Rethinking Global Sisterhood: Western Feminism and Iran

by Nima Naghibi

Western women’s involvement in Persia dates from the mid-nineteenth century, when female adventurers and missionaries first encountered their veiled Muslim “sisters.” Twentieth-century Western and state-sponsored Iranian feminists continued to use the image of the veiled woman as the embodiment of backwardness. Yet, following the 1979 revolution, indigenous Iranian feminists became more vocal in their resistance to this characterization. In Rethinking Global Sisterhood, Nima Naghibi makes powerful connections among feminism, imperialism, and the discourses of global sisterhood. Naghibi investigates topics including the state-sponsored Women’s Organization of Iran and the involvement of feminists such as Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem in the Iranian feminism movement before and during the 1979 revolution. With a potent analysis of cinema, she examines the veiled woman in the films of Tahmineh Milani, Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Kim Longinotto, and Mahnaz Afzali. At a time when Western relations with the Muslim world are in crisis, Rethinking Global Sisterhood provides much-needed insights and explores the limitations and possibilities of cross-cultural feminist social and political interventions. Nima Naghibi is assistant professor of English at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Genres: Feminism, Iran, Nonfiction, Gender Studies, History, Grad School, Middle East

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Rebekka Steg · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Rethinking Global Sisterhood: Western Feminism and Iran' by Nima Naghibi is a rather short scholarly work on the history of feminism in Iran, especially seen in relation to Western feminism.

The book is divided into four main parts, visualized in the book as individual chapters. These parts are preceded by the Preface and Introduction and proceeded by the Conclusion. The four main parts/chapters are as follows:

1. Enlightening the Other: Christian Sisters and Intrepid Adventuresses
Deals with the colonialist view of the Eastern 'Other'. How Western feminist position themselves as more enlightened in comparison to the female 'other' in Persia.

2. Scopophilic Desires: Unveiling Iranian Women
The desire of the West to unveil Iranian women, and in doing so supporting the Shah when he bans women from veiling in public (this ban is later removed, but women who veil are unable to work in public positions). Feminism and unveiling becomes equal to the Western (American) influence. Iranian feminism is handled by royalty/upper class women, who do not take the needs of the working class women into consideration.

3. Global Sisters in Revolutionary Iran
How Western feminists made things harder for the Iranian feminists post the 1979-revolution.

4. Female Homosocial Communities in Iranian Feminist Film
The use of film (both feature and documentary) to highlight women's issues and give women a voice - even if this voice is often censored or not shown widely in Iran.

All-over I thought it was a really interesting book. Nima Naghibi taught me a lot about the history of feminism in Iran. I agree with her that Western feminists have/have had a tendency to speak for all the women in the world - when in reality they have no idea what women across the globe really need. Whether women veil or not, is that really the biggest issue? Is everything going to be solved by removing the veil? Personally I don't think so, I think education and enforcement of human rights and a change of laws and the status quo is much much more important.

[Kateri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Academic but accessible. I learned so much about the history of Iran and feminism, and Western women’s enthusiastic involvement in colonization. I highly recommend to other white people interested in decolonizing their feminism and their worldviews, especially if you grew up with the same false messages I did— that the Middle East is backward, the hijab is oppression, the US needs to save women from their cultures.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A really interesting project, but doesn’t seem to accomplish very much in my eyes. I agree with the author and think the usage of cinema is very interesting. Probably even the existence of such a text is valuable in the United States today but beyond that it seemed a little undercooked

[Golnaz Jamsheed · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a dense, ambitious work of scholarship that brings together history, cultural critique, and film analysis. It isn’t a light read.

As an Iranian filmmaker, I was especially drawn to the chapters on film and documentary. The author’s discussions of works like Two Women (dir. Tahmineh Milani), The Divorce, and Runaway stood out to me. The section on “female homosocial communities in Iranian feminist film” was particularly compelling, as was the exploration of scopophilic desire and the unveiling of Iranian women on screen.

[Taryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

best book on global feminism I've ever read, really owns all the noobs (as we say here on the internet)