Hair and Hat Ritual Shaming Punishments in Nineteenth-Century Iran

Bibliographic Data

ID9979264
AuthorsFarzin Vejdani (0000-0001-5514-1546, Toronto Metropolitan University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Pages1-23
Publication date2023-06-28
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIranian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-0862 • E-ISSN: 1475-4819
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/irn.2023.40
OpenAlexW4382399932
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

This article considers three temporary and reversible penal shaming acts in nineteenth-century Iran: the shaving or cutting of hair, irrespective of gender; the shaving or cutting of men's facial hair; and the forcible removal of headgear or the coerced wearing of silly headgear. Drawing on anthropological, historical, and sociological studies of hair, this study argues that hair and hat punishments embodied elements of ritual, sexuality, social control, and marginalization. In order to understand the meaning of these penal acts, the article looks at general taboos around hair and head exposure alongside licit and voluntary forms of cutting or shaving hair. Illicit sex, heresy, and alcohol consumption were recurring moral crimes most often associated with such forms of humiliating punishment. Since restoration of honor was not the sole prerogative of the government, these punishments were often carried out by those acting on behalf of a religious authority or individually and collectively by ordinary subjects outraged by a moral violation

Criminology · Embodied cognition · Heresy · Honor · Human sexuality · Meaning (existential · Political science · Politics · Prerogative · Punishment (psychology · Sociology · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Turkey's Politics and Society

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