The Central Martyrs’ Museum in Tehran is the largest cultural repository in Iran containing personal artifacts and arts belonging to individuals who perished during the Islamic Revolution (1979) and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). Although... more
The Central Martyrs’ Museum in Tehran is the largest cultural repository in Iran containing personal artifacts and arts belonging to individuals who perished during the Islamic Revolution (1979) and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). Although scholarship frequently considers the museum a secular invention of the Enlightenment, this study argues that it also can provide a ceremonial setting that prompts ritual activity. The Martyrs’ Museum, as a case in point, reveals how a cultural institution can provide a dramatic field in which visitors engage in the communal acts of remembrance and mourning, thereby uniting them into a civic body. Based on an analysis of this museum, its layout and display objects, and interviews with its staff and visitors, the present study explores the institutionalization and aesthetizication of trauma and violence in a post-revolutionary Iranian context with the aim to expand and challenge prevailing theoretical approaches to the concept of the “museum.”
In his book, Understanding Islam, Frithjof Schuon observes that the doctrine of Islam hangs on the two statements of the Shahādah, which he refers to as the "two certitudes". In this paper I examine how these two certitudes are also... more
In his book, Understanding Islam, Frithjof Schuon observes that the doctrine of Islam hangs on the two statements of the Shahādah, which he refers to as the "two certitudes". In this paper I examine how these two certitudes are also articulated in Judaism and Christianity.
Falar sobre o martírio é ir ao encontro do testemunho e da fé. É falar sobre a morte, mas também sobre a vida. É ir aos fundamentos, aos valores que sustentam não apenas um pensamento sobre determinada ação, mas, antes, as origens que... more
Falar sobre o martírio é ir ao encontro do testemunho e da fé. É falar sobre a morte, mas também sobre a vida. É ir aos fundamentos, aos valores que sustentam não apenas um pensamento sobre determinada ação, mas, antes, as origens que mantêm viva a ideia que leva a essa ação. Falar sobre martírio é ir ao encontro do sacrifício, da devoção, da renúncia, da entrega. Por isso, antes de dizer o que é o martírio, e em especial, o martírio no Islã, é preciso compreender as bases teológicas dessa religião a fim de chegar à construção do significado de martírio para esse grupo religioso.
