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Dialogues with the Dead: Necropoetics of Zahra’s Paradise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2022

Fatemeh Shams Open the ORCID record for Fatemeh Shams [Opens in a new window]
Fatemeh Shams*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Abstract

What can the poetry chosen for epitaphs on graves tell us about the political and cultural development of post-revolutionary Iran and the politics of death and dying under the Islamic Republic? This article explores contemporary Persian epitaph poetry as a valuable medium for understanding the socio-political dynamics of Iranian society. By analyzing the epitaphs of the Iran–Iraq war martyrs, who are buried in Zahra’s Paradise public cemetery in Tehran (Behesht-e Zahra), a new nomenclature can be established for the religious, political and socio-cultural ideas underpinning death and the afterlife.

Keywords

Behesht-e Zahra CemeteryIran–Iraq WarNecropoliticsNecropoetics

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Articles
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Iranian Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 5-6 , December 2020 , pp. 893 - 909
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2020

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