Professing Selves

Transsexuality and Same-Sex Desire in Contemporary Iran

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Gay Studies, History, Middle East
Cover of the book Professing Selves by Afsaneh Najmabadi, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Afsaneh Najmabadi ISBN: 9780822377290
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: March 14, 2014
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Afsaneh Najmabadi
ISBN: 9780822377290
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: March 14, 2014
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Since the mid-1980s, the Islamic Republic of Iran has permitted, and partially subsidized, sex reassignment surgery. In Professing Selves, Afsaneh Najmabadi explores the meaning of transsexuality in contemporary Iran. Combining historical and ethnographic research, she describes how, in the postrevolutionary era, the domains of law, psychology and psychiatry, Islamic jurisprudence, and biomedicine became invested in distinguishing between the acceptable "true" transsexual and other categories of identification, notably the "true" homosexual, an unacceptable category of existence in Iran. Najmabadi argues that this collaboration among medical authorities, specialized clerics, and state officials—which made transsexuality a legally tolerated, if not exactly celebrated, category of being—grew out of Iran's particular experience of Islamicized modernity. Paradoxically, state regulation has produced new spaces for non-normative living in Iran, since determining who is genuinely "trans" depends largely on the stories that people choose to tell, on the selves that they profess.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Since the mid-1980s, the Islamic Republic of Iran has permitted, and partially subsidized, sex reassignment surgery. In Professing Selves, Afsaneh Najmabadi explores the meaning of transsexuality in contemporary Iran. Combining historical and ethnographic research, she describes how, in the postrevolutionary era, the domains of law, psychology and psychiatry, Islamic jurisprudence, and biomedicine became invested in distinguishing between the acceptable "true" transsexual and other categories of identification, notably the "true" homosexual, an unacceptable category of existence in Iran. Najmabadi argues that this collaboration among medical authorities, specialized clerics, and state officials—which made transsexuality a legally tolerated, if not exactly celebrated, category of being—grew out of Iran's particular experience of Islamicized modernity. Paradoxically, state regulation has produced new spaces for non-normative living in Iran, since determining who is genuinely "trans" depends largely on the stories that people choose to tell, on the selves that they profess.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Sleaze Artists by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Interrogating Postfeminism by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Necro Citizenship by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book The Expediency of Culture by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Colonial Pathologies by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Lesbian Rule by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book The Technical Delusion by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Culture Wars in Brazil by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book The Elusive Promise of Indigenous Development by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book The Taxation of Income from Business and Capital in Colombia by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Spreading the Word by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Fat Art, Thin Art by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Lion Songs by Afsaneh Najmabadi
Cover of the book Appropriating Blackness by Afsaneh Najmabadi
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy