Avoiding the "F" word: feminist geography in Iran. Issue 7 (2nd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bagheri, Nazgol
• Is Part Of: Gender, place and culture. Volume 26:Issue 7/9(2019)
• Page Start: 1128
• Page End: 1136
• Publication Date: 2019-09-02
• Subjects: Feminist geography -- gender and geography -- Iran -- political and cultural limitations; Human geography -- Periodicals; Feminism -- Periodicals; Géographie féministe -- Périodiques; 305.305
• DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2019.1586654
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0966-369X

Abstract

Abstract: Little attention has been given to how feminist geography is defined, applied, and taught in non-Anglophone countries, especially in Muslim majority societies where Women's Rights are quite different from the western world. The case of Iran among other Middle Eastern countries becomes even more isolated due to the several political, linguistic, and cultural limitations opposed on Iranian academics and international collaborations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Women make half of Iran's 80 million population, 63% of university graduates, almost half of informal workers, 30% of Iranian professors, 13% of high level management position holders, and under 5% of the Islamic Majlis (Iran's Parliament). However, feminist geography, the sub-discipline that has been traditionally dedicated to the inclusion of gender as an analytical lens within Geography, is not a recognized field at any departments in Iran. This essay aims to present the current status of feminist geographic research and teaching at selected Iranian Universities. My goal is to offer a better understanding of how the local social and political context affect what constitute feminist geographic work and how geographers navigate the political and hierarchal university systems to engage in gender studies. Through informal interviews via emails and Skype with several Iranian geographers, I illustrate why Iranian geographers often avoid using "feminist" terminology in recognizing their work, even though their work is feminist.