Women, Art, and Literature in the Iranian Diaspora

Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East

by Mehraneh Ebrahimi

Does the study of aesthetics have tangible effects in the real world? Does examining the work of diaspora writers and artists change our view of “the Other”? In this thoughtful book, Ebrahimi argues that an education in the humanities is as essential as one in politics and ethics, critically training the imagination toward greater empathy. Despite the surge in Iranian memoirs, their contributions to debunking an abstract idea of terror and their role in encouraging democratic thinking remain understudied. In examining creative work by women of Iranian descent, Ebrahimi argues that Shirin Neshat, Marjane Satrapi, and Parsua Bashi make the Other familiar and break a cycle of reactionary xenophobia. These authors, instead of relying on indignation, build imaginative bridges in their work that make it impossible to blame one evil, external enemy. Ebrahimi explores both classic and hybrid art forms, including graphic novels and photo-poetry, to advocate for the importance of aesthetics to inform and influence a global community. Drawing on the theories of Rancière, Butler, Arendt, and Levinas, Ebrahimi identifies the ways in which these works give a human face to the Other, creating the space and language to imagine a new political and ethical landscape.

183 pages, Paperback

Published May 9, 2019

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a well-done survey of great Iranian female artists. Ebrahimi gives a powerful survey of the poet Forugh Farrokhzad (1935–1967), showing how her honesty opened gates for a stream of other poets, filmmakers, or memoir writers, who would turn the candid, public expression of women’s experience into a “soft weapon” for empathy. The world-renowned photographer Shirin Neshat would weave Farrokhzad’s sensuous, point-blank perspective into her gallery collections such as "Women of Allah" (1993–1997). Abbas Kiarostami would make an award-winning movie in 1999 that incorporated a complete reading of Farrokhzad’s poem “The Wind Will Carry Us Away.”

Ebrahimi also explores the work of several award-winning female film makers, showing why their work influenced cinema critic James Rosenbaum to write “while Iranians continue to be among the most demonized people on the planet, Iranian cinema is becoming almost universally recognized as the most ethical as well as the most humanist” (p. 144).