Beyond Modern Identity Women in Iran and India Through Persian Poetry

About this event

The Evalene Parsons Jackson Lecture Series welcomes Mana Kia for a discussion of women’s lives and participation in Persian poetic culture before modernity.

Historical accounts often describe women’s lives during this period as highly restricted, leaving little room for agency or creative expression. Focusing on women in Iran and India, Kia will examine early modern Persian writing by and about women, particularly women who wrote poetry. Her lecture asks whether modern ideas about liberation and individual identity provide an adequate framework for understanding their lives.

By looking beyond modern concepts of identity, Kia offers a fuller view of women’s intellectual and creative lives in the past and considers what those histories can teach us about ourselves and our relationships to society.