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A Comparative Exploration of Gender Representations in Persian Sufi Literature and Modern Literary Works

Year 2024, Issue: 51, 351 - 376, 30.04.2024
https://doi.org/10.28949/bilimname.1403175

Abstract

The research examines how gender is depicted in Sufi and modern Persian literature, exploring the complex factors that influence the representation of gender roles and identities throughout different historical periods. The study meticulously reviews these literary genres to identify the many perspectives on gender, acknowledging that each genre provides a distinct viewpoint through which societal values are conveyed. The investigation delves into not just literary aesthetics but also the cultural and historical conditions that have shaped the development of gender norms. This study examines how Sufi and modern Persian literature, which are deeply influenced by their specific time periods and cultural contexts, mirror and distort social perspectives on gender. Through the analysis of the progression of these depictions over time, the study sheds light on the profound transformation of gender norms and identities throughout the course of Iranian history. This inquiry enhances our comprehension of the complex relationship between literature, culture, and gender dynamics, providing significant insights into how literary works reflect and influence society's perspectives. The results of this study not only enhance academic discussions on Persian literature but also offer a subtle perspective to analyze the wider cultural weave of Iran.

References

  • AFSHAR, H. (1985). Women, State and Ideology in Iran. Third World Quarterly, 7, 256-278.
  • AMIR-EBRAHIMI, M. (2008). Transgression in Narration: The Lives of Iranian Women in Cyberspace. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 4, 115-89.
  • ARBATANI, T. R., AQILI, S. V., LABAFI, S., & OMIDI, A. (2016). Social Representations of Iranian Transsexual People in the Media: A Thematic Analysis. The International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 6, 273-284.
  • ATTAR. (1984). The Conference of the Birds (A. Darbandi, Trans.). Penguin Classics.
  • ATTAR. (2017). Divan (M. Madayeni & M. Afshari, Eds.). Charkh Publications.
  • BEIGI, L. S. (2020). Simin Daneshvar and Shahrnush Parsipur in Translation: The Risk of Erasure of Domestic Violence in Iranian Women’s Fiction. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 16, 124-143.
  • BYNE, W. (2006). Developmental endocrine influences on gender identity: implications for management of disorders of sex development. The Mount Sinai journal of medicine, New York, 73 7, 950-9 .
  • CHITTICK, W. C. (2003). The Pluralistic Vision of Persian Sufi Poetry. Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 14, 423-428.
  • COSTELLO, C. G. (2020). Beyond binary sex and gender ideology. In The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Body and Embodiment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • DABASHI, H. (1985). The Poetics of Politics: Commitment in Modern Persian Literature. Iranian Studies, 18, 147-188.
  • DANESHVAR, S. (2017). Savushun (M. R. Ghanoonparvar, Trans.). Mage Publishers Incorporated.
  • DAWLATABADI, M. (2011). Colonel. Haus Pub.
  • EHRHARDT, A., & MEYER-BAHLBURG, H.F. (1981). Effects of prenatal sex hormones on gender-related behavior. Science, 211 4488, 1312-8.
  • FARAHMANDFAR, M., & ABDOLLAHI, M. (2022). Interrelation of History and Nationhood in Contemporary Persian Historical Fiction. Philological Sciences. Scientific Essays of Higher Education, 82(55)-94, 123-127.
  • FARROKHZAD, F. (2022). Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season (T. Elizabeth Jr. Gray, Trans.). New Directions Publishing.
  • FOMESHI, B. M. (2021). ‘The Female Rumi’ and Feminine Mysticism: ‘God’s Weaver’ by Parvin Iʿtisami. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 50, 340-350.
  • GALIN, M. (2007). The Book and the Roses: Sufi Women, Visibility, and Zikir in Contemporary Istanbul (review). Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 3, 112-115.
  • HAFEZ. (2005). The Poems of Hafez (R. Ordubadian, Trans.). IBEX Publishers.
  • HAFEZ. (2018). Divan (M. Ghazvini, Ed.). Ganjine Publications.
  • HARRIS, A., & BARTLOW, S. (2015). Intersectionality: Race, gender, sexuality, and class. Handbook of the sociology of sexualities, 261-271.
  • HEIDARI, N., ABDULLAHZADEH, M., & Naji, S. (2020). Lived Religious and Spiritual Experiences of Transgender People: A Qualitative Research in Iran. Sexuality & Culture, 25, 417-429.
  • KARAMI, R. (2020). Gender Bias in Persian Literature Textbooks. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 21, 374-386.
  • KARAMUSTAFA, A. T. (2007). Sufism: The Formative Period (1st ed.). Edinburgh University Press.
  • KHADIVI, L. (2014). The Walking. Bloomsbury USA.
  • KHAYYAM, O. (2020). Divan (B. Khorramshahi, Ed.). Nahid Publications.
  • KHESHTI, R. (2012). Can the Memoirist Speak? Representing Iranian Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Recent Popular and Scholarly Publications. Feminist Studies, 38, 50-72.
  • KHOSRAVI, S. (2009). Displaced Masculinity: Gender and Ethnicity among Iranian Men in Sweden. Iranian Studies, 42, 591-609.
  • KOIRALA, S., & ESHGHAVI, M. (2017). Intersectionality in the Iranian Refugee Community in the United States. Peace Review, 29, 85-89.
  • MAZZUCA, C., BORGHI, A. M., van PUTTEN, S., LUGLI, L., NICOLETTI, R., & MAJID, A. (2023). Gender is conceptualized in different ways across cultures. Language and Cognition, 1–27.
  • McDERMOTT, R., & HATEMI, P.K. (2011). Distinguishing Sex and Gender. PS: Political Science & Politics, 44, 89 - 92.
  • NAFISI, A. (2003). Reading Lolita in Tehran. Random House USA Inc.
  • NAGHIBI, N., & O’MALLEY, A. (2005). Estranging the Familiar: “East” and “West” in Satrapi’s Persepolis. ESC: English Studies in Canada, 31, 223-247.
  • NAJMABADI, A. (2001). Gendered Transformations: Beauty, Love, and Sexuality in Qajar Iran. Iranian Studies, 34, 102-89.
  • NAJMABADI, A. (2013). Professing Selves: Transsexuality and Same-Sex Desire in Contemporary Iran. Duke University Press.
  • NIZAMI GANJAVI. (2012). Khamsa (B. Zanjani, Ed.). University of Tehran Publications.
  • PARSIPUR, S. (2006). Touba and the Meaning of Night (K. Talattof & H. Houshmand, Trans.). Feminist Press.
  • PARSIPUR, S. (2011). Women without Men (Sh. Neshat Preface). Feminist Press.
  • POLDERMAN, T. J., KREUKELS, B. P., IRWIG, M. S., BEACH, L., CHAN, Y. M., DERKS, E. M., ... & International Gender Diversity Genomics Consortium. (2018). The biological contributions to gender identity and gender diversity: bringing data to the table. Behavior genetics, 48, 95-108.
  • RAFATJAH, M. (2012). Changing Gender Stereotypes in Iran. International Journal of Women’s Research, 1(1), 55-68.
  • RASTEGAR, M. (2006). Reading Nafisi in the West: Authenticity, Orientalism, and “Liberating” Iranian Women. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 34(1/2), 108–128.
  • RUMI. (2004). The Masnavi of Rumi (G. Korramshahi, Ed.). Doustan Publication.
  • RUMI. (2020). The Masnavi of Rumi (A. Williams, Trans.). I.B. Tauris Press.
  • SADI, M. (2012). The Gulistan of Sa'di (G. Yousefi, Ed.). Kharazmi Publishing Company.
  • SAEIDIAN, S., & HOSSEINI, S. R. (2012). A Sociological Study of Iranian Women’s Role in Fictional Literature in the Recent Two Decades. International Journal of Woman Research, 2(2), 59-72.
  • SANAI, A. (2010). Divan (B. Furuzanfar, Ed.). Negah Publications.
  • SATRAPI, M. (2004). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Pantheon Publisher.
  • SHAKIBA, S., GHADERZADEH, O., & MOGHADAM, V. M. (2021). Women in Iranian Kurdistan: Patriarchy and the Quest for Empowerment. Gender & Society, 35, 616-642.
  • SHAMS TABRIZI. (1996). Makalat-i Şems-i Tabrizi (M. Movahhed, Ed.).
  • VALI-ZADEH, M. (2022). Agency of the Self and the Uncertain Nature of the Beloved in Persian Love Mysticism: Earthly, Ethereal, Masculine, or Feminine? Teosofi: Jurnal Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam, 12(1), 22–42.

Fars Tasavvuf Edebiyatı ve Modern Edebi Eserlerde Toplumsal Cinsiyet Temsillerinin Karşılaştırmalı İncelemesi

Year 2024, Issue: 51, 351 - 376, 30.04.2024
https://doi.org/10.28949/bilimname.1403175

Abstract

Araştırma, cinsiyetin Tasavvufi ve Modern Fars Edebiyatı’nda nasıl tasvir edildiğini inceleyerek, farklı tarihsel dönemler boyunca cinsiyet rolleri ve kimliklerinin temsilini etkileyen karmaşık faktörleri araştırmaktadır. Çalışma, bu edebi türleri titizlikle gözden geçirerek, her bir türün toplumsal değerlerin iletilmesinde farklı bir bakış açısı sağladığını kabul ederek cinsiyet konusundaki çok yönlü bakış açılarını belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. İnceleme, sadece edebi estetikleri değil, aynı zamanda cinsiyet normlarının gelişimini şekillendiren kültürel ve tarihsel koşulları da ele alır. Aynı zamanda bu çalışma, belirli zaman dönemleri ve kültürel bağlamları tarafından derinlemesine etkilenen Tasavvufi ve Modern Fars Edebiyatı’nın, toplumsal cinsiyet perspektiflerini yansıttığı ve çarpıttığı biçimini incelemektedir. Bu tasvirlerin zaman içindeki gelişiminin analizi aracılığıyla, İran tarihinde cinsiyet normları ve kimliklerinin derin dönüşümünü aydınlatmayı amaçlar. Bu inceleme, edebiyat, kültür ve cinsiyet dinamikleri arasındaki karmaşık ilişkinin anlayışımızı artırarak, edebi eserlerin toplumun perspektifini nasıl yansıttığını ve etkilediğini önemli ölçüde ortaya koyar. Araştırmanın sonuçları, sadece Fars Edebiyatı üzerine akademik tartışmaları güçlendirmekle kalmaz, aynı zamanda İran’ın geniş kültürel dokusunu analiz etmek için ince bir bakış açısı sunar.

References

  • AFSHAR, H. (1985). Women, State and Ideology in Iran. Third World Quarterly, 7, 256-278.
  • AMIR-EBRAHIMI, M. (2008). Transgression in Narration: The Lives of Iranian Women in Cyberspace. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 4, 115-89.
  • ARBATANI, T. R., AQILI, S. V., LABAFI, S., & OMIDI, A. (2016). Social Representations of Iranian Transsexual People in the Media: A Thematic Analysis. The International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 6, 273-284.
  • ATTAR. (1984). The Conference of the Birds (A. Darbandi, Trans.). Penguin Classics.
  • ATTAR. (2017). Divan (M. Madayeni & M. Afshari, Eds.). Charkh Publications.
  • BEIGI, L. S. (2020). Simin Daneshvar and Shahrnush Parsipur in Translation: The Risk of Erasure of Domestic Violence in Iranian Women’s Fiction. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 16, 124-143.
  • BYNE, W. (2006). Developmental endocrine influences on gender identity: implications for management of disorders of sex development. The Mount Sinai journal of medicine, New York, 73 7, 950-9 .
  • CHITTICK, W. C. (2003). The Pluralistic Vision of Persian Sufi Poetry. Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 14, 423-428.
  • COSTELLO, C. G. (2020). Beyond binary sex and gender ideology. In The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Body and Embodiment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • DABASHI, H. (1985). The Poetics of Politics: Commitment in Modern Persian Literature. Iranian Studies, 18, 147-188.
  • DANESHVAR, S. (2017). Savushun (M. R. Ghanoonparvar, Trans.). Mage Publishers Incorporated.
  • DAWLATABADI, M. (2011). Colonel. Haus Pub.
  • EHRHARDT, A., & MEYER-BAHLBURG, H.F. (1981). Effects of prenatal sex hormones on gender-related behavior. Science, 211 4488, 1312-8.
  • FARAHMANDFAR, M., & ABDOLLAHI, M. (2022). Interrelation of History and Nationhood in Contemporary Persian Historical Fiction. Philological Sciences. Scientific Essays of Higher Education, 82(55)-94, 123-127.
  • FARROKHZAD, F. (2022). Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season (T. Elizabeth Jr. Gray, Trans.). New Directions Publishing.
  • FOMESHI, B. M. (2021). ‘The Female Rumi’ and Feminine Mysticism: ‘God’s Weaver’ by Parvin Iʿtisami. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 50, 340-350.
  • GALIN, M. (2007). The Book and the Roses: Sufi Women, Visibility, and Zikir in Contemporary Istanbul (review). Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 3, 112-115.
  • HAFEZ. (2005). The Poems of Hafez (R. Ordubadian, Trans.). IBEX Publishers.
  • HAFEZ. (2018). Divan (M. Ghazvini, Ed.). Ganjine Publications.
  • HARRIS, A., & BARTLOW, S. (2015). Intersectionality: Race, gender, sexuality, and class. Handbook of the sociology of sexualities, 261-271.
  • HEIDARI, N., ABDULLAHZADEH, M., & Naji, S. (2020). Lived Religious and Spiritual Experiences of Transgender People: A Qualitative Research in Iran. Sexuality & Culture, 25, 417-429.
  • KARAMI, R. (2020). Gender Bias in Persian Literature Textbooks. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 21, 374-386.
  • KARAMUSTAFA, A. T. (2007). Sufism: The Formative Period (1st ed.). Edinburgh University Press.
  • KHADIVI, L. (2014). The Walking. Bloomsbury USA.
  • KHAYYAM, O. (2020). Divan (B. Khorramshahi, Ed.). Nahid Publications.
  • KHESHTI, R. (2012). Can the Memoirist Speak? Representing Iranian Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Recent Popular and Scholarly Publications. Feminist Studies, 38, 50-72.
  • KHOSRAVI, S. (2009). Displaced Masculinity: Gender and Ethnicity among Iranian Men in Sweden. Iranian Studies, 42, 591-609.
  • KOIRALA, S., & ESHGHAVI, M. (2017). Intersectionality in the Iranian Refugee Community in the United States. Peace Review, 29, 85-89.
  • MAZZUCA, C., BORGHI, A. M., van PUTTEN, S., LUGLI, L., NICOLETTI, R., & MAJID, A. (2023). Gender is conceptualized in different ways across cultures. Language and Cognition, 1–27.
  • McDERMOTT, R., & HATEMI, P.K. (2011). Distinguishing Sex and Gender. PS: Political Science & Politics, 44, 89 - 92.
  • NAFISI, A. (2003). Reading Lolita in Tehran. Random House USA Inc.
  • NAGHIBI, N., & O’MALLEY, A. (2005). Estranging the Familiar: “East” and “West” in Satrapi’s Persepolis. ESC: English Studies in Canada, 31, 223-247.
  • NAJMABADI, A. (2001). Gendered Transformations: Beauty, Love, and Sexuality in Qajar Iran. Iranian Studies, 34, 102-89.
  • NAJMABADI, A. (2013). Professing Selves: Transsexuality and Same-Sex Desire in Contemporary Iran. Duke University Press.
  • NIZAMI GANJAVI. (2012). Khamsa (B. Zanjani, Ed.). University of Tehran Publications.
  • PARSIPUR, S. (2006). Touba and the Meaning of Night (K. Talattof & H. Houshmand, Trans.). Feminist Press.
  • PARSIPUR, S. (2011). Women without Men (Sh. Neshat Preface). Feminist Press.
  • POLDERMAN, T. J., KREUKELS, B. P., IRWIG, M. S., BEACH, L., CHAN, Y. M., DERKS, E. M., ... & International Gender Diversity Genomics Consortium. (2018). The biological contributions to gender identity and gender diversity: bringing data to the table. Behavior genetics, 48, 95-108.
  • RAFATJAH, M. (2012). Changing Gender Stereotypes in Iran. International Journal of Women’s Research, 1(1), 55-68.
  • RASTEGAR, M. (2006). Reading Nafisi in the West: Authenticity, Orientalism, and “Liberating” Iranian Women. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 34(1/2), 108–128.
  • RUMI. (2004). The Masnavi of Rumi (G. Korramshahi, Ed.). Doustan Publication.
  • RUMI. (2020). The Masnavi of Rumi (A. Williams, Trans.). I.B. Tauris Press.
  • SADI, M. (2012). The Gulistan of Sa'di (G. Yousefi, Ed.). Kharazmi Publishing Company.
  • SAEIDIAN, S., & HOSSEINI, S. R. (2012). A Sociological Study of Iranian Women’s Role in Fictional Literature in the Recent Two Decades. International Journal of Woman Research, 2(2), 59-72.
  • SANAI, A. (2010). Divan (B. Furuzanfar, Ed.). Negah Publications.
  • SATRAPI, M. (2004). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Pantheon Publisher.
  • SHAKIBA, S., GHADERZADEH, O., & MOGHADAM, V. M. (2021). Women in Iranian Kurdistan: Patriarchy and the Quest for Empowerment. Gender & Society, 35, 616-642.
  • SHAMS TABRIZI. (1996). Makalat-i Şems-i Tabrizi (M. Movahhed, Ed.).
  • VALI-ZADEH, M. (2022). Agency of the Self and the Uncertain Nature of the Beloved in Persian Love Mysticism: Earthly, Ethereal, Masculine, or Feminine? Teosofi: Jurnal Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam, 12(1), 22–42.
There are 49 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Sociology (Other), Sufism
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Pune Karımı 0000-0002-4928-2155

Early Pub Date April 29, 2024
Publication Date April 30, 2024
Submission Date December 11, 2023
Acceptance Date April 26, 2024
Published in Issue Year 2024 Issue: 51

Cite

APA Karımı, P. (2024). A Comparative Exploration of Gender Representations in Persian Sufi Literature and Modern Literary Works. Bilimname(51), 351-376. https://doi.org/10.28949/bilimname.1403175