Performing the Iranian State: Visual Culture and Representations of Iranian Identity

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Staci Gem Scheiwiller
Anthem Press, Feb 15, 2013 - Performing Arts - 260 pages

This book discusses what it means to “perform the State,” what this action means in relation to the country of Iran and how these various performances are represented. The concept of the “State” as a modern phenomenon has had a powerful impact on the formation of the individual and collective, as well as on determining how political entities are perceived in their interactions with one another in the current global arena.

“Performing the State” refers to an individual (or a group of persons) who re-enacts rituals, ceremonies, customs, traditions and laws, or who dons certain guises, that either accomplish the State’s goals or rebel against them as a form of critique. This anthology examines various approaches to determining the Iranian State via the performativity of persons, with the intention of illuminating how social practices, ideologies and identities are shaped, represented, visualized, circulated and repeated – not only nationally but also worldwide. 

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About the author (2013)

Staci Gem Scheiwiller is an assistant professor of contemporary and modern art history at California State University, Stanislaus. She specializes in Iranian art, gender and postcolonialism.   

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