"Women, Life, Freedom": What's New about Iran's 2022 Protests?
A Crown Seminar with Mohammad Ali Kadivar, Arang Keshavarzian, and Nazanin Shahrokni in conversation with Naghmeh Sohrabi
Friday, October 7, 2022
Missed the seminar? The recording is available with closed captioning.
Since the death in custody of 22 year old Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, Iran has seen widespread protests throughout the country primarily led by young demonstrators. The death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the "morality police" of the Islamic Republic of Iran for violating the government mandated dress code for women, has become the rallying cry for sustained demonstrations in Iran against the veiling policies of the Islamic Republic, its use of morality police to curtail freedoms of dress and movement, and the brutality of the state. In this virtual Crown Seminar, Mohammad Ali Kadivar, Arang Keshavarzian, and Nazanin Shahrokni, in conversation with Naghmeh Sohrabi, will take as their starting point the most-oft heard chant of these protests "Women, Life, Freedom" to provide a deeper dive into the issues fueling the protests of September 2022. The conversation will look at issues of gender, socio-economic crises, and the domestic political scene to shed light on the recent protests in Iran and place them in the context of Iran's history of protests in the 21st century.
Mohammad Ali Kadivar is an assistant professor of sociology and international studies at Boston College. He is the author of Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy.
Arang Keshavarzian is an associate professor and chair of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. He is the co-editor (with Ali Mirsepassi) of Global 1979: Geographies and Histories of the Iranian Revolution.
Nazanin Shahrokni is an assistant professor of gender and globalization at the London School of Economics. She is the author of Women in Place: The Politics of Gender Segregation in Iran. Prior to establishing an academic career, she worked as a journalist for Zanan, a feminist monthly in Tehran, Iran.
Naghmeh Sohrabi, chair, is the director for research at the Crown Center and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History.