Assistant Professor Alborz Ghandehari’s latest project is more than just research—it is a material to which he has a deep personal connection. Dr. Ghandehari’s connection to the history of Iran was formed long before the release of his book—Post/Revolutionary Conditions: Renewed Visions of the Iranian Freedom Struggle. As the child of Iranian immigrants, he was always curious about his cultural heritage and the experiences of his family members who still lived in Iran. “I think growing up as an Iranian American, growing up as a queer Iranian American, it was always important for me to understand the history that led to my being here on this Earth,” said Dr. Ghandehari. He had a curiosity to keep reading, to keep learning, and in turn, when he began to learn more, he wanted to continue telling the stories he read and heard about. “Learning about the Iranian freedom struggle and how different generations of Iranians over the last 100 years, including in my own family, have fought for freedom from both domestic authoritarianism and foreign imperialism was an important part of my educational journey.”
Growing up in a post 9/11 era where people of Middle Eastern identities were often treated poorly, Dr. Ghandehari felt very aware of the stereotypes that surrounded him and his community. These stereotypes did not account for the vibrant struggles of everyday people in Iran struggling for freedom. This awareness was deepened in Ghandehari’s college years, particularly in 2009, when Iran’s Green Movement began. This movement was a massive popular uprising against government injustices, censorship, and repression. For him, seeing how many people took to the streets in Iran and in the Iranian diaspora proved to be a critical moment in recognizing the resilience of the Iranian freedom struggle. “Millions of people were calling for an end to censorship in the press, the censorship of personal expression, political expression, and economic justice. As a young adult, I was struck by the uprising, by people coming together and resisting state violence to build a better future; It transformed my consciousness about what resistance means,” said Dr. Ghandehari.
It was also during this time that Dr. Ghandehari began to connect with Iranian feminists who had been involved in various social movements. This included the 2006-2008 One Million Signatures Campaign to repeal laws that enshrined gender injustice. These organizers helped him to see and understand the intersectional nature of Iranians’ resistance. “I really learned a lot from Iranian feminists about the rich history of gender justice struggles in the society over the last century,” said. Dr. Ghandehari. “Through those conversations, I gained greater awareness of how intersectional the Iranian freedom struggle has been.”.
Dr. Ghandehari’s research for this book included oral history interviews he conducted in Iran with these same movement builders and other leaders across Iran’s labor, student, and gender justice movements. Post/Revolutionary Conditions shows how Iranian feminists, in building movements under conditions of tremendous state repression, have helped change the definition of liberation. Dr. Ghandehari explained, “My research emphasizes the ways in which movement builders have built solidarities across working-class, gender justice, queer, and ethnic minority movements, shifting the way the struggle for freedom is understood, from multiple intersecting lenses.”
He also included analysis of the resistance literature and art that inspired movement leaders. One research interview that was particularly impactful for him was an interview with a former student activist, Golnar (pseudonym) who had been politicized by leftist student groups in the early 2000s. During the interview, Golnar recalled a poignant moment after the death of the renowned rebel poet Ahmad Shamlou, in 2000. Shamlou had always been a vocal critic of tyranny and a strong proponent of justice for the people of Iran, both under the US-backed dictatorship of the Pahlavi monarchy and under the oppressive Islamic Republic which replaced it after Iran’s 1979 Revolution. When he died, memorials popped up at his grave as people gathered to honor his legacy. These gatherings sometimes turned into protests where activists were beaten by security forces because they were reciting his poetry as a statement of resistance. One of these poems, “On Death…”, was particularly meaningful for Golnar. This poem includes the line,
“All my fear—anyway—is of dying in a land
Where the gravedigger’s wage
Is higher than
The price of someone’s freedom.”
For Dr. Ghandehari, this moment in the interview powerfully showed the struggle to be free from oppression that so many Iranian people have faced, both before and after the 1979 Revolution. “The fact that Golnar had quoted a poem by Shamlou, written under the previous repressive regime, to resist the oppression of the contemporary postrevolutionary regime shows how intergenerational the Iranian freedom struggle is,” said Dr. Ghandehari. “Not only that, it also powerfully shows how alive Iranians’ resistance is today. It shows how movement builders can learn from past generations of the struggle as they build movements in the present and future.”
While this work showcases the rich history of Iran, the book’s conclusion also takes up the recent Woman, Life, Freedom uprising sparked by the death in custody of Jina (Mahsa) Amini—a woman arrested for allegedly violating the country’s compulsory hijab law. “Iranians faced deadly state violence yet again to rise up for liberation, with many understanding gender liberation as interconnected with broader social liberation and economic justice,” said Dr. Ghandehari. “My book is indebted to movement builders that have shown these connections in their work and forged solidarities among freedom struggles both within Iran and across borders.”