Creating the Islamic Republic of Iran

Wives and Daughters of Martyrs, and Acts of Citizenship

Bibliographic Data

ID4853405
AuthorsShirin Saeidi (0000-0002-2051-1671, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume14
Issue2
Pages113-126
Publication date2010-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCitizenship Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-1025 • E-ISSN: 1469-3593
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13621021003594734
OpenAlexW2154431263
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited17

This paper develops a notion of citizenship which accounts for interruptions of, and compliances with, routines in governance. It applies the concept beyond a legal status and electoral practice to decipher how everyday encounters with the state can lead to creative institutional reconfigurations. Focusing on the wives and daughters of martyrs from the Iran–Iraq war (1980–1988), this paper poses ideologically committed contestation and collaborations with national structures of power as acts of citizenship. With particular attention to temporality and constructive uses of memory, this discussion introduces a governing technique created and utilized by women to remake the state as they assert a self-determined citizenry status. Keywords: acts of citizenshipgenderMiddle Eastmemory Acknowledgements I alone am responsible for all of the facts, interpretations, suggestions, and conclusions presented in this article. This research would not have been possible without the moral support and friendship of Seyedeh Azam Hosseini, Vahid Jalili, Alireza Kamari, Morteza Sarhangi and Hamid Vahid. I am also grateful to George Joffe, Mohammad Aref Mohseni, Fatemeh Ozlati Moghaddam, Maryam Ozlatimoghaddam, and Bhaskar Vira. My deepest gratitude goes to the women that participated in this study, Abbas Edalat, and Glen Rangwala – it is to them that I dedicate this article. Notes 1. In discussing acts of citizenship, 'Other' does not reference persons. Rather, it is the 'correlations' an actor is creating, and through which, is created. It is the 'scene' being made in its entirety and at once. 2. I would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers who posed the questions that clarified this idea. 3. A term that initially referred to national's killed during the 1979 popular uprising, and included leftist political activists. Following the Iraqi invasion, however, it has mostly signified fallen soldiers and civilians of the war. Immediate relatives of martyrs, including wives, children, and parents, qualify for state compensation. State policies are carried out by several organs, but in particular, the Martyrs' Foundation. The package provided includes educational and employment preferences, as well as healthcare, housing, counselling and recreational programs. Allowances are mostly determined by a martyrs' wartime status. For instance, families often argue that relatives of the Revolutionary Guards receive better support than those related to volunteers. Importantly, the span of time it took women to disclose their status to the state oftentimes correlates with the level of state support. For example, I interviewed women who did not have the confidence to pursue the administrative work required following their husband's martyrdom, and subsequently, were not given sufficient housing options. 4. For illustrations in other parts of the world see e.g., Peteet (Citation1997), Grayzel (Citation1999, pp. 226–242), Jean-Klein (Citation1997), Zerubavel (Citation2003). 5. For more on women's delineation of economic independence in the Middle East see, e.g., Doumato and Posusney (Citation2003), Zahedi (Citation2006). 6. The national Iranian chador. 7. On the one-dimensional presentation of the 'war generation', see Farhi (Citation2004). 8. A city in Southern Iran occupied by Iraqi forces in 1980–1982. 9. The daughter of the Prophet Mohammad, wife of Imam Ali, and mother of Imam Hussein. The lineage of all 12 Shi'i Imams traces back to the Prophet through Fatemeh al-Zahra. 10. On efficient presence within the political system as entailing inclusiveness, but also effectively expanding the parameters of governance, see Phillips (Citation1995, Citation1998). 11. An interviewee used this phrase in Tehran in May 2008. 12. Jean-Klein (Citation1997, p. 85) makes this argument in reference to the experiences of Palestinian women. 13. Hasso (Citation2005, p. xxii) states, 'women, like men, are often motivated by nationalist and other desires, although their imaginings of community include themselves'. 14. See e.g., Delaney (Citation1988, p. 86)

Citizenship · Constructive · Epistemology · Gratitude · Ideology · Islam · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Theology · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Turkey's Politics and Society