Publications

Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh, Iranian Women and Gender in the Iran–Iraq War (New York: Syracuse University Press, 2021), 457 pp.

Outsiders have heard little about women's participation in the horrific Iraq-Iran War of 1980 to 1988. We thank Professor Farzaneh for his in-depth study and the Iranian women who defended their country. Some published memoirs and/or talked with Mateo about how Iranian women served and suffered during and after the war.

Mateo's two aims are to present as completely as possible a picture of women's involvement and to assess the effect of women's participation for their post-war situations. Women's contributions have been overlooked in official presentations and in post-war benefits.

Chapter 1, ‘Neighborly Scorn’, provides historical background to Saddam Hossein's 22 September 1980 ground and fighter jet attack on Iran. Twelve airports were bombed, including Tehran's Mehrabad International. Most of the Iran–Iraq border became one huge war zone.

Chapter 2, ‘Iranian Women, 1925–1980’, provides examples of women's efforts, emphasising that originally it was the women of Khorramshahr and Abadan, under siege, who showed their patriotism, later joined by women's efforts throughout Iran. Most of the chapter is devoted to a review of Persian/Iranian women's earlier struggles to emerge into sociopolitical affairs.

Chapter 3, ‘Women of Khorramshahr and Abadan’, explains how women and men fought off the ‘air, land, and water invasion’ from 22 September until 26 October 1980 when the Iraqis captured Khorramshahr. Women worked as reporters, nurses, first responders, tended to bodies of those killed by the bombings, cooked, encouraged, guarded the mosque, made Molotov cocktails, guarded guns and ammunition, and apprehended Fifth Column members. Women were killed and injured. When the city fell, some were raped and/or captured by Iraqis. Women gain more realisation of their own capacities. They often used Shi'ite perspectives to view their situations. We learn the personal stories of some. Fatimah Joushi held leadership positions, visited families to inform them of a death and offer condolences, took photos of martyrs, and washed and prepared (female) bodies for burial. She prepared packages for soldiers and trained women and then men as well, including how to make and use explosives.

Chapter 4, ‘Women of the State’, explains that since men could not have contact with non-related women, women took on many tasks, including working as intelligence operatives and developing propaganda photography and journalism. Women suffered chemical injuries, worked long hours, postponed education and marriage, suffered miscarriages from chemical injuries, and faced hunger, lack of washing and hygiene facilities, and exposure to horrific scenes of decayed bodies, insects, body parts. Mateo provides case studies about various women—including one who was a reconnaissance pilot and flying instructor.

Chapter 5, ‘Home Front Sacrifices’, focuses on women who worked for the war effort in areas other than along the Iran–Iraq border subject to brutal Iraqi attacks. Iranian women volunteered their mobilisation, in addition to agony over family members killed or maimed physically or from PTSD. Women cooked, baked bread, raised chickens, prepared jams and pickled vegetables, prepared donation packets for the front, knit, sewed, repaired clothing and other items, offered homes for women's war work, and wrote letters to soldiers to help them maintain spirits and resolve. Members who lost two or more family members were mainly from lower socioeconomic sectors and steadfast believers in the revolution and followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. Stories of women's histories, work, and endurance of pain and privation brings these pages to life.

In chapter 6, ‘Participation in Unlikely Places’, the author concentrates on women from small towns and rural backgrounds. Kurdish women along the Iran–Iraq border suffered war violence in ways similar to ethnic Arab women along the borders of Khuzestan and Iraq. (And Kurdish women also suffered earlier from the Iranian government forces’ war against the Kurds after the 1979 Revolution.) Along many of these borders, rural Iranians fought back against the Iraqi incursion with whatever implements they could find.

Farangees Haydarpour was to be given in marriage at age ten (not unusual then) to an Iraqi man before another cousin stopped it. She was married at fourteen and suffered four miscarriages, not unusual for such young brides, but continued to work with her husband in the field and blacksmithing. When the Iraqis attacked, at age eighteen she protected her home, killed an Iraqi invader, and helped take three others captive. Both her own and her husband's village were totally destroyed. Women worked at the Ahvaz Laundry Facility, washing and mending bloody sheets and uniforms for reuse, after going through them to remove any body parts.

Chapter 7, ‘Female Prisoners of War’, deals with highly sensitive material in the Iranian cultural context. Suspicion of sexual activity with a man other than her husband brought shame to a woman, her husband, her family—and her nation. The Iraqi army captured Iranian women who were then beaten, starved, interrogated, isolated, tortured, forced to work, held in filthy conditions, and most likely sexually abused and raped, although they did not talk about sexual violence in specific terms due to the associated shame. The example of Zaynab and other aspects of Shi'ite ideology helped the prisoners to maintain hope. Stories from the prisoners themselves, often taken from their memoirs, make their experiences vivid for readers.

Chapter 8, ‘Women without Men’, focuses on women who waited at home while their menfolk—or women family members—were at war. They had to handle their emotions and care for households in the absence—and martyrdom—of family members. Women birthed and raised children on their own and managed the work usually considered to be male tasks, sometimes including trying to earn money to support the family, while suffering fear, anxiety, grief, and devastation. The author provides detailed histories of some of these women, heart-breaking to peruse, but evocative in sharing experiences of war with readers.

In chapter 9, ‘The War Continues Forty Years Later’, Mateo documents the ongoing fighting of two groups of Iranian women, one group trying to cope with their own or their loved ones’ war injuries and the other group trying to cope with missing loved ones. I would add another group: women suffering the emotional wounds of loss and devastation to their families from the deaths of loved ones. We are told how people's assumptions of a return to normalcy after war did not come to pass; the state did not adequately care for female veterans, and women caretakers suffered as they attempted to care for the almost half of male veterans who suffered injuries, including severe PTSD. According to estimates, some 100,000 victims of chemical warfare could not care for themselves. More than 11,000 Iranians are still missing. By including stories of specific women, Mateo personalises these situations.

Chapter 10, ‘Iranian Women and Gender since the War Ended’, brings up challenges Iranian women have continued to face, many of them ignored by the administration. Others generally assume those who participated in the war are supporters of the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) regime, causing a negative attitude towards them and a feeling they are unfairly rewarded and taking away benefits from others. Women who have sacrificed feel left on their own and sense that the government cares about them only for propaganda purposes. This chapter brings out the debates among various groups about the level of progress made for women's rights and their participation in politics and leadership roles. Some women who suffered injuries or capture by the Iraqis charge that they have not been fairly compensated. Activists complain that the sacrifices and service of women in the war has failed to result in progress for women's rights, and full societal participation has been slow.

This book is a gripping but sad and tragic read. One alternates between feeling awe for what women have done, fury about the United States’ support for Saddam Hussein, horror about Saddam's chemical warfare against his own Kurds and against Iranians, anger against the IRI regime's continuation of the war for another horrific six years after Iraq was willing to end it, grief over the deaths, disabilities, hardships, and destruction in both Iran and Iraq, and depression about war in general—all the more so for what it does to women and children.

Mateo was able to gain access to women usually neglected in ethnographic work on politics and war—the less privileged, lower-class, and more pro-regime women active in the Iran–Iraq war. One is led to the conclusion that the Iranian war against the Iraqi invasion was left mainly to the lower-class, less advantaged Iranians. These women courageously volunteered their services under excruciatingly difficult circumstances, without expectations of material rewards, but because of their patriotism and often strengthened by their Shi'ite religion. One woman expressed her “general dislike of war,” and Mateo suspects others might have felt that way as well, but felt constrained to demonstrate political unity in their memoirs (296). Professor Farzaneh's book should motivate others to pay attention to women's service and suffering in war and prompt persons in positions of power to provide women survivors with more support.

Mary Elaine Hegland, Santa Clara University

Conferences

International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences Commission on the Middle East Conference ‘The Middle East from the Margin’, 7–9 September 2022, Istanbul, Türkiye.

After two years of not holding stationary conventions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 annual conference of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences Commission on the Middle East was held in Istanbul, Türkiye, from 7 to 9 September.¹ The conference, under the broad title ‘The Middle East from the Margin’ was conducted in a hybrid form in cooperation with the Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes (IFEA) and the Orient-Institut in Istanbul in the central yet historic neighbourhood of the district Pera (Beyoğlu). Three-day stationary sessions (with several participants connecting via the Internet) were held in the building of the Consulate of the Republic of France and were led by the Chair of the Commission Dr Soheila Shahshahani (Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran). The technical side of the event was taken care of by Dr Katja Rieck (Orient-Institute, Istanbul) and its organisation was supported by the Executive Secretary of the Commission Dr Farniyaz Zaker (Oxford University). Two of the Commission's Regional Representatives attended in person: Dr Soraya Tremayne (Oxford University) and Dr Mary Hegland (Santa Clara University). A detailed conference programme with abstracts and participant profiles was distributed on site and was also available electronically prior to the start of the proceedings.

After a warm welcome to participants by the acting director of Orient-Institut Istanbul Dr Richard Wittmann, director of the French Institute Dr Philipp Bourmaud, and Chair of the Commission Dr Soheila Shahshahani, the conference was followed by three days of intense and inspiring proceedings. This long-awaited event brought together more than 50 scholars from different academic centres who presented their original research in 11 thematic panels devoted to education, ethnohistory, visual anthropology, political participation of women, religion in popular culture, the concept of romantic love, Middle Eastern youth, modernity, sports, non-governmental formations, and subjectivity and desire. The papers were delivered by experienced and renowned researchers and distinguished Commission members, as well as scholars at the beginning of their academic careers, newcomers to the convention, which allowed the merging of groups from not only different academic centres, but also different generations. This should be considered an important and worth-mentioning feature of the event. The last day included a panel traditionally moderated by Dr Soheila Shahshahani under the title ‘Research in Progress’ during which several researchers shared information about their ongoing academic investigations and contributed to the debate on new emerging research topics and their prospects.

Thematic and methodological diversity along with the shared research area of the Middle East with its social, political, and cultural variety created an inspiring atmosphere conducive to the exchange of thoughts, ideas, and insights. The discussions following the subsequent panels not only provided a platform for the exchange of comments and remarks but also encouraged the formulation of new research perspectives. Attention was drawn, for example, to the small number of studies analysing the so-called conservative mainstream versus studies focusing on oppositional and disruptive phenomena. Similarly, the issue of politicisation (or lack of politicisation) of many activities carried out by citizens of the MENA region generated much controversy. The theme of nostalgia and gift-giving also appeared to initiate unusually broad comments. These are just sample topics taken up during the conference debates, as the proceedings were accompanied by heated discussions, which often moved to the backstage, allowing researchers to appreciate this form of contact after a long break from face-to-face meetings.

The proceedings of the second day of the conference (September 8) ended with the Commission's Business Meeting during which the prospects for future activities of the organisation were addressed, including the participation of its members in the 19th IUAES-WAU World Anthropology Congress ‘Marginalities, Uncertainties, and World Anthropologies: Enlivening Past and Envisioning Future’ to be held in New Delhi, India, 14–20 October 2023. The meeting was also an excellent opportunity to further in-depth talks on the proposals for thematic panels for the Commission's next conference, which has been scheduled as an on-site event on 5–7 September 2023 in Istanbul, Türkiye. Suggested topics included: local interpretations of global innovations; gender role reversals in the Middle East; impact of media, including social media on everyday life in the Middle East; nostalgia; re-migration from different kinds of disaster situations to return to original locations and re-adaptation involved in settling back home; women and violence; gift-giving; visual anthropology; conditions of exercise of social sciences in the Middle East; ethnohistory of the Middle East; religious charisma in the Middle East and its diasporas: authority, succession, and devotion; religion and business; urban anthropology of the Middle East; camels, horses, and cars: means of transportation or status symbols.

The scholarly part of the conference was accompanied by a rich cultural programme and on-side discussions, which were held at the French Institute and streamed online, arranged, and hosted by Mina Rad, Iranian-French documentary filmmaker and producer. Throughout the two evenings, conference participants had the opportunity to watch Mina Rad's first short film (26’) For Me the Sun Never Sets shot in 2012, a touching story about a blind Braille typewriter repairman living in exile, and Mrs and Mr Mafi (52’), a more recent production dedicated to the founders of Mehran school in Tehran. However, the greatest stir was caused by the screening of Rad's latest unfinished production, excerpts from her interview with Soraya Tremayne, an outstanding anthropologist with significant achievements in the field, entitled Conversation with Soraya Tremayne Sheibani: The Mother of Iranian Anthropology. These cultural events were rounded off with dinners held together during which those conference participants who chose to attend in person had the opportunity to get to know each other better. The rest of the joint activities also let them experience Istanbul and its customs, such as enjoying a traditional Turkish breakfast.

The papers presented during the IUAES Commission on the Middle East Conference ‘The Middle East from the Margin’ and the discussions that followed contributed not so much to the strengthening of anthropological research on the region of the Middle East, which, as the conference proved, stands at a high level, but was an opportunity to become acquainted with the research of other scholars and to re-establish contacts disturbed by the suspension of more than two years caused by the pandemic of COVID-19.

Magdalena Rodziewicz, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw