Recording

Abstracts

Challenging Benevolence: Iranian Women's Revolutionary Movement for Rights in Iran and Beyond

Heated debates about the nature of the Iranian women's rights movement consider it variably as “protests,” “revolutionary movement” and “revolution.” In this talk, I explore what makes this movement revolutionary in Iran at this juncture. I further consider the significance of Iranian women's demands for rights in a broader, international context that serves as a challenge to widespread and multi-scalar efforts that favor benevolence and charity over rights. 

Non-Movement Movement & Imperialist Transnational Feminism among Iranians

The September 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, sparked an uprising in Iran that has continued for months throughout the country. In this talk, I draw attention to the unpredictable practical ramifications of what Asef Bayat (2013) calls the “quiet encroachment of the ordinary.” I argue that we cannot understand the logistics of these movements without considering the effects of the encroachment of the Iranian diaspora in redefining its objectives and goals. I suggest that the expansion of imperialist transnational feminism has significantly undermined the capacity of the uprising to transform into a revolution.

Bios

Arzoo Osanloo is a professor in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice and the Director of the University of Washington’s Middle East Center.

Shirin Saeidi is an assistant professor of political science and an affiliated faculty member of the Middle East Studies Program. She earned a B.A. in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park and her Ph.D. in politics and international studies from Cambridge University, UK.