SWANA Region Radio is joined by a collective of Iranian feminists to continue our discussion about this moment of urgency. Over the last several weeks, the world has witnessed the continued bravery and steadfastness of the Iranian people. Mobilized by women, Iranians across all sectors of society have taken to the streets in protest of state-sanctioned violence and authoritarianism. On September 16, 2022, Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini, was detained and beaten by the state’s “morality police” for “improperly” wearing her hijab, or headscarf. According to one of our guests, Amitis Moteveli, this killing is nothing short of a targeted assaination on those multiply-displaced by state power. The attack on Mahsa is a reminder of the state’s long-standing policing of women’s bodies. The history of Iran has shown us that compulsion--to veil or not to veil--is a utility of state power. Iranian-American Hoda Katebi, in a recent Op-Ed for the Los Angeles Times, reminds us “Today’s protests [in Iran] echo the decades of resistance led by women, both veiled and unveiled, against the hijab’s co-optation as a tool of repression since its imposition in the 1980s. This struggle is interlinked with similar struggles for women’s liberation globally. For more v
Our guests this week are:
Amitis Motevalli is an artist who explores the cultural resistance and survival of people living in poverty, conflict and/or war. Her experience as a trans-national migrant is foundational in her work. Through many mediums including sculpture, video, performance and collaborative public art, her work juxtaposes and contrasts iconography with iconoclasm, memorials with monuments, archive methodologies with canon. Her work intends to ask questions about violence, historical documentation and canonization, while invoking the significance of a secular grassroots struggle. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles, exhibiting art internationally as well as organizing to create an active and critical cultural discourse through information exchange, either in art, pedagogy or organizing artists and educators.
Catherine Sameh is Associate Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Axis of Hope: Iranian Women's Rights Activism across Borders(University of Washington Press, 2019). She is a former member of the Raha Iranian Feminist Collective.
Fatemeh فاطمه is a video and multimedia artist and cofounder of Rosvaa magazine.
Hasti is an Iranian-born playwright and director in the bay area. Currently she’s working on getting her MFA.
This show is co-hosted and co-produced by SWANA collective members. SWANA Region Radio is run entirely by the volunteer efforts of our collective. You can follow our updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We appreciate any amplification of our work. Thanks for listening and for sharing!
