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Warring Souls
Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran
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Roxanne Varzi
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2006
About this book
An ethnography of secular youth culture in Tehran and its resistance to post-Revolutionary Islamicist politics.
Author / Editor information
Roxanne Varzi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine.
Reviews
“Warring Souls is an outstanding and nuanced addition to the literature on contemporary Iranian culture, media, and society.”—Hamid Naficy, author of An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking
“A lovely piece of writing, Warring Souls is one of the first credible accounts of secular Iranians in their twenties, the post-Revolution generation.”—Michael M. J. Fischer, author of Mute Dreams, Blind Owls, and Dispersed Knowledges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuitry
“Inside and outside the pulse of war in Iran, close up and far away, Roxanne Varzi weaves her spell; two parts anthropology, one part poetry and film theory, three parts a soaring imagination and a big heart. How could you not reach out for a book which situates itself at the intersection of religion, vision, and power, asking whether the individual ultimately has the power to turn the image off? A tour de force.”—Michael Taussig, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
“[Warring Souls] is an excellent ethnographic study and worth recommending for academics as well as laymen interested in post-revolutionary Iranian society, in general, and Iranian youth, in particular.”
-- Razi Ahmad Iranian Studies
“[T]he book is successful as a portrayal of turn-of-the-century Iranian culture. The author’s extension of her studies from urban, secular, middle-class youth to veterans of the Iraq war, the testimonials of martyrs, and films and visual images, as well as to literature and intellectual traditions, give this book both a breadth and a depth not matched by other accounts of contemporary Iran. How to study culture on a national scale, and present the results effectively, have long bedeviled anthropologists. Hence, to have done this so well is no small achievement.”
-- Patricia J. Higgins American Anthropologist
“Varzi’s analysis of Iranian culture and creative application of Western theories bring to the fore mystical, mythological, historical, and sociological characters of Iranian culture and psyche. Her engaging language weaves the dispersed narratives of her subjects with diverse Persian cultural designs, psycho-historical elements, and literary traits into a sophisticated cultural portrait.”
-- Ali Akbar Mahdi Middle East Journal
“Warring Souls is the most interesting book analysing youth cultures in post-revolution Iran that I have read. . . . [It] is a tour de force that presents novel theoretical perspectives regarding the influence of the Islamic revolution, the Iran–Iraq War and the media (especially visual media) on today’s urban middle-class youth’s culture, lifestyle and future prospects. . . . Warring Souls is an outstanding addition to the anthropological literature on Iranian youth in a schizophrenic age with lost hopes and paradoxical signals from the leaders of society.”
-- Firouz Gaini Social Anthropology
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Acknowledgments
ix -
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Prologue: The Journey
xiii -
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introduction. Divination: An Archeology of the Unknown
1 -
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chapter one. The Image and the Hidden Master
23 -
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chapter two. Mystic States: Martyrdom and the Making of the Islamic Republic
44 -
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chapter three. Shooting Soldiers, Shooting Film: The Cinema of the Iranian Sacred Defense
76 -
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chapter four. Visionary States: Inhabiting the City, Inhabiting the Mind
106 -
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chapter five. Shifting Subjects: Public Law and Private Selves
131 -
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chapter six. Majnun’s Mask: Sex, Suicide, and Semiotic Malfunctioning
155 -
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chapter seven. The Ghost in the Machine: (Just War?) Remainders and Reminders of War
175 -
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chapter eight. Reforming Religious Identity in Post-Khatami Iran
194 -
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conclusion. Mehdi’s Climb
209 -
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Epilogue
214 -
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Notes
219 -
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Works Cited
263 -
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Index
269
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
May 31, 2006
eBook ISBN:
9780822388036
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
304
Other:
24 b&w photos
