, and religious diversity and plurality of experiences of oppression and injustice.

Winner of the Latifeh Yarshater book prize 2024Covering the Pahlavi modern nation-state as well as the Islamic regime, this book examines the crucial shifts that affected Sunnite and subaltern women once Shi’ism became the state religion after the Iranian Revolution. Focusing on women in the Baluchistan and Golestan provinces of Iran, Azadeh Kian analyses and explores issues of cultural racialization, ethno-centrism, Shi’a centrism, and patriarchal and chauvinistic ideologies in Iranian society propagated by the state and sustained by its policies. Based on quantitative and qualitative surveys taken throughout Iran, comprised of over 7,000 married women and 100 interviews with a sample of Sunnite and subaltern Persian women, Kian reveals how social hierarchy and power relations based on gender, class, ethnicity and religion operate. She argues that women have been at the heart of the process of national and ethnic re-construction as women, as potential mothers, are expected to reproduce national and ethnic boundaries. Kian argues that by examining the family institution as a site of power, analysing family dynamics as well as women’s everyday lives, the politics of ordinary Iranians and the relationship between state and society can be better understood. Kian argues that the time is ripe to achieve a non-hegemonic definition of Iranian national identity, through acknowledgement of gender, class, ethnic, and religious diversity and plurality of experiences of oppression and injustice.

Online Justice Seeking and Law Reform in Iran: Post to Change offers a socio-legal study of how Iranian women use social media and online platforms to interpret law, express legal needs, challenge gender inequality, and demand justice. Focusing on women’s personal status laws, the book examines how public perceptions of marriage, family law, compulsory hijab, sexual harassment, and sexual violence are shaped and contested in Iran’s digital public sphere.Drawing on netnographic research, case studies, online legal enquiries, court judgments, and social media campaigns, Sahar Maranlou explores how women use online spaces to access legal information, build solidarity, narrate injustice, and pressure the justice system towards greater gender sensitivity. The book pays particular attention to campaigns around child marriage, forms of marriage, #MeToo, and hijab law, showing how online justice seeking connects everyday legal experiences with wider demands for law reform.Rather than treating social media only as a tool of activism or resistance, this book examines it as a site of public legal culture, legal empowerment, and socio-legal transformation. It argues that, despite barriers to formal reform, online platforms have opened new possibilities for women’s access to justice in Iran’s plural legal system.