Early Career Fellow in Research Area 1: "Competing Communities"

October – December 2024

Unsettling Borders: Shifting Discourses of Gender, Nation and the West 

The research project Unsettling Borders: Shifting Discourses of Gender, Nation and the West explores the shifting critiques of Iranian intellectuals regarding pre-1979 Westernisation in relation to the narratives of the nation and the subsequent transition towards critiques of Islamism in the post-1979 period. The project argues that while pre-1979 critiques are centred on the perceived existence of cultural alienation, post-1979 critiques are framed around nativism. A key focus is the pre-1979 cultural figure of the dandy, symbolising social discontent and reflecting gender anxieties, contrasted with the socially committed revolutionary subject emerging before the 1979 Revolution. Archival research on post-1979 periodicals and literary pieces reveals changes in the representations of these two contrasting figures, exploring how these shifts align with changing gender ideologies and discourses of the nation. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the study investigates canonical literary pieces, political texts, popular cultural artifacts and periodicals, deepening our understanding of dialogues among theorists, artists and scholars. It uncovers new insights into the interplay between politics, popular culture and gender ideologies in shaping global political thought.

Mina Khanlarzadeh is a historian specialising in the modern Middle East, currently affiliated to Columbia University, and an associated EUME Fellow (2023-2025). In 2021-2023, she was a postdoctoral scholar in the history of science and technology at Northwestern University. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and her research interests include gender and sexuality, global political thought, critical theory, literary and popular cultural studies. Her academic work has been published in journals such as Religions and Popular Music and Society, among others.