From Mullah to Goya: The Art and Politics of Mullah Nasreddin, 1906-1917

FAIN: FA-50395-04

Janet Afary
Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN 47907-2040)

The trickster figure Mullah Nasreddin is a popular folk character in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. In 1906, a glossy satirical newspaper called Mullah Nasreddin began publication in Tiblisi. Its editor, Jalil Mamed Qulizadeh, was a famous Muslim playwright. Under his direction, a cast of talented Muslim and Georgian Christian writers and artists adopted the trickster as a transgressive figure that commented on East-West political, cultural, and social differences and attempted to bridge the gap between the two societies. Mullah Nesreddin was the first newspaper in Iran and Central Eurasia to put forward a liberal discourse on Shi'ite Islam and to demand new rights for women. This monograph explores the graphic arts through which this message was articulated.

Media Coverage

Starting at Home, Iran’s Women Fight for Rights (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Nazila Fathi
Publication: New York Times
Date: 2/12/2009
Abstract: Advanced review of the book which appeared in a First page article in the NYT
URL: http://http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/middleeast/13iran.html?_r=1

Associated Products

Sexual Politics in Modern Iran (Book Section)
Title: Sexual Politics in Modern Iran
Author: Janet Afary
Abstract: A study of gender and sexual politics in Modern Iran from the early 19th century to 2009.
Year: 2009
Primary URL: http://www.janetafary.com/sexual-politics-in-modern-iran-2/
Primary URL Description: My website page where the book, its reviews, and discussed
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Book Title: same as above
ISBN: 0521727081

Prizes

British-Kuwait Friendship Society
Date: 11/1/2010
Organization: British Society for Middle East Studies
Abstract: Each year since a prize or prizes to the value of up to £10,000, generously funded by the Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation, has been offered for the best scholarly work in English on the Middle East which has been published in its first edition in the United Kingdom.

Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism (Book)
Title: Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
Author: Afary, Janet
Year: 2005
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=9780226007861
Primary URL Description: WorldCat entry
Publisher: Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780226007861

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