10 / 04 / 2024 | Activities > Diversity and Interculturality
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A lo largo de los casi cinco mil años de historia de Irán, la situación de la mujer en la sociedad ha experimentado tantos cambios que, se podría decir que en el suelo iraní prácticamente todas las fórmulas de transformación interior y social se han ensayado, posiblemente siglos antes que, en otros lugares, cada sustrato civilizador influyendo en los siguientes. El orientalismo del siglo XIX contribuyó a borrar las distinciones entre la mujer en el mundo árabe islámico y la mujer en Irán o en otros territorios del arco civilizador indo-europeo, generando una serie de estereotipos que se consolidan gracias a la difusión de las traducciones de las One thousand and One Nights.

Therefore, we have selected six female characters that span five millennia of Persian civilization, each with a face that evokes the diversity of roles in Iranian society. As we advance in history, female roles become intertwined due to the multitude of influences of very diverse peoples from the Sumerian-Akkadian period, the Assyrian civilization, the Babylonian period, the notion of the universal state in the Achaemenid empire, the Parthian periods -Sassanian, the Arab invasion of Persia and the arrival of Islam to conclude in the contemporary period of the Islamic Revolution.

Each of these women will allow us to discover the cultural and historical context of the period in which they lived and that has left us universal knowledge.

Program:

• 1st Session: Enhaniduna: the priestess-poet of the Sumerian-Akkadian period

Enhaniduna, also known as Enheduanna, literally the ornament of heaven, was high priestess of the city of Ur, where centuries later Abraham, the common ancestor of the Abrahamic religions, would be born. She was the first writer to claim authorship by signing her own poems, many of them consecrated to the goddess of the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon, Innana, the goddess of the Moon, verses that constitute an enlightenment of this multifaceted woman, priestess, astronomer, poet and mother.

• 2nd Session: Rabi'a Balji /Rabi'a al-Quzdari (XNUMXth century): the first poetess in the Persian language

Originaria de Balj en el Afganistán actual y contemporánea del primer poeta en lengua persa, Rudāki, con esta poetisa accedemos a una de las grandes polaridades de la literatura persa, el amor-pasión frente al amor divino. Su vida se entremezcla con la leyenda muy utilizada por los grandes místicos persas como Farid al-Din ‘Attar o Jāmi, ya que fue asesinada por su hermano por haberse enamorado perdidamente de su esclavo Bektash. Los últimos poemas, los escribiría con su propia sangre en las paredes de su celda, uno de ellos dedicado al pecado del amor puro. En la gran antología del siglo XIII de poetas persas, Lubāb al-Albāb, Mohamed ‘Awfi la describe como superior a cualquier hombre en sus méritos e inteligencia.

• 3rd Session: Mahsāti Ganjavi: hedonism and criticism at the court of Sultan Sanjar

Su nombre significa la señora de la luna y brilló con luz propia en la corte del Sultan Sanjar (s. XI), uno de los grandes gobernantes selyúcidas que fue capaz de atraer a destacados poetas, filósofos y científicos a su corte, tomando el relevo al esplendor de Bagdad de los siglos de oro del Islam.

It was precisely the subtlety and talent of Mahsāti Ganjavi that attracted the attention of the sultan. His quatrains became very famous in their time, some of them show exceptional daring in Persian literature due to their obscene themes or the fierce use of invective and diatribe. In Mahsāti's verses one perceives the enjoyment of life, the ceremonies of courtship and the search for pleasure, but also the wisdom of life and the ability to use the Persian language as a vehicle for criticizing the customs of his time.

• 4ª Sesión: Ayisha Durrani (Tāhereh): poetisa y reformadora social en el Irán del siglo XIX

Born into one of the great families of Islamic jurists in Iran, known by the pseudonym Tāhereh (the pure woman) and Qurrat al-'Ayn, (the comfort of the eyes) for her beauty, few women were so firm in the history of Iran when it comes to vindicating women's rights in a fundamentally sexist society. Strangled by order of Shah's mother (Nasr-al Din Sha) who perceived her danger in a society governed by traditional patterns, after her conversion to Babism (currently the Baha'i faith) she did not hesitate to criticize the superstition and religious ignorance encouraged by the clerics among the lower classes. In the fictionalized biography of Bahiyyih Nakhjāvani (The woman who read too much) presented by the teacher of this course at the Center Casa Asia- Madrid, the last words he said before dying are quoted: “You will kill me, but you will not stop the emancipation of women.”

• 5th Session: Forūgh Farrojzād: strength and sensitivity in the depth of the night

She is undoubtedly one of the great representatives of Persian literature of the 20th century. Her fragile appearance belies her immense strength and resolve that led her to break many of the barriers and limitations that women of her time had. In this sense, this poetess is heir to a small group of exceptional women in Iranian literature, such as the poetess Mahsatī Ganjāvī or the mystic Rābe'a 'Adaviyya, who challenged Islam's conventions on the role of women. 

• 6th Session: Shahrnoosh Parsipour. Tradition and revolution: between two regimes

Shahrnoosh Parsipour es tal vez la mejor representante del realismo mágico en el Irán del siglo XX-XXI y cuya obra Women without men It has been made into a film (2009) by visual artist and film director Shirin Neshat. Her work constitutes a good example of collaboration between women in diverse fields of art that began with the Mowj-e Now (The New Wave) movement after 1945. Imprisoned during the Islamic Revolution (1979), after five years in prison she will see the light is his masterpiece that we will analyze in this session, Touba va ma'na-ye Shab (Touba and the meaning of the night – 1989). This dense story allows us to analyze, along with other later novels by the author, the different stories about the role of women in Persian society and the importance of archetypes for understanding the paradox between tradition and reform.

Professor:

Alfred Gutierrez-Kavanagh, European doctor from the Complutense University and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. Graduate in Law (1984-89), Extraordinary Bachelor's Award from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Madrid (2000). Professor of Specialized Legal Translation and International Relations (Middle East) at the Pontifical University of Comillas (UPC). Graduated in Persian Language and Literature from the Dehkhoda Institute in Tehran, he has completed postgraduate studies at the prestigious 'Alame Tabetabe'i University in Iran. Diploma in translation from the University of Cambridge. University Expert in Indo-European Languages ​​from the University of Salamanca (Avestan and Sanskrit branch). Diplôme from the Chambre de Commerce of Paris. Lecturer specialized in political/cultural relations between the EU and the Islamic world (Casa Asia, Casa Arabe, University of Seville, Complutense University, etc.). He held the position of President of the Spanish Society of Iranology (SEI) for seven years, a cultural association to promote research and dissemination of cultural, religious, historical and linguistic aspects relating to Persia/Iran. He is the author of numerous publications related to cultural and diplomatic studies related to the Middle East, among them, They will go inside. The other story, published by José J. de Olañeta in 2010 and The trip to Persia (2012), a work that analyzes the relations between Europe and Iran throughout history. Persian language translator. He has recently published an article on matrilineal and matrifocal structures in the Iberian Peninsula in the work Matrilineal, Matriarchal, and Matrifocal Islam: The World of Women-Centric Islam (Palgrave Series in Islamic Theology, Law, and History) to be published in 2024.

10/04/2024

From April 10 to June 19
Wednesdays from 18.00:19.30 p.m. to 2:XNUMX p.m. (every XNUMX weeks)
Session calendar: April 10 and 24; May 8 and 22; and June 5 and 19.
6 sessions of 1,5 hours. 9 hours in total.

The sessions that make up this course will be recorded and will be available for ten days.

On-line. 24 hours before the event, registered people will receive the necessary information to access.

Check your spam folder if you haven't received it.

Price: 67,50 euros.

Casa Asia A certificate of course attendance will be delivered by email to anyone who requests it and who has attended 80% of the classes.

Unemployed people, people with functional diversity, students under 30 years of age and retirees will be able to access a 10% discount bonus.

Casa Asia