Monthly Archives: October 2014

For the past two weeks in ASTU class, we have been studying Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, which is a graphic novel about Satrapi’s growing up in the Iranian Revolution. Inspired by the discussion in our recent sociology lectures about cultures, and in particular material culture, which is the physical evidence and objects that belong to a specific culture (Ritzer and Guppy, 120), I wanted to explore the presentation of material culture and cultural contrasts in Persepolis.

I found that in Persepolis, the veil is one of the most prominent objects that represents the Iranian culture. In the 1980s, the leaders of the Islamic revolution made it mandatory for all women to wear a veil (Satrapi, 3). The opening frames of the novel, which portrays a group of girls who are covered in veil, immediately depicts the importance of the veil in revolutionary Iran. The veil becomes a part of the social values and norms, and shows the political ideology in Iran. However, for Satrapi, the veil symbolizes something different, and they could be repression, a loss of identity, and a possible need for a revolution.

The western culture is also presented in Persepolis through materials such as rock band posters in Satrapi’s room and Satrapi’s clothing. Satrapi also visits ‘black markets’, where people sell western commodities like audiotapes (Satrapi, 131-2). The presentation of Western culture shows the how influential cultures can be. It allows Satrapi to really show her personal identity, which is the western political and social beliefs she and her family holds.

How does Satrapi adapt to the two contrasting cultures? In this scene, Satrapi embraces both cultures. She wears her denim jacket with a Michael Jackson button and Nike, and says ‘of course, my headscarf’. This displays Satrapi’s multiple personal identities: following middle eastern customs while sharing western values.

The clash of western and middle eastern culture, however, also serves as a catalyst to Satrapi’s rebellion. As a child, Satrapi often refuses to follow customs and school rules. This is shown in the beginning of the last chapter of the book: ‘The Dowry’, in which the school principal tries to take Satrapi’s jewelry away, Satrapi accidentally pushes the principle to the floor, and the principle expels her. This scene is significant because it shows how Satrapi assures her personal identity by rebelling against traditions and rules.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, understanding cultures allows readers to read life narratives more carefully and critically. The cultural differences in Persepolis is powerful in showing Satrapi’s personal identities and thoughts, which makes the novel engaging. I am interested in knowing about your opinions on how culture is presented in Persepolis, or in other forms of life narratives. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Work cited:

Ritzer, George, and Neil Guppy. “Cultures.” Introduction to sociology. Canadian version. ed. London: SAGE, 2013. 120. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2003. Print.

“Meanings of the Veil: Representations of Veiling in Persepolis.” Serendip Studio. mpottash., 13 Nov. 2008. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/3331>

Tinmanee, Elle. “Chapter 17: “Kim Wilde” by Elle Tinmanee.” Persepolis. N.p., 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://ibpersepolis.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/chapter-17-kim-wilde-by-elle-tinmanee/>.

Over the past two weeks, we continued to explore and study life narratives about wars and conflict. In the chapter ‘Introduction: World Made Flesh’ in her book Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit, Gillian Whitlock discusses life narratives in the context of globalization. She holds the view that they travel across cultures via technology to encourage ‘world-wide connection’ (7) and ‘cross-cultural exchange’ (8). The advancement of technology has allowed life narratives to become more accessible by everyone around the world, and has consequently promoted the connection of different culture. I wanted to delve into this specific concept and relate this to the life narratives that we studied in class.

One of the blogs that we studied is Baghdad Burning, which is written by an Iraqi woman under the pseudonym ‘Riverbend’. This blog is a narrative of her personal experience and emotions living in Iraq during the US invasion in 2003. We assumed that the main audiences of this blog are western readers, who are interested in learning about what is happening in Iraq from a local perspective.

This is shown in the entry ‘Evening Tea and Turkish Troops…‘ written in October 18, 2003. Riverbend introduces the idea that Iraqi families would gather together every evening for ‘evening tea’, no matter how busy they are. She describes the complicated process of making tea, and says that the teas in Iraq are special because ‘they are flavored with cardamom and served in “istikans”’, which are small glasses with intricate design on them. Although this is just a short and perhaps insignificant part of this blog, I still feel that this is important in proving that life narratives help connect eastern and western worlds. Riverbend provides detailed description of a tradition for her foreign audience to grasp and gain an insight into the unique and rich Iraqi culture, which helps shape and widen their perspective in viewing the political events. I agree to Whitlock’s view that life narratives are ‘soft weapons’: they are powerful, and easy to misread the true meanings. In understanding different culture, beliefs and opinions, we, as readers, can read life narratives more carefully and critically.

Work cited:

Whitlock, Gillian. “Introduction: World Made Flesh.” Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2007. 1-23.

Riverbend. “Evening Tea and Turkish Troops…” Web log post. Baghdad Burning. N.p., 18 Oct. 2003. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://riverbendblog.blogspot.ca/search?q=evening+tea>.