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Between Law and Tradition: Women and Womanhood in Iran’s Nasim-e Shomal

Year 2021, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 118 - 139, 07.05.2021
https://doi.org/10.19059/mukaddime.809094

Abstract

Issues related to women constituted some of the most significant debates in modern Iran especially following the Constitutional Revolution of 1906. Women’s education, working conditions, as well as their civil and political rights were also among the widely discussed subjects in the periodicals published in Iran in early-twentieth century as later. This article explores some of Sayyid Ashrafu’d-Din Hosayni Gilani’s women-related poems which he published in his one-man Nasim-e Shomal newspaper which would later become the name he is publicly known. Gilani’s simple expression and extensive use of colloquial language in form of poetry made Nasim-e Shomal one of the most popular periodicals of the period. Although the newspaper covered almost every issue of its time, the problems of women, particularly those of “ordinary” women, were among its most common concerns. Besides, Gilani’s frequent use of Islamic teachings to defend women’s rights, albeit in a notably cautious manner, was another distinctive feature of his poetry.

References

  • Binshahi, A. (Ed.) (1937). Ketab-e Nasim-e Shomal, (Vol.1). Tehran: Sultan.
  • Abadi, R. M., Norouz, M. & Fakhr-e Islam, B. (2015). “Wakawi-yi jamieh-shenakhti-ye seema-ye zan dar ash‘ar-e Malek al-Shu‘ara Bahar va Seyyed Ashraf al-din Gilani”, Faslnameh-e ‘Ilmi Pejuheshi Zaban ve Adab-e Farsi, 33/Winter. 124-140.
  • Abbasi, M. (1335/1956). Tarikh-e matbuat va adabiyat-e Iran dar dawreh-ye mashrutiyat, (Vol.1). (E.G. Browne, Trans.). Tehran: Press and Poetry of Modern Persia.
  • Abrahamian, E. (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Afacan, S. (2011). “Devletle Yazismak: Turkiye ve Iran Sosyal Tarihciliginde Dilekceler”, Türkiyat Mecmuasi, 21/Bahar. 1-29.
  • Afary, J. (1989). “On the Origins of Feminism in Early 20th Century Iran”, Journal of Women’s History, 1 (2). 65-87.
  • _______ (1996). The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906-1911: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy and the Origins of Feminism. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • _______ (2009). Sexual Politics in Modern Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Amanat, A. (1989). Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press.
  • Arasteh, R. (1962). Education and Social Awakening in Iran. Leiden: Brill.
  • Aryanpour, Y. (1960). Az Saba ta Nima, (Vol. 2). Tehran: Zavvar.
  • Bayat, M. (1991). Iran's First Revolution: Shi'ism and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1909. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Chehabi, H. (1993). “Staging the Emperor’s New Clothes: Dress Codes and Nation-Building under Reza Shah,” Iranian Studies, 26 (Summer/Autumn). 209–229.
  • Cehlhod, J. (1960). “Al-Mara”. In Encylopeadia Islamica (Vol. 6, pp. 466-489). Leiden: E. J. Brill and London Luzac&Co.
  • Eskandari, H. (1997). Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Washington: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
  • Issawi, C. (1971). The Economic History of Iran: 1800-1914. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Keddie, N. (2007). “Iran under the Late Qajars 1848-1922”, in The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 7, From Nader Shah to the Islamic Republic. P. Avery, G. Hambly, and C. Melville (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kolayi, J.R. (2002). “Foreign Education, the Women’s Press and the Discourse of Scientific Domesticity in Early Twentieth Century Iran”. N. Keddie & R. Matthee (Eds.). In Iran and the Surrounding World (pp. 182-202). Washinston: University of Washington Press.
  • Lambton, A.K.S. (1987). Qajar Persia. London: I. B. Tauris.
  • Najmabadi, A. (2005). Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Norouz Moradi, K. (2009). “Varaqah-e Entebahiyeh: Shabnamehi az ‘Araq-e ‘Ajam”, Payam Baharestan 2 (3). 369-385. Saed, N. (1977). “Nasem-e Shomal”. Sokhan wa andisha. Anwari H. & Asghar, A. (Eds.). Mashad: Chab-e Daneshgah-e Ferdousi.
  • Soroudi, S. (Winter - Spring, 1979). “Poet and Revolution: The Impact of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution on the Social and Literary Outlook of the Poets of the Time: Part I. Iranian Studies, 12 (1/2). 3-41.
  • Tyan, E. (1960). “i‘sma”. In Encylopeadia Islamica, (2. Edit. Vol. 4). Leiden: E. J Brill and London Luzac&Co.
  • Zahiri Nav, B. (2013). “Naqd va tahlil-e ash‘ar-e Naseem-e Shomal”, Majmueh-e maqalat-e dehomeen hamayesh-e beynu’l-melali-yi tarvij-e zaban va edebiyat-e farsi. Ardabil: University of Mohaghegh Ardabili. 1-11.

Between Law and Tradition: Women and Womanhood in Iran’s Nasim-e Shomal

Year 2021, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 118 - 139, 07.05.2021
https://doi.org/10.19059/mukaddime.809094

Abstract

İran’da kadınlarla alakalı meseleler özellikle Anayasal Devrimi’n ardından en hararetli tartışmaların konusu olmuştur. Kadınların eğitimi, çalışma koşulları ve medeni ve siyasi hakları, dönemin süreli yayınlarında etraflı şekilde tartışılmıştır. Bu makale, Nesim-i Şomal’i yayımlayan ve zamanla adı bu gazeteyle özdeşleşen Seyyid Eşref Gilani’nin kadınlarla ilgili şiirlerinden bazılarını ele almaktadır. Gilani’nin sade anlatımı ve gündelik dile şiirlerinde yoğun olarak yer vermesi onun gazetesini, İran’da erken yirminci yüzyılda yayımlayan süreli yayınların en popülerlerinden biri haline getirmiştir. Her ne kadar Nesim-i Şomal’de her konu ele alınmışsa da kadınların, özellikle de sıradan kadınların, sorunları gazetenin en çok üzerinden durduğu konular arasındadır. Ayrıca, Gilani’nin kadın haklarını, ihtiyatlı bir tarzda da olsa, savunurken sıklıkla İslami öğretilere baş vurması onun şiirinin ayırt edici özelliklerinden bir diğeridir.

References

  • Binshahi, A. (Ed.) (1937). Ketab-e Nasim-e Shomal, (Vol.1). Tehran: Sultan.
  • Abadi, R. M., Norouz, M. & Fakhr-e Islam, B. (2015). “Wakawi-yi jamieh-shenakhti-ye seema-ye zan dar ash‘ar-e Malek al-Shu‘ara Bahar va Seyyed Ashraf al-din Gilani”, Faslnameh-e ‘Ilmi Pejuheshi Zaban ve Adab-e Farsi, 33/Winter. 124-140.
  • Abbasi, M. (1335/1956). Tarikh-e matbuat va adabiyat-e Iran dar dawreh-ye mashrutiyat, (Vol.1). (E.G. Browne, Trans.). Tehran: Press and Poetry of Modern Persia.
  • Abrahamian, E. (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Afacan, S. (2011). “Devletle Yazismak: Turkiye ve Iran Sosyal Tarihciliginde Dilekceler”, Türkiyat Mecmuasi, 21/Bahar. 1-29.
  • Afary, J. (1989). “On the Origins of Feminism in Early 20th Century Iran”, Journal of Women’s History, 1 (2). 65-87.
  • _______ (1996). The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906-1911: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy and the Origins of Feminism. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • _______ (2009). Sexual Politics in Modern Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Amanat, A. (1989). Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press.
  • Arasteh, R. (1962). Education and Social Awakening in Iran. Leiden: Brill.
  • Aryanpour, Y. (1960). Az Saba ta Nima, (Vol. 2). Tehran: Zavvar.
  • Bayat, M. (1991). Iran's First Revolution: Shi'ism and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1909. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Chehabi, H. (1993). “Staging the Emperor’s New Clothes: Dress Codes and Nation-Building under Reza Shah,” Iranian Studies, 26 (Summer/Autumn). 209–229.
  • Cehlhod, J. (1960). “Al-Mara”. In Encylopeadia Islamica (Vol. 6, pp. 466-489). Leiden: E. J. Brill and London Luzac&Co.
  • Eskandari, H. (1997). Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Washington: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
  • Issawi, C. (1971). The Economic History of Iran: 1800-1914. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Keddie, N. (2007). “Iran under the Late Qajars 1848-1922”, in The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 7, From Nader Shah to the Islamic Republic. P. Avery, G. Hambly, and C. Melville (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kolayi, J.R. (2002). “Foreign Education, the Women’s Press and the Discourse of Scientific Domesticity in Early Twentieth Century Iran”. N. Keddie & R. Matthee (Eds.). In Iran and the Surrounding World (pp. 182-202). Washinston: University of Washington Press.
  • Lambton, A.K.S. (1987). Qajar Persia. London: I. B. Tauris.
  • Najmabadi, A. (2005). Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Norouz Moradi, K. (2009). “Varaqah-e Entebahiyeh: Shabnamehi az ‘Araq-e ‘Ajam”, Payam Baharestan 2 (3). 369-385. Saed, N. (1977). “Nasem-e Shomal”. Sokhan wa andisha. Anwari H. & Asghar, A. (Eds.). Mashad: Chab-e Daneshgah-e Ferdousi.
  • Soroudi, S. (Winter - Spring, 1979). “Poet and Revolution: The Impact of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution on the Social and Literary Outlook of the Poets of the Time: Part I. Iranian Studies, 12 (1/2). 3-41.
  • Tyan, E. (1960). “i‘sma”. In Encylopeadia Islamica, (2. Edit. Vol. 4). Leiden: E. J Brill and London Luzac&Co.
  • Zahiri Nav, B. (2013). “Naqd va tahlil-e ash‘ar-e Naseem-e Shomal”, Majmueh-e maqalat-e dehomeen hamayesh-e beynu’l-melali-yi tarvij-e zaban va edebiyat-e farsi. Ardabil: University of Mohaghegh Ardabili. 1-11.
There are 24 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Serhan Afacan 0000-0003-2223-2227

Publication Date May 7, 2021
Submission Date October 11, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 12 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Afacan, S. (2021). Between Law and Tradition: Women and Womanhood in Iran’s Nasim-e Shomal. Mukaddime, 12(1), 118-139. https://doi.org/10.19059/mukaddime.809094