Resistance From Within

Power and Defiance in Montesquieu's Persian Letters

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3352624
AutoresJennifer Epley Sanders (0000-0002-7391-2057, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, autor correspondente)
Ano2020
Volume10
Fascículo3
Data de publicação2020-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSAGE Open (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2158-2440 • E-ISSN: 2158-2440
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/2158244020951555
OpenAlexW3080404657
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas22

Montesquieu reflects on the intricacies of government, social customs, and identity in his epistolary novel titled Persian Letters (1721). For many of these topics, Montesquieu addresses the themes of power and agency, mainly in the context of despotism as symbolized by a seraglio in the book. This article uses the explanatory research method through a case analysis of "power" in the Persian Letters to facilitate a nuanced, gendered understanding of "power" as a concept. The case analysis incorporates and applies feminist perspectives on power, as well as a theoretical framework and empirical observations from Scott's Weapons of the Weak (1985), to define and operationalize "despotic power" and "defiant power

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Linguistics · Operationalization · Persian · Social science · Sociology · European Political History Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence