I
have lost a beloved friend; my academic confidante. Hammed left us a legacy of
a committed scholar, an honest intellectual, and a friend with a gentle soul.
This legacy is inscribed in his writings, lectures, and in our personal
memories. Hammed was a talented, knowledgeable, and brilliant scholar. He had
personal and intellectual commitment to the struggle for gender justice. His
scholarship consists of a diverse body of critical literature on social
movements, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, exile, immigration and diaspora. He
contributed to debates in all these areas in North America, Europe and in the
Middle East.
Hammed’s
books, Women in Iran: Gender Politics in the Islamic Republic (2002, Greenwood
Publishing) and Women in Iran: Emerging Voices in the Women’s Movement (2002,
Greenwood Publishing) are seminal contributions to a crucial debate in
international feminist studies, in particular, the repression and resistance of
women in the Islamic theocracy of Iran and in the Middle East. These books have
encouraged a vast range of debate, originated from the theoretical challenges
that Hammed put forth. The significance of these debates goes beyond the case
of women in Iran, and touch on feminist theory as well as concrete struggle for
gender equality in the Middle East and the rest of the world. In the first
book, Gender Politics in the Islamic Republic, for example he undertook a
detailed study of certain institutions such as paid work, domestic labour, law,
politics, sexuality, and culture in order to demonstrate the role of state
coercion in the construction of gender relations.
He
argues that despite women’s resistance and the reversal of some of the
legislation, no crucial change has taken place in gender relations. This study
challenges the currently fashionable theoretical claims, which overemphasize
the flexibility of the institution of the state in general, and the theocratic
state in particular.
In the second book, Emerging Voices in the
Women’s Movement, Hammed embarked upon another significant theoretical
challenge; he demonstrated the limits and constraints of political reformism
and provided a critique of the cultural relativist approaches to ‘indigenous’
feminisms. This critique is most timely, and is indispensable for both theory
and policies
rooted in cultural relativism.
Hammed’s
influence in the sphere of feminist research has shaped the field of women’s
studies of the Middle East. The vast repertoire of his publications, research,
lectures and conference presentations around the world on the topic of social
movements, feminism, women and revolution, activism, and women’s experience of
exile indicate his dedication to enhancing theoretical debates in these areas
(check his website at www.shahidian.com). His scholarly work constitutes
important contributions to the emerging field of diaspora studies. Some of his
published articles in this area are first-hand and unique contributions to
exilic life and political activism in the West.
However,
it is important that I assess Hammed’s scholarship no only in the context of
Iranian women’s studies, but also in the international context of the brutal
war against women in the Middle East and the rest of the world. We live
in a world in which some 2 million girls between the age of 5 and 15 are
introduced into the prostitution market of global capitalism.
Femicide
is the order of the day in south Asia, and Mexico. Women from poverty stricken areas of Russia, East Europe, and
Asia are trafficked to the world sex markets, where they are forced into sex
slavery. In parts of the world, women are subjected to genital mutilation,
honour killing, and stoning to death. It is unfortunate that much of the
scholarship in the last 15 years or so does not seriously challenge these
patriarchal atrocities. Post-structuralism, identity politics, postmodernism,
and cultural relativism, which dominate the academic world, have in fact been
silent on the atrocities committed against “Muslim” women. Hammed
resisted this kind of scholarship. His points of reference were not the
theoretical illusions of some academic feminists; he was, rather, interested in
exposing religion as one of the many strongholds of patriarchy with devastating
impact on women’s lives. He was able to show how the Islamic theocracy
has turned Iran into a hell for women. And he never did this from an
Islamophobic perspective.
Hammed
had tireless energy for envisioning new areas of inquiry. He was fed up
with repetitious and inconsequential debate on ‘modernity and Islam.’ He
encouraged us to collaborate with him on an anthology on the issue of
secularism and democracy. This research was an effort to make visible an
old, yet overlooked trend in Iranian culture and politics. He wanted to
explore areas of political contestation in Iran waged by writers, youth, and
human rights activists that have not yet been adequately studied. His
proposed book project was the first on this subject and combined both highly theoretical
and personal narratives by secular activists in Iran. This approach
reflects Hammed’s theoretical emphasis to study social movements from below, an
approach he took both in his published works and in developing a manuscript on
the underground leftist movement in Iran.
Hammed’s
premature departure has left us with a huge void. I mourn more than the loss of
a beloved friend. I mourn the loss of an intellect with a profound commitment
to social justice. I also celebrate Hammed’s life and legacy by reminding
myself and the generation to come of our duty in living a responsible life; a
life dedicated to justice.
Dr.
Shahrzad Mojab
Associate
Professor and Director
Women
and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto
Department
of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology
OISE/University
of Toronto
252
Bloor Street West
Toronto,
Ontario
M5S
1V6
CANADA
Tel.: (416) 923-6641, x2242 or at the WGSI (416) 946-5383
Fax:
(416) 926-4749
smojab@oise.utoronto.ca