Chehabi Publishes Article in International Journal of Middle East Studies
Houchang E. Chehabi, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, published a recent journal article in the International Journal of Middle East Studies.
Chehabi’s article, entitled “Gender Anxieties in the Iranian Zūrkhānah,” was published in Volume 51, Issue 3 (August 2019) of the International Journal of Middle East Studies.
From the abstract of the article:
The zūrkhānah is the traditional gymnasium of Iranian cities. Athletes exercised in a homosocial milieu that occasionally allowed for same-sex relations. Beginning in the 20th century, modern heteronormativity made such relations problematic, while gender desegregation allowed women to enter them. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, gender segregation was again imposed, while heteronormativity was maintained. In recent years, women have endeavored to make the zūrkhānah more inclusive. This article analyzes the contradictions and paradoxes of gender relations in the zūrkhānah by using classical poetry, modern novels, anthropological accounts, autobiographies, travelogues, and press reports.
Houchang Chehabi has taught at Harvard and has been a visiting professor at the University of St. Andrews, UCLA, and the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa. He has published two books, Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran under the Shah and Khomeini (1990) and Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the Last 500 Years (2006). Chehabi has written numerous articles, book reviews, and translations. You can read more about him here.