International Journal of Gender & Women's Studies

Collaboration of Islamic Scholars and feminist publication, the case of “Rejaal”1 and the expediency of women to stand for the presidential election
Asieh Yousefnejad PhD

Abstract
This paper proposes an analytical framework, which is used to capture the hegemonic project undertaken by feminist author(s) -in the Iranian feminist publications as an element of feminist civil society (FCS). This framework draws on a Gramscian perspective on civil society as a potential empowering terrain in which subordinated social groups -including women- can change the relations of power through raising collective critical consciousness, confronting the hegemonic discourse of the dominant group, and articulating counter hegemonic discourse (Gramsci, 1971, 1980). It also utilizes Bakhtinian “Dialogism” to explore how document(s) -produced by a feminist publication- communicate their ideological positions in order to promote empowerment and whether/how, their hegemonic project is in accordance with the Gramscian perspective on hegemonic battle as a means of transforming power relations. I demonstrate the usefulness of this framework through an analysis of one key publication, which discusses the use of the term Rejaal in political decision making around “if women can stand for presidential election”. This analysis suggests that the author is engaged in the articulation of a counter hegemonic discourse that operates within the Islamic discourse of the theocratic state. Therefore, by using a Gramscian-Bakhtinian analytical framework to analyse the above-mentioned document, this paper demonstrates how the author is able to challenge predominant discourses regarding gender power relations in Iran. In so doing, I show how the document creates a heteroglot environment in which diverse voices/discourses condition each other including the dominant patriarchal discourse, which, consequently, culminates in decentralization/confrontation of the dominant discourse (Bakhtin 1981; Gramsci 1971). Lastly, this paper contends that the dialogue/interaction between FCS (here, feminist publication) and progressive religious scholars provides social actors in FCS with critical approaches toward religion that can be mobilized in favour of women’s rights.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijgws.v10n2a9