Herinneringen aan de strijd: Martelaarschap en vrouwenemancipatie in Iraanse memoires over de Iran-Irakoorlog (1980-1988)

During the Iran-Iraq war, the Iranian government applied Shi’ite notions of martyrdom in order to mobilize people for the war and enhance its legitimacy. In this research, the question is analyzed how Persian memoirs by female authors on the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) have reflected the Iranian cult of martyrdom. Based on the scientific realm of (critical) memory studies, this study analyses the framing of martyrdom by investigating the Persian memoirs of Zahra Hoseyni: One Woman’s War: Da. In these memoirs, Hoseyni narrates how she grew up in the Iranian city of Khorramshahr amid the detrimental events of the Iran-Iraq war and how she participates in the war as a nurse and grave worker. This study suggests that the experiences of martyrdom by Persian women in their memoires are highly determined by their female perspective. In Da, Hoseyni alludes to Zaynab (626-682), the sister of the martyred imam Hoessein (626-68), as being an authority of morality. Though male narratives about...Show moreDuring the Iran-Iraq war, the Iranian government applied Shi’ite notions of martyrdom in order to mobilize people for the war and enhance its legitimacy. In this research, the question is analyzed how Persian memoirs by female authors on the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) have reflected the Iranian cult of martyrdom. Based on the scientific realm of (critical) memory studies, this study analyses the framing of martyrdom by investigating the Persian memoirs of Zahra Hoseyni: One Woman’s War: Da. In these memoirs, Hoseyni narrates how she grew up in the Iranian city of Khorramshahr amid the detrimental events of the Iran-Iraq war and how she participates in the war as a nurse and grave worker. This study suggests that the experiences of martyrdom by Persian women in their memoires are highly determined by their female perspective. In Da, Hoseyni alludes to Zaynab (626-682), the sister of the martyred imam Hoessein (626-68), as being an authority of morality. Though male narratives about the Iran-Iraq war would call upon the martyrdom of imam Hoessein himself, female memoirs imply that they feel more acquainted with the role of Zaynab. Besides, this study suggests that Da proves itself as an emancipatory publication, in which Hoseyni steadfastly objects to the conventional gender roles within the Iranian society. By portraying Hoseyni as an independent woman during the Iran-Iraq war, Da shows that conceptions of martyrdom in female Persian war memoires coincide with challenging views of women’s roles in public society.Show less

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Herinneringen aan de strijd: Martelaarschap en vrouwenemancipatie in Iraanse memoires over de Iran-Irakoorlog (1980-1988)