HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: Islamic & Middle East Stud.

Semester: 2nd Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Sivan Balslev

Coordinator Email: sivan.balslev@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours:

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Sivan Balslev

Course/Module description:
In this course we'll examine how the gendered identity of Iranian men was constructed and changed throughout the history of modern Iran, and how such changes were influenced by - and influenced on - other historical developments. We will ask what it meant to be a "real man" in 19th century Iran, and how the answers to this question changed during the decades that followed. We'll see how the Iranian nationalist movement used gendered images, how different social groups fought for power and control by creating a new model of masculinity, how the monarchy and the Islamic regime employed images of masculinity to enlist loyal citizens, and how these citizens used practices of masculinity to defy the regime.

Course/Module aims:

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Understand the links between processes of masculinity building and other historical processes.
2. Critically read and analyze academic articles.
3. Use literary sources as primary sources for historical research.
4. Have a nuanced knowledge of less studied aspects of Iranian history.
5. Integrate and compare several articles in order to build a historical argument.

Attendance requirements(%):
100

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: lectures and discussions in class

Course/Module Content:
In recent decades, issues of gender and sexuality became an indispensable part in the study of the social, cultural and political history of the Middle East. Most studies of gender, however, have focused on issues regarding women and femininity, women's changing status and images in history and their unique experiences. Questions on men's gendered identities remained marginal in Middle Eastern studies, despite the fact that men as leaders, reformers, and revolutionaries stood at the center of numerous historical studies.

Our course will examine the following aspects of men and masculinities in modern Iran:
1. Introduction: why masculinity? What can masculinity teach us? Hegemonic Masculinity.
2. Traditional masculinity in Iran – Javanmardi.
3. Film: Dash Akol
4. Masculinity and modern education, the creation of the western-educated elite in the late 19th century.
5. Masculinity and Nationalism during the Constitutional Revolution.
6. Masculinity and westernization during the early 20th century.
7. Male sexuality, marriage reform and the politics of demography between the two world wars.
8. Reza Shah's male dress reform – masculinity and state power.
9. The new masculine body – sport, scouting, and military service.
10. Mossadeq era – the western image of Mossadeq.
11. Masculinity images of the Islamic Revolution.
12. The Iran-Iraq War and the masculine Shahid.
13. Westernized masculinity as an act of political defiance in post-revolutionary Iran.
14. Homosexuality, transsexuality and queerness in contemporary Iran
Reading materials in the course include both articles on different aspects of gender in Iranian history as well as literary pieces by Iranian authors, which demonstrate some of the main issues of the course.

Required Reading:
1. מבוא לקורס – למה גבריות? מה אפשר ללמוד מגבריות? מושג הגבריות ההגמונית.
א. קריאה: ריווין קונל, מתוך גברויות, הוצאת פרדס 2009
ב. Mostafa Abedinifard and Sahar Allamezade-Jones, “Preface: Iranian Masculinities”, Iran-namag, Volume 3, Number 1 (Spring 2018)
2. גבריות מסורתית באיראן – מושג הג'ואנמרדי
א. Vanessa Martin, "The Lutis – the Turbulent Urban Poor", in The Qajar Pact: Bargaining, Protest and the State in Nineteenth-Century Persia, I.B.Tauris 2005
ב. קריאת מקור: צאדק הדאית, "דאש אאכל"
3. סרט: "דאש אאכל", מסעוד כימיאי, 1971
א. Farshad Zahedi, “Masculinity Crisis and the Javanmard Icon in Iranian Cinema”, in Lloyd Ridgeon (ed.) Javanmardi: The Ethics and Practice of Persianate Perfection
ב. Nacim Pak-Shiraz, "Constructing Masculinities through Javanmards in Pre-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema" in Lloyd Ridgeon (ed.) Javanmardi: The Ethics and Practice of Persianate Perfection
ג. Hamid Naficy, "Males, Masculinity, and Power: The Tough-Guy Movie Genre and Its Evolution", in A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Duke University Press, 2011, pp.266-294
4. גבריות וחינוך – יצירת האליטה המשכילה בסוף המאה ה-19
א. סיון בלסלב, "חינוך מודרני והיררכיות של מעמד ומגדר בעידן הקאג'ארי" בתוך איראן אז ועכשיו, הקיבוץ המאוחד, 2017
5. גבריות ולאומיות בתקופת המהפכה החוקתית
א. Joanna de Groot, ‘“Brothers of the Iranian race': manhood, nationhood, and modernity in Iran c. 1870-1920", in S. Dudink, K. Hagemann, and J. Tosh (eds.) Masculinities in Politics and War, Manchester UP, 2004.
ב. Mana Kia, "Moral Refinement and Manhood in Persian" in, Civilizing Emotions: Concepts in Nineteenth Century Asia and Europe (Oxford University Press, 2015)
ג. Afsaneh Najmabadi, The Story of the Daughters of Quchan: Gender and National Memory in Iranian History, Syracuse University Press, 1998
ד. קריאת מקור: Seyyed Muhammad Ali Jamalzadeh, "The Political Figure", in: Once upon a Time (Yeki Bud Yeki Nabud). Mohammad Ali Jamalzada, translated by Heshmat Moayyad, Paul Sprachman. Bibliotheca Persica 1985
6. גבריות והתמערבות: איראן מול אירופה בראשית המאה העשרים
א. Sivan Balslev, "Dressed for Success: Hegemonic Masculinity, Elite Men, and Westernisation in Iran, c. 1900-1940", in Gender&History 26(3), 2014
ב. קריאת מקור: Hasan Moqaddam, Jafar Khan Has Returned from Europe
7. המיניות הגברית, רפורמת הנישואים ופוליטיקה של אוכלוסין בין שתי מלחמות העולם
א. Janet Afary, Sexual Politics in Modern Iran, Cambridge University Press, 2009
ב. Seyyed Muhammad Jamalzadeh, "The Troubles of Mulla Qorbanali", in Once Upon a Time
ג. Iraj Mirza, "Aref-nameh", in Paul Sparchman, Suppressed Persian: An Anthology of Forbidden Literature, Mazda Publishers, 1995
8. רפורמות הלבוש של רזא שאה – גבריות וכוחה של המדינה
א. Mostafa Abedinifard, "Persian ‘Rashti jokes’: modern Iran’s palimpsests of gheyrat-based masculinity", in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, March 2018
ב. Wendy deSouza, “Chapter 2 – Unveiling Men: Gendering Male Citizens through ‘United Appearance’”, in Unveiling Men: Modern Masculinities in Twentieth Century Iran, Syracuse University Press, 2019
ג. Patricia Baker, "Politics of Dress: the Dress Reform Laws of 1920-30s Iran", in Languages of Dress in the Middle East, ed. Nancy Lindisfarne-Tapper
ד. קריאת מקור: Heidar Radjavi, "My Father's Wardrobe", in French Hats in Iran, Mage Publishers, 2011
9. הגוף הגברי החדש – ספורט, צופיות וצבא
א. Houchang Chehabi, "Sport and Politics in Iran: the Legend of Gholam Reza Takhti", The International Journal of the History of Sport, 12:3, 1995, 48-60
ב. Houchang Chehabi, “Gender Anxieties in the Iranian Zurkhanah”, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 51 (2019), 395-421
ג. Philippe Rochard and Denis Jallat, “Zurkhaneh, Sufism, Fotovvat /Javanmardi and Modernity: Considerations about Historical Interpretations of a Traditional Athletic Institution”, in Lloyd Ridgeon (ed.), Javanmardi: The Ethics and Practice of Persianate Perfection, Gingko, 2018
10. תקופת מצדק – גברים, לוטים, ופיג'מות
א. Mary Ann Heiss, "Real men don’t wear pajamas: Anglo-American cultural perceptions of Mohammed Mossadeq and the Iranian oil nationalization dispute", in Peter L. Hahn, Mary Ann Heiss (eds.), Empire and Revolution: The United States and the Third World Since 1945, Ohio State University Press, 2001
ב. Olmo Gölz, "The Dangerous Classes and the 1953 Coup in Iran: On the Decline of lutigari Masculinities", in Stephanie Cronin (Ed.) Crime, Poverty and Survival in the Middle East and North Africa
11. דימויי הגבריות של המהפכה האסלאמית
א. Minoo Moallem, "The Tragic Paradox of Revolution", in Between Warrior Brother and Veiled Sister: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Politics of Patriarchy in Iran, University of California Press, 2005
12. מלחמת איראן-עראק והשהיד כגבר
א. Shaherzad R. Ahmadi, "“In My Eyes He Was a Man” Poor and Working-Class Boy Soldiers in the Iran-Iraq War", in Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 14:2, 2018
ב. Olmo Gölz, “Martyrdom and Masculinity in Warring Iran: The Karbala Paradigm, the Heroic, and the Personal Dimensions of War”, BEHEMOTH: A Journal on Civilisation, 2019 Volume 12 Issue No. 1
ג. Shahin Gerami, "Mullahs, Martyrs and Men: Conceptualizing Masculinity in the Islamic Republic of Iran", Men and Masculinities, Volume: 5 issue: 3, page(s): 257-274, 2003
ד. קריאת מקור: "חיי כלב", אחמד דהקאן, תרגום תומר בן אהרון, התפרסם אונליין ב"אלכסון"
13. גבריות ומעמד ברפובליקה האסלאמית של איראן
א. Shahram Khosravi,"The Precarious Status of Working-Class Men in Iran", in Current History, December 2017
14. גבריות מתמערבת כאקט של התרסה פוליטית באיראן הפוסט-מהפכנית
א. קריאה: Mehri Honarbin-Holliday, "Emerging Forms of Masculinity in the Islamic Republic of Iran", in Annabelle Sreberny and Massoumeh Torfeh (eds.), Cultural Revolution in Iran: Contemporary Popular Culture in the Islamic Republic, I.B. Tauris, 2013
15. הומוסקסואליות, טראנסיות וקוויריות באיראן העכשווית
א. Afsaneh Najmabadi, Professing Selves: Transsexuality and Same-Sex Desire in Contemporary Iran, Duke University Press, 2013

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 80 %
Assignments 20 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information: