Narrating the Pilgrimage to Mecca: Historical and Contemporary Accounts, 2023
This chapter discusses four Iranian hajj accounts written between 1880 and 1901 by the following ... more This chapter discusses four Iranian hajj accounts written between 1880 and 1901 by the following women belonging to the Qajar aristocracy: Mehrmāh Khānom ʿEṣmat al-Salṭane, an anonymous woman from Tabas, ʿĀliye Khānom from Kerman, and Sakine Solṭān Vaqār al-Dowle Esfahāni Kuchak. It is argued that, apart from their class affiliation, three particular factors shaped the authors’ hajj experiences. First, they were all Shiʿi pilgrims and their responses toward the representatives of the Sunni majority they met during the pilgrimage tended to be coloured by fear and dislike. Moreover, while describing their encounters with the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, the diarists would express their belief in being culturally superior to local people. Finally, the female pilgrims’ experience of the hajj was strongly determined by their gender. In their travelogues, they wrote about being subject to control exerted over them by their male relatives who accompanied them on the road. However, although their freedoms were restricted, some of them would undertake various strategies of resistance.
In this article, I explore the content of Iran's first women's newspaper, Dānish ('Knowledge'), p... more In this article, I explore the content of Iran's first women's newspaper, Dānish ('Knowledge'), published in Tehran in 1910-1911. Using the method of close reading, I address the question of the model of womanhood that was presented in the pages of the weekly. In this regard, I examine selected articles that appeared in the surviving issues of Dānish, distinguishing three dominant thematic areas: the education of girls and women; marital relationships; child rearing, hygiene, and health care. By putting the journal's discourse in the context of the discussion on 'women's issues' that was ongoing in the press during the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911), I reflect on the relationship between the agenda of the early Iranian women's movement and the discourse of constitutionalist nationalism.
Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2021
This paper contains a translation, from Persian into Polish, of Taʾdib al-Rejāl or The Education ... more This paper contains a translation, from Persian into Polish, of Taʾdib al-Rejāl or The Education of Men − a satirical treatise written probably in 1886/1887 by an anonymous woman associated with the Iranian Qajar dynasty-complemented with the translator's commentary interpreting the text as evidence of the socio-cultural changes in the late Qajar era as well as the prelude of the discourse of modernity and women's liberation movement in Iran.
This paper examines the textual and performative functions of early women's writings on the examp... more This paper examines the textual and performative functions of early women's writings on the example of three accounts of the pilgrimage to Mecca written during the Qajar era by Mehrmāh Khānom ʿEsmat al-Saltaneh (1880-81), the anonymous Hājiyeh Khānom ʿAlaviyeh Kermāni (1892-94), and Sakineh Soltān Vaqār al-Dowleh Esfahāni Kuchak (1899-1901). It ponders on the relationships between the female writers and textuality, their readers and, finally, the diary personas they created. It claims that their writings emerged in the process of negotiating the then existing, masculine models of textuality and authorial authority. By rejecting the monologic authoritativeness of literature and textuality, the women diarists transformed their texts into a space for dialogue-including dialogue with themselves.
This paper aims to juxtapose two crucial texts for the early history of feminism in Iran: a satir... more This paper aims to juxtapose two crucial texts for the early history of feminism in Iran: a satirical treatise entitled Maʼayeb al-rejal (The vices of men) from 1894 written by Bibi Khanom Astarabadi (1858/59–1921) and the memoirs of Taj al-Saltana (1884–1936), a daughter of Naser al-Din Shah (r. 1848–1896), penned in 1914. In spite of the authors' different backgrounds and the diversity of issues raised, both devoted plenty of attention to the desirable qualities of a 'modern Iranian woman'—a new ideal championed by the Iranian reformist movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s. This progressive ideal of woman, however, remained rooted in a traditional paradigm equating womanhood with wifehood and motherhood. Through a literary analysis of the works of Bibi Khanom and Taj al-Saltana, the author argues that the early Iranian feminists integrated their advocacy for dignity and 'modernity' of woman into the patriarchal outlook by reserving for their 'sisters' the functions of educators and carers.
The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the royal harem and its functions during the rei... more The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the royal harem and its functions during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–96), on the basis of two independent Persian-language sources written by noble Iranian women at the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Naser al-Din's daughter, Taj al-Saltana (1884–1936), who in her famous memoirs vividly rendered her early years spent on her imperial father's court, and ‘Lady from Kerman’ (whose identity remains, for the moment, unclear), who authored a latterly published travelogue of pilgrimage to Mecca and the holy Shi'a places in contemporary Iraq held by her in the early 1890s. The second part of the latter account is entirely dedicated to the sojourn in Tehran, where, upon coming back from the sacred journey, the woman was a frequent guest at the royal harem. Both accounts are unique as they are the only known first-hand sources penned by the female insiders of the harem in nineteenth-century Iran. Furthermore, both authors, who actually met each other, describe the same figures and events – which provide an opportunity to compare their relations and augment our knowledge about Iran in the late Naseri period.
Narrating the Pilgrimage to Mecca: Historical and Contemporary Accounts, 2023
This chapter discusses four Iranian hajj accounts written between 1880 and 1901 by the following ... more This chapter discusses four Iranian hajj accounts written between 1880 and 1901 by the following women belonging to the Qajar aristocracy: Mehrmāh Khānom ʿEṣmat al-Salṭane, an anonymous woman from Tabas, ʿĀliye Khānom from Kerman, and Sakine Solṭān Vaqār al-Dowle Esfahāni Kuchak. It is argued that, apart from their class affiliation, three particular factors shaped the authors’ hajj experiences. First, they were all Shiʿi pilgrims and their responses toward the representatives of the Sunni majority they met during the pilgrimage tended to be coloured by fear and dislike. Moreover, while describing their encounters with the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, the diarists would express their belief in being culturally superior to local people. Finally, the female pilgrims’ experience of the hajj was strongly determined by their gender. In their travelogues, they wrote about being subject to control exerted over them by their male relatives who accompanied them on the road. However, although their freedoms were restricted, some of them would undertake various strategies of resistance.
In this article, I explore the content of Iran's first women's newspaper, Dānish ('Knowledge'), p... more In this article, I explore the content of Iran's first women's newspaper, Dānish ('Knowledge'), published in Tehran in 1910-1911. Using the method of close reading, I address the question of the model of womanhood that was presented in the pages of the weekly. In this regard, I examine selected articles that appeared in the surviving issues of Dānish, distinguishing three dominant thematic areas: the education of girls and women; marital relationships; child rearing, hygiene, and health care. By putting the journal's discourse in the context of the discussion on 'women's issues' that was ongoing in the press during the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911), I reflect on the relationship between the agenda of the early Iranian women's movement and the discourse of constitutionalist nationalism.
Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2021
This paper contains a translation, from Persian into Polish, of Taʾdib al-Rejāl or The Education ... more This paper contains a translation, from Persian into Polish, of Taʾdib al-Rejāl or The Education of Men − a satirical treatise written probably in 1886/1887 by an anonymous woman associated with the Iranian Qajar dynasty-complemented with the translator's commentary interpreting the text as evidence of the socio-cultural changes in the late Qajar era as well as the prelude of the discourse of modernity and women's liberation movement in Iran.
This paper examines the textual and performative functions of early women's writings on the examp... more This paper examines the textual and performative functions of early women's writings on the example of three accounts of the pilgrimage to Mecca written during the Qajar era by Mehrmāh Khānom ʿEsmat al-Saltaneh (1880-81), the anonymous Hājiyeh Khānom ʿAlaviyeh Kermāni (1892-94), and Sakineh Soltān Vaqār al-Dowleh Esfahāni Kuchak (1899-1901). It ponders on the relationships between the female writers and textuality, their readers and, finally, the diary personas they created. It claims that their writings emerged in the process of negotiating the then existing, masculine models of textuality and authorial authority. By rejecting the monologic authoritativeness of literature and textuality, the women diarists transformed their texts into a space for dialogue-including dialogue with themselves.
This paper aims to juxtapose two crucial texts for the early history of feminism in Iran: a satir... more This paper aims to juxtapose two crucial texts for the early history of feminism in Iran: a satirical treatise entitled Maʼayeb al-rejal (The vices of men) from 1894 written by Bibi Khanom Astarabadi (1858/59–1921) and the memoirs of Taj al-Saltana (1884–1936), a daughter of Naser al-Din Shah (r. 1848–1896), penned in 1914. In spite of the authors' different backgrounds and the diversity of issues raised, both devoted plenty of attention to the desirable qualities of a 'modern Iranian woman'—a new ideal championed by the Iranian reformist movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s. This progressive ideal of woman, however, remained rooted in a traditional paradigm equating womanhood with wifehood and motherhood. Through a literary analysis of the works of Bibi Khanom and Taj al-Saltana, the author argues that the early Iranian feminists integrated their advocacy for dignity and 'modernity' of woman into the patriarchal outlook by reserving for their 'sisters' the functions of educators and carers.
The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the royal harem and its functions during the rei... more The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the royal harem and its functions during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–96), on the basis of two independent Persian-language sources written by noble Iranian women at the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Naser al-Din's daughter, Taj al-Saltana (1884–1936), who in her famous memoirs vividly rendered her early years spent on her imperial father's court, and ‘Lady from Kerman’ (whose identity remains, for the moment, unclear), who authored a latterly published travelogue of pilgrimage to Mecca and the holy Shi'a places in contemporary Iraq held by her in the early 1890s. The second part of the latter account is entirely dedicated to the sojourn in Tehran, where, upon coming back from the sacred journey, the woman was a frequent guest at the royal harem. Both accounts are unique as they are the only known first-hand sources penned by the female insiders of the harem in nineteenth-century Iran. Furthermore, both authors, who actually met each other, describe the same figures and events – which provide an opportunity to compare their relations and augment our knowledge about Iran in the late Naseri period.
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