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From ritual to performance: Ta'zieh in Iran today

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2023

Yassaman Khajehi Open the ORCID record for Yassaman Khajehi [Opens in a new window]  and
Christian Biet
Yassaman Khajehi*
Affiliation:
Associate professor of performance studies, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Christian Biet
Affiliation:
Professor of theatre studies, Université Paris Nanterre
*
Corresponding author: Yassaman Khajehi, Email: Yassaman.khajehi@uca.fr
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Abstract

As a practice and experience, ta'zieh lies at the crossroads between ritual and performance, collective lament and recollection, literature, and folklore. Focusing on the experience of the spectator, this paper discusses ta'zieh's liminal status and diverse functions in Iran today. This study is based on observations gathered during fieldwork in the fall of 2017 in Tehran (Grand Bazaar), Isfahan (Falāvarjān), and Kashan (Nushābād). By way of comparison, we further reflect on a video installation by Abbas Kiarostami presented at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 2003, which challenges common assumptions about the aesthetic and religious effectiveness of ta'zieh. The contrast allows us to elucidate how, by renovating ancient narrative forms, contemporary Iranian performing arts partake in the shaping of individual affects as well as communal emotions.

Keywords

ta'ziehnarrativeperformanceKiarostamidramaarts and media
Type
Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , October 2023 , pp. 671 - 684
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Iranian Studies

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Footnotes

*

The initial draft of this paper was conceived and elaborated in close dialogue with Christian Biet, whose friendship and mentorship has contributed in many ways to shaping my own work throughout the years. After he passed away in July 2020, it was no easy task to take up the pen and finalize this article on my own. Despite some minor differences in views, Christian Biet's ideas and insights on ta'zieh remain essential to this piece, yet I take full responsibility for any changes in the final version.

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