Publications [#287034] of Negar Mottahedeh

Papers Published

1. Mottahedeh, N. "Ta'ziyeh: A Twist of History in Everyday Life."  21 pages The Women of Karbala: Ritual Performance and Symbolic Discourses in Modern Shi'i Islam  (2005): 25-43.

   Abstract:
   Ta'ziyeh (or shabih) is the traditionally accepted term for the "theatrical" performances or dramas that reenact, recount, and recollect the lives of the extended family of the Prophet Mohammad during the month of Moharram. The venerated figures represented in the ta'ziyeh are known as the "Fourteen Infallibles" (chahardah ma'sum) by Shi'i Muslims.1 They include the Prophet Mohammad himself, the Twelve Imams, starting with Imam Ali, and the Prophet Mohammad's daughter, the mother of Imams Hasan and Hosayn, known as Fatemeh.2 In the ta'ziyeh drama, these Fourteen Infallibles come alive on the stage of the Iranian "newest days" and take part in the dramatic reenactment of Islam's antiquity-a resurrection, in drama, historically scheduled for Judgment Day. The ta'ziyehs enacted during the month of Moharram and sometimes Safar revolve around the tragic death of the Third Imam, Hosayn. They are performed in recollection of the Battle of Karbala, in which Imam Hosayn, his meager army, and members of his family were slaughtered on the plains of Karbala (now in Iraq) by rival claimants to Prophet Mohammad's successorship and the military army of Caliph Yazid. © 2005 by The University of Texas Press. All rights reserved.