foucault-and-the-iranian-revolution-janet-afary

284 Notes to Pages 44-53
in the Persian language and was written by Va'ez Kashefi (d. 1504/1505), who was actually
a Sunni Muslim (Momen 1985, 118-19).
6. Self-flagellation in public, with chains and other sharp instruments that draw
blood, is an exclusively male tradition. Women beat their chests rhythmically at indoor
TOwzeh khvani gatherings of Muharram, but their shedding of blood is abhorred (Hegland
1983).
7. For the best discussion of these rituals in Iran, see Chelkowski 1979. For a
treatment of Muharram in India see Pinault 1992. For a fascinating discussion of the
evolution of Muharram processions into "Hosay" festivals in Trinidad, see Thaiss 1994.
8. The first month of the Jewish calendar is called Tishri, and the tenth day of this
month is Yom Kippur, a day of observance and fasting. The tenth day of the first month
of the Muslim calendar (Muharram) is Ashura; hence the suggestion that there is a Jewish
origin for the Shi'ite Muslim holiday.
9. When the actors move on the stage in a straight line, they are performing in real
time, but when they circle the platform (often mounted on horses), they are traveling long
distances (Beeman 2002).
10. Mary Hegland describes the situation in Peshawar, Pakistan, where Shi'ite women
were unable to voice resistance through direct verbal discourse, but "they developed
and expressed gender resistance implicitly through the body and specifically through
its engagement in ritual activity. " In this way "women formed, transformed, and subtly
contested, meaning, identity and gender" (Hegland 1998, 242, 252).
11. Our thanks to Ahmad Sadri for this information.
12. In the Qajar period, young girls under the age of maturity were given certain
minor roles in the play. The princess Qamar a1-Saltaneh and other elite women of the
harem sponsored Ta'ziyeh performances in which women played the lead roles, and male
eunuchs played the musical instruments. Women characters appeared without the veil
in these "women only" performances; they carried swords and rode on horses, and also
played the "lead male characters in drag and with applied facial hair" (Mottahedeh 2002).
13. Many religious leaders criticize over-zealous acts of self-agellation. For the
clergy's reasons for sanctioning such rituals, see Mahjub 1979, 151.
14. Hegland also points out that in the course of the Iranian Revolution this
interpretation of Hussein as "intercessor" lost ground to a new one that called for viewing
Hussein as an "example" of courage, bravery, and defiance of death (Hegland 1983, 221).
15. Here, as in many other areas of his work, Foucault reverses Freud, who had
regarded public penance as an "original infantile stage of [individual] conscience" and
human civilization (Freud 1989, 88). But, as mentioned before, it would be wrong to
assume that Foucault's project is entirely hostile to psychoanalysis. Also, Foucault's interest
in nonverbal rituals is not so far from Kristeva's discussion of semiotics (Kristeva 1997).
16. Throughout the play, the performers reach out to the audience. They call on God
to intercede on behalf of those who are sick, have a weakness, or wish to make a vow. Often
one of the actors circulates a l arge bag among members of the audience, who are asked to
write their vows on a piece of paper and drop it in the bag (with some money) . It is hoped
that Hussein will carry these vows to his maker after his (imaginary) death in the play.