A. Purdah
 Tradition of Veil, Burqa and Purdah
 “Purdah 1”
 Views Expressed in Persepolis
B. Persepolis
 Introduction
 Discussion Questions
 A child’s perspective on religious
fundamentalism
 The cultural identity of an exile
Purdah深閨制度 -- Purdah is the
practice that includes the seclusion
of women from public observation by
wearing concealing clothing from
head to toe and by the use of high
walls, curtains, and screens erected
within the home. Purdah is practiced
by Muslims and by various Hindus,
especially in India.
(http://www.kings.edu/womens_histo
ry/purdah.html )
 Burqa = body-covering, headcovering + face veil
 types of sartorial hijab

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of
_sartorial_hijab )



Mostly believers in Islam see purdah as a very
positive and respectful practice that actually
liberates women.
Different Views: e.g. – 回教女性的面紗
› Muslim girls in UK;
› in Iran
› In Egypt
› in Nigeria, etc.
In France, 2004 -- a law was set to prohibit students
to wear any clearly visible religious symbols; thus
wearing the burqa has been banned in public
schools.
Imtiaz Dharker -- poet,
painter and awardwinning documentary
film-maker. Born in Lahore,
Pakistan.
 Why is there a change in
the pronoun from “she” to
“we”?
 Is ‘she’ confined by
purdah, or protected,
or . . . ?


“. . . All my life I have been against the veil,
and now I am the one defending the veil. I
hate the veil and what it means, . . . but I put
myself in their [the girls’] place. It’s a question
of these girls’ identity. Their mothers never
wore the veil, and so they want to. Why?
They [came] to France, 30–40 years [ago, but
for the] French they are not French, and for
[the] Arabs they are not Arabs. So the height
of irony is that the veil has become a symbol
of rebellion...”.(qtd in Costantino)
The mother feels breathless wearing it,
once humiliated
 Marjane and the other
Girls …

Persepolis (2003-2004)– around the time
of the US ‘‘War on Terror” and the French
debate over veiled Muslim girls in secular
public schools
 Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)–
reinforces Western concepts of Iranian
women as oppressed?
 Kabul Beauty School (2007)– Deborah
Rodriquez as an American savior or
victim of marital abuse?

› The Qajar dynasty (卡加王朝)
› 1925-1979 the Shah regime (巴列維王朝)
› 1979 -- revolution; wearing the veil and anti-
alcoholism
› 1979-1989 -- the Khamenei era
› 1980-1988 -- Iran–Iraq War
1979 – enthusiastic about revolution
 1981 -- age 12; Marijan went to Vienne, smoked
drug, fell in and out of love
 1987 --age 18; Marijane returned to Iran; got
married and then divorced.
 1993 --age 24 -- Marjane left Iran again
 present -- Marjane Satrapi at the airport, unable to
board a plane to Iran.

The Shah
 The revolution


The 90’s
Reasons:
1) Iran – Islamization of the nation; Iraq – reduces and
controls religion;
2) Khomeini once expelled by Iraq;
3) the issue of Kurdish (庫德族）, etc.
Father: The West sold weapons to both sides. . .
The US –
• secretly supported Iraq in its
production of chemical weapons.
• sold weapons to Iran in
exchange for the hostages (伊朗
軍售醜聞 Iran-Contra Scandal—
disclosed in 1986)
(References: Reasons and
Senate Mitchell’s Speech against Olive North
http://usinfo.org/zhtw/PUBS/AmReader/p842.
htm )
Charlie Wilson's War -- Charlie Wilson urged the
government to provide essential weapons to help
the Mujehideen in Afghanistan beat back the
Societ Army.
Wilson: "I always, always, whenever a plane goes
down, I always fear it is one of our missiles. Most
of all I wanted to bloody the Red Army [of
Russia]. I think the bloodying thereof had a great
deal to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
But -- the weapons probably wound up in the hands
of the Taliban regime, which took power in
Afghanistan and harbored Saudi fugitive Osama
bin Laden, organizer of the September 11
attacks. "I feel guilty about it," he said. "I really
do." "Those things happen," (source)
Two perspectives
A. on religious fundamentalism:
 How does Marjane experience revolution as a
child?
 How does her family survive and/or suffer from
the Khomeini regime
 The 2nd time: Her experience as a young adult?
B. On exile:
 The 1st time -- liberation?
 The 2nd Exile –any difference?
C. Filmic Techniques?
Pre-revolution: Westernized, loves Bruce
Lee
 Idealistic and inquisitive


takes on the adults’ enthusiasm (or fanaticism)
1. Execution of Uncle Anouche and
(later) many dissidents
1. Police Persecution
1. Parties
2. Alcohol
Marjane – wearing denim jacket and
buying punk music (Iron Maiden, etc.)
 “Punk is not ded”


Communist Niloufar
&
Uncle Taher
Feeling isolated among her friends who
don’t understand revolution.
 Physical changes


Migration is a oneway trip; there is no
way home.
1. Cannot return
home
2. Acknowledges
her Iranian
background
The mother – protective;
 The father --instilling revolutionary
thoughts.

1. Asks her to maintain
her integrity;
2. To take off her veil
She herself got divorced 55 years ago
The first – a practice for the 2nd.
The black and white – to suggest an era
of dictatorial control
 Drawing to show different emotions and
human situations –human closeness,
humans as shadows, with dignity,
freedom, fantasies, liberty, etc.


Also when she falls in love, falls out of
love …
Fear
Dignity


Costantino, Manuela "Marji: Popular
Commix Heroine Breathing Life into the
Writing of History." Canadian Review of
American Studies 38.3 (2008): 429-447.
Academic Search Complete. EBSCO.
Web. 2 Oct. 2009.