No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Women’s Writing in Action: On Female-authored Hajj Narratives in Qajar Iran
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
Abstract
This paper examines the textual and performative functions of early women’s writings on the example of three accounts of the pilgrimage to Mecca written during the Qajar era by Mehrmāh Khānom ʿEsmat al-Saltaneh (1880–81), the anonymous Hājiyeh Khānom ʿAlaviyeh Kermāni (1892–94), and Sakineh Soltān Vaqār al-Dowleh Esfahāni Kuchak (1899–1901). It ponders on the relationships between the female writers and textuality, their readers and, finally, the diary personas they created. It claims that their writings emerged in the process of negotiating the then existing, masculine models of textuality and authorial authority. By rejecting the monologic authoritativeness of literature and textuality, the women diarists transformed their texts into a space for dialogue—including dialogue with themselves.
Keywords
- Type
- Narration and Translation
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2021
References
Afshar, Iraj. “Persian Travelogues: A Description and Bibliography.” In Society and Culture in Qajar Iran: Studies in Honor of Hafez Farmayan, ed. Daniel, Elton L, 145–162. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 2002.Google Scholar
Agai, Bekim, Aky, Olcay, and Hillebrand, Caspar, eds. Venturing beyond Borders—Reflections on Genre, Function and Boundaries in Middle Eastern Travel Writing. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[ʿAlī ibn Abū Ṭālib]. Peak of Eloquence: Nahjul-Balagha, by Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib, with Commentary by Martyr Ayatollah Murtada Mutahhari. Trans. ed. Al-Jibouri, Yasin T. Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, 2009.Google Scholar
ʿĀmeli Rezāyi, Maryam. Safar-e dāneh beh gol: Seyr-e tahavvol-e jāygāh-e zan dar nashr-e doureh-ye Qājār: 1210–1340q [A seed’s travel to a flower: the development of women’s prose in the Qajar period: 1210–1340AH]. Tehrān: Nashr-e Tārikh-e Irān, 1389 [2010/11].Google Scholar
Anvari, Hassan. “Farsakh.” In Farhang-e feshordeh-ye Sokhan. Tehrān: Sokhan, 1390 [2011/12].Google Scholar
Anvari, Hassan. “Farsang.” In Farhang-e feshordeh-ye Sokhan. Tehrān: Sokhan, 1390 [2011/12].Google Scholar
Anvari, Hassan. “Khāksār.” In Farhang-e feshordeh-ye Sokhan. Tehrān: Sokhan, 1390 [2011/12].Google Scholar
Astarābādi, Bibi Khānom. Maʿāyeb al-rejāl: Dar pāsokh beh Taʾdib al-nesvān [The vices of men: in response to the education of women]. Chicago, IL: Midland Press, 1371 [1992].Google Scholar
Babayan, Kathryn. “‘In Spirit We Ate Each Other’s Sorrow’: Female Companionship in Seventeenth-Century Safavi Iran.” In Islamicate Sexualities: Translations across Temporal Geographies of Desire, ed. Babayan, Kathryn, and Najmabadi, Afsaneh, 239–274. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Babayan, Kathryn. “The Topography of Travel in Early Modern Persianate Landscapes.” Harvard Library Bulletin 23 (2012): 25–34.Google Scholar
Bachtin, Piotr. “Female Pilgrims to Mecca: The Sacred and the Profane in Women-authored Hajj accounts.” PhD diss., University of Warsaw, 2019.Google Scholar
Bachtin, Piotr. “The Royal Harem of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–96): The Literary Portrayal of Women’s Lives by Taj al-Saltana and Anonymous ‘Lady from Kerman.’” Middle Eastern Studies 51 (2015): 986–1009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bovenschen, Silvia. “Is There a Feminine Aesthetic?” New German Critique 10 (1977): 111–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brookshaw, Dominic Parviz. “Qajar Confection: The Production and Dissemination of Women’s Poetry in Early Nineteenth-century Iran.” Middle Eastern Literatures 17, no. 2 (2014): 113–146. doi: 10.1080/1475262X.2014.928040CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brookshaw, Dominic Parviz. “Women in Praise of Women: Female Poets and Female Patrons in Qajar Iran.” Iranian Studies 46, no. 1 (2013): 17–48. doi: 10.1080/00210862.2012.740902CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrell, R.M. “Muẓaffar al-Dīn Shāh Kadjār.” In The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New ed. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993.Google Scholar
Calmard, J. “ʿAyn-al-Dawla, ʿAbd-al-Majīd.” In Encyclopaedia Iranica, III/2, 137–140. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayn-al-dawla-soltan-abd-al-majid-mirza/Google Scholar
Chehabi, H.E. “Iran and Iraq. Intersocietal Linkages and Secular Nationalisms.” In Iran Facing Others: Identity Boundaries in a Historical Perspective, ed. Amanat, Abbas, and Vejdani, Farzin, 191–216. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.Google Scholar
Chiffoleau, Sylvia. Le Voyage à La Mecque: un pèlerinage mondial en terre d’Islam [The journey to Mecca: a global pilgrimage in the land of Islam]. Paris: Éditions Belin, 2015.Google Scholar
Dabashi, Hamid. Iran without Borders: Towards a Critique of the Postcolonial Nation. London: Verso, 2016.Google Scholar
Daftary, Farhad. The Ismā‘īlīs: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Daniel, Elton L. “The Hajj and Qajar Travel Literature.” In Society and Culture in Qajar Iran: Studies in Honor of Hafez Farmayan, ed. Daniel, Elton L., 215–237. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2002.Google Scholar
Diyānati, Gholām-ʿAli. “Hājiyeh Mehrmāh Khānom ʿEsmat al-Saltaneh dokhtar-e Farhād Mirzā.” Miqāt-e Hajj 66 (1387 [2008]): 136–140.Google Scholar
Dusend, Sarah. “Pilgern nach Mekka—zur Reisewirklichkeit einer qajarischen Prinzessin und den Funktionen ihres Pilgerberichtes Rūznāme-ye safar-e ʿatabāt va-Mekkeh.” In Venturing beyond Borders—Reflections on Genre, Function and Boundaries in Middle Eastern Travel Writing, edited by Agai, Bekim, and Hillebrand, Caspar, 75–118. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2013.Google Scholar
Eickelman, Dale F., and Piscatori, James, eds. Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration, and the Religious Imagination. London: Routledge, 1990.Google Scholar
El-Ariss, Tarek. Trials of Arab Modernity: Literary Affects and the New Political. New York: Fordham University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
[ʿEsmat al-Saltaneh, Mehrmāh Khānom]. “Safarnāmeh-ye Makkeh-ye dokhtar-e Farhād Mirzā.” Miqāt-e Hajj 17 (1375 [1996]): 57–117.Google Scholar
Farâhâni, Mohammad Ḥosayn. A Shiʿite Pilgrimage to Mecca: 1885–1886. The Safarnâmeh of Mirzâ Mohammad Ḥosayn Farâhâni. London: Saqi Books, 1990.Google Scholar
Fathʿalizādeh, Shaqāyeq, and Āqābālāzādeh, Roqayyeh, eds. Taʾdib al-Rejāl (pāsokh beh Taʾdib al-Nesvān-e zansetiz). Tehrān: Nedā-ye Tārikh, 1395 [2017/18].Google Scholar
Hājiyeh Khānom ʿAlaviyeh Kermāni. Ruznāmeh-ye safar-e hajj, ʿAtabāt-e ʿĀliyāt, va darbār-e Nāseri: 1309–1312 q/1271–1273 sh [The diary of travel to Mecca and ʿAtabāt-e ʿĀliyāt, and from the Naseri court: 1309–1312AH/1271–1273AP]. Qom: Nashr-e Movarrekh, 1386 [2007/08].Google Scholar
Hassanābādi, Akram, ed. “Gozāresh-e safar-e hajj-e bānu-ye hendi Shāh Jahān Beygom [sic!] dar sāl-e 1280 qamarī.” Payām-e Bahārestān 3 (1388 [2009]): 641–654.Google Scholar
Henderson, Mae Gwendolyn. “Speaking in Tongues: Dialogics, Dialectics, and the Black Woman Writer’s Literary Tradition.” In Feminists Theorize the Political, ed. Butler, Judith, and Scott, Joan W., 144–166. New York: Routledge, 1992.Google Scholar
Hosām al-Saltaneh, Morād Mirza. Safarnāmeh-ye Makkeh [The diary of pilgrimage to Mecca], ed. Jaʿfariyān, Rasul. Tehrān: Mashʿar, 1374 [1995/96].Google Scholar
Jaʿfariyān, Rasul, ed. Chahārdah safarnāmeh-ye hajj-e qājāri-ye digar [Another fourteen Hajj accounts from the Qajar period]. Tehrān: Nashr-e ʿElm, 1392 [2013/14].Google Scholar
Jaʿfariyān, Rasul. “Hajjgozāri-ye Irāniyān dar dowreh-ye Qājār 1.” Miqāt-e Hajj 32 (1379 [2000]): 53–84.Google Scholar
Jaʿfariyān, Rasul, ed. Panjāh safarnāmeh-ye hajj-e qājāri [Fifty Hajj accounts from the Qajar period]. Tehrān: Nashr-e ʿElm, 1389 [2010/11].Google Scholar
Jaʿfariyān, Rasul, ed. Safarnāmeh-ye manzum-e hajj [The versified Hajj account]. Qom: Mashʿar, 1374 [1995/96].Google Scholar
Sichāni, Kafshgar, Hamdam, Hājiyeh, ed. Safar-e sabz: Khāterāt-e manzum-e yek hajj [The green journey: the versified memoirs from the Hajj]. Esfahān: Enteshārāt-e Puyān-Mehr, 1386 [2007/08].Google Scholar
Lambert-Hurley, Siobhan. Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum of Bhopal. London: Routledge, 2006.Google Scholar
Lambert-Hurley, Siobhan. “A Princess’s Pilgrimage: Nawab Sikandar Begam’s Account of Hajj.” In Travel Writing in the Nineteenth Century: Filling the Blank Spaces, ed. Youngs, Tim, 107–127. London: Anthem Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Mahallati, Amineh. “Women as Pilgrims: Memoirs of Iranian Women Travelers to Mecca.” Iranian Studies 44 (2011): 831–849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, Mary G. “The Other Voice: Autobiographies of Women Writers.” In Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical, ed. Olney, J., 207–235. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milani, Farzaneh. “The Memoir of Taj-O Saltaneh by Taj-O Saltaneh.” Iranian Studies 19 (1986): 189–192.Google Scholar
Milani, Farzaneh. Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Moʿtamed al-Dowleh, Farhād Mirzā. Safarnāmeh-ye Farhād Mirzā [The travel diary of Farhād Mirzā]. Tehrān: Moʾasseseh-ye Matbuʿāti-ye ʿElmi, 1366 [1987/88].Google Scholar
Nāser al-Din Shāh. Safarnāmeh-ye Nāser al-Din Shāh: Karbalā va Najaf [The travel diary of Nāser al-Din Shāh: Karbala and Najaf]. N.p.: Enteshārāt-e Ketābkhāneh-ye Sanāyi, 1362 [1983/84].Google Scholar
Nāser-e Khosrow. Safarnāmeh [Book of travels]. Tehrān: Ketābforushi-ye Zavvār, 1341 [1962/63].Google Scholar
Nāzemi, Nāzilā, ed. Seh ruz beh ākhar-e daryā: safarnāmeh-ye shāhzādeh khānom-e qājāri [Three days left until the end of the sea: the travel diary of a Qajar princess]. Tehrān: Atrāf, 1398 [2019].Google Scholar
Newman, Daniel. “Myths and Realities in Muslim Alterist Discourse: Arab Travellers in Europe in the Age of Nahda (19th C.).” Chronos 6 (2002): 7–76.Google Scholar
Rastegar, Kamran. Literary Modernity between the Middle East and Europe: Textual Transactions in Nineteenth-century Arabic, English and Persian Literatures. London: Routledge, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shādlu, Khāvar Bibi. “Safarnāmeh-ye Khāvar Bibi Shādlu beh Tehrān.” In Safarnāmeh-hā-ye Sahām al-Dowleh Bojnurdi [The travel diaries of Sahām al-Dowleh Bojnurdi], ed. Sahām al-Dowleh, Yār Mohammad Khān, and Shādlu, Khāvar Bibi, 175–220. Tehrān: Sherkat-e Enteshārāt-e ʿElmi va Farhangi, 1374 [1995/96].Google Scholar
[Shah Jahan Begum = ] H. H. The Nawab Shahjahan, Begum of Bhopal. Táj-ul Ikbál Tárikh Bhopal, or, The History of Bhopal. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1876.Google Scholar
[Sikandar Begum.] A Pilgrimage to Mecca by the Nawab Sikandar Begum of Bhopal, G.C.S.I. London: Wm. H. Allen, 1870.Google Scholar
[al-Suhrawardī, Abū al-Naǧīb]. A Sufi Rule for Novices: Kitāb Adāb Al-Murīdīn of Abū Al-Najīb Al-Suhrawardī. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
[Tāj al-Saltaneh = ] Taj al-Saltana. Crowning Anguish: Memoirs of a Persian Princess from the Harem to Modernity, 1884–1914. Washington, DC: Mage, 1993.Google Scholar
Taylor, Carole Anne. “Positioning Subjects and Objects: Agency, Narration, Relationality.” Hypatia 8 (1993): 55–80. doi: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.1993.tb00628.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaqār al-Dowleh, Sakineh Soltān. Ruznāmeh-ye safar-e ʿAtabāt va Makkeh 1317q/1279sh [The travel diary to ʿAtabāt and Mecca: 1317AH/1279AP]. Tehrān: Enteshārāt-e ʿElm, 1389 [2010/11].Google Scholar
Vaqār al-Dowleh, Sakineh Soltān. Safarnāmeh-ye Sakineh Soltān Vaqār al-Dowleh (1323q/1284sh/1905m) [The travel diary of Sakineh Soltān Vaqār al-Dowleh (1323AH/1284AP/1905)]. Tehrān: Pāniz, 1386 [2007/08].Google Scholar
Youngs, Tim, ed. Travel Writing in the Nineteenth Century: Filling the Blank Spaces. London: Anthem Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Zonis, Marvin. The Political Elite of Iran. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971.Google Scholar