- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
About this book
With the first Fulbright grant for research in Iran to be awarded since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Roxanne Varzi returned to the country her family left before the Iran-Iraq war. Drawing on ethnographic research she conducted in Tehran between 1991 and 2000, she provides an eloquent account of the beliefs and experiences of young, middle-class, urban Iranians. As the first generation to have come of age entirely in the period since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran, twenty-something Iranians comprise a vital index of the success of the nation's Islamic Revolution. Varzi describes how, since 1979, the Iranian state has attempted to produce and enforce an Islamic public sphere by governing behavior and by manipulating images—particularly images related to religious martyrdom and the bloody war with Iraq during the 1980s—through films, murals, and television shows. Yet many of the young Iranians Varzi studied quietly resist the government's conflation of religious faith and political identity.
Highlighting trends that belie the government's claim that Islamic values have taken hold—including rising rates of suicide, drug use, and sex outside of marriage—Varzi argues that by concentrating on images and the performance of proper behavior, the government's campaign to produce model Islamic citizens has affected only the appearance of religious orthodoxy, and that the strictly religious public sphere is partly a mirage masking a profound crisis of faith among many Iranians. Warring Souls is a powerful account of contemporary Iran made more vivid by Varzi's inclusion of excerpts from the diaries she maintained during her research and from journal entries written by Iranian university students with whom she formed a study group.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Warring Souls by Roxanne Varzi in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Middle Eastern History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Publisher
Duke University Press BooksYear
2006Print ISBN
9780822337218, 9780822337096eBook ISBN
97808223880362.
Photos
on
the
graves
at
the
cemetery
of
the
war
martyrs,
Is-
fahan.
(Photo
by
Kimyia
Varzi,
2000)
image
glued
to
the
reverse
side
of
every
dead
boy’s
individual
illumination—
stares
back
at
you.
His
is
the
ghost
here
that
most
haunts.
He
is
the
reverse
side
of
every
unique
martyr.
In
Khomeini’s
Iran
the
concept
of
the
image
functioned
as
more
than
just
a
sign;
it
was
an
actual
actor
on
the
political
stage.
Those
in
power
knew
the
strength
of
the
image
to
foster
belief
and
to
topple
a
regime.
Ayatollah
Khomeini
told
his
followers
at
the
be-
ginning
of
the
Iranian
revolution
in
1979
not
to
be
discouraged
by
the
lack
of
arms:
‘‘propaganda,’’
he
noted,
‘‘is
as
explosive
as
a
grenade.’’
1
In
Khomeini’s
Iran,
the
image
was
a
site
of
special
power
that
must
either
be
contained
or
exploited.
The
cultural
ar-
chitects
of
this
period
created
a
perfect
balance
by
politically
ex-
ploiting
some
images
while
containing
others
by
restricting
visual
subjects
that
could
potentially
undermine
the
Islamic
program.
During
both
the
war
and
the
revolution
the
Western
media
por-
trayed
Iran
as
an
impermeable
surface
of
images
and
imaginings:
24
Chapter
1
Table of contents
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue: The Journey
- Introduction. Divination: An Archeologyof the Unknown
- Chapter One. The Image and the Hidden Master
- Chapter Two. Mystic States: Martyrdom and the Making of the Islamic Republic
- Chapter Three. Shooting Soldiers, Shooting Film:The Cinema of the Iranian Sacred Defense
- Chapter Four. Visionary States: Inhabiting the City, Inhabiting the Mind
- Chapter Five. Shifting Subjects: Public Law and Private Selves
- Chapter Six. Majnun’s Mask: Sex, Suicide, and Semiotic Malfunctioning
- Chapter Seven. The Ghost in the Machine: (Just War?)Remainders and Reminders of War
- Chapter Eight. Reforming Religious Identity in Post-Khatami Iran
- Conclusion. Mehdi’s Climb
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index