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Signatures, rights, networks
Descriptive
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Title
Signatures, rights, networks
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Iranian feminism in the transnational sphere
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Sameh
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Catherine Zehra
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1965-
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Catherine Sameh
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ETHEL BROOKS
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Joanna
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Joanna Regulska
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Alidou
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Ousseina
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Ousseina Alidou
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Advisory Committee
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Rutgers University
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Graduate School - New Brunswick
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theses
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2012
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2012-05
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2012
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xx
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eng
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Women's and Gender Studies
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Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD_3904
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electronic resource
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Extent
viii, 237 p.
Note
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Ph.D.
Note
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Includes bibliographical references
Note
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Includes vita
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Catherine Zehra Sameh
Abstract
(type = abstract)
My dissertation explores how Iranian feminists are mobilizing new discourses and
creating dynamic transnational networks, enabled in part by cyber and print cultures. I
investigate the ways in which Iranian feminist praxis consequently disrupts and reframes
the putative opposition between secularism and Islam, and the multiple binaries
assembled through this opposition—democratic versus authoritarian; liberatory versus
oppressive; egalitarian versus patriarchal; and modern versus backwards. Within a multimethodological and interdisciplinary framework, I examine three sites of Iranian feminist activism. I consider the One Million Signatures Campaign, a grassroots feminist
movement that emerged in Iran in 2006, which utilizes Islamic human rights discourses
and grassroots, democratic practices to engage the state in reforming family law. I also
investigate the transnational network structure of the campaign, reflecting on the
particular praxis offered by campaigners in the Iranian diaspora. Finally, I examine the
writings and reception of Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. As a Muslim, feminist and human rights activist, Ebadi emphasizes the compatibility of Islam with human
rights, thereby disrupting discourses that counterpoise them. Considered together, these three sites of Iranian feminism destabilize Western hegemony over Iran, consolidated through discourses which pit “superior” liberal democracies over “backward” Islamic nations. This oppositional staging gains purchase through geopolitical relations of power, including some iterations of global feminism,
which deploy neocolonial saving and rescue narratives in the name of women’s human
rights. Concomitantly, transnational feminist theory, which has destabilized the
normative authority of Western hegemony and global feminism, can also often reify the
very power relations it seeks to critique. By emphasizing the dangers, limits, and
dilemmas of transnational feminist work, transnational feminist theory can neglect
critical feminist projects on the ground, effectively writing some women out of history.
My dissertation considers how Iranian feminists in Iran and the diaspora challenge these various modes of epistemic silencing. Through a close examination of the praxis of Iranian feminists, reflected primarily through the narratives of the activists themselves,
my dissertation contributes to feminist theories of agency and helps revitalize
transnational feminist studies.
creating dynamic transnational networks, enabled in part by cyber and print cultures. I
investigate the ways in which Iranian feminist praxis consequently disrupts and reframes
the putative opposition between secularism and Islam, and the multiple binaries
assembled through this opposition—democratic versus authoritarian; liberatory versus
oppressive; egalitarian versus patriarchal; and modern versus backwards. Within a multimethodological and interdisciplinary framework, I examine three sites of Iranian feminist activism. I consider the One Million Signatures Campaign, a grassroots feminist
movement that emerged in Iran in 2006, which utilizes Islamic human rights discourses
and grassroots, democratic practices to engage the state in reforming family law. I also
investigate the transnational network structure of the campaign, reflecting on the
particular praxis offered by campaigners in the Iranian diaspora. Finally, I examine the
writings and reception of Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. As a Muslim, feminist and human rights activist, Ebadi emphasizes the compatibility of Islam with human
rights, thereby disrupting discourses that counterpoise them. Considered together, these three sites of Iranian feminism destabilize Western hegemony over Iran, consolidated through discourses which pit “superior” liberal democracies over “backward” Islamic nations. This oppositional staging gains purchase through geopolitical relations of power, including some iterations of global feminism,
which deploy neocolonial saving and rescue narratives in the name of women’s human
rights. Concomitantly, transnational feminist theory, which has destabilized the
normative authority of Western hegemony and global feminism, can also often reify the
very power relations it seeks to critique. By emphasizing the dangers, limits, and
dilemmas of transnational feminist work, transnational feminist theory can neglect
critical feminist projects on the ground, effectively writing some women out of history.
My dissertation considers how Iranian feminists in Iran and the diaspora challenge these various modes of epistemic silencing. Through a close examination of the praxis of Iranian feminists, reflected primarily through the narratives of the activists themselves,
my dissertation contributes to feminist theories of agency and helps revitalize
transnational feminist studies.
Subject
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Topic
Feminism--Iran
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Feminism--Religious aspects--Islam
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Feminism--International cooperation
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Women--Iran--Social conditions
Identifier
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http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000065260
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Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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Identifier
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doi:10.7282/T3JH3K3R
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
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The author owns the copyright to this work.
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Name
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Sameh
GivenName
Catherine
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Permission or license
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2012-04-11 11:31:35
AssociatedEntity
Name
Catherine Sameh
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Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
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Type
License
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Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
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2012-05-31
DateTime
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2014-05-31
Type
Embargo
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after May 31st, 2014.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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