Paths Made by Walking: The Work of Howzevi Women in Iran

What can women's scholastic pursuits tell us about what building an Islamic state looks like for women who are loyal to its project? And what can an ethnographic study of women who are using Islamic education to transform their conditions in Iran teach us about our own humanity? Paths Made by Walking provides insight into these questions by examining how Iranian women have participated in Islamic education since the 1979 revolution. This groundbreaking ethnography on Iranian howzevi (seminarian) women reveals how ideologies of womanhood, institutions, and Islamic practices have played a pivotal role in religiously conservative women's mobility in the Middle East. Applying over a year of ethnographic fieldwork, Amina Tawasil analyzes how the Islamic education of seminarian women has propelled some of them into powerful positions in Iran, from close ties with the state's supreme leader and chief justice to membership in the Basij (voluntary military organization). At the same time, these women often choose to remain "hidden" or to otherwise follow practices that seem inscrutable or illogical from a framework of politicized resistance. By centering the howzevi women's senses of self and revealing their complex interpretations of their beliefs, Tawasil offers a fresh perspective on forms of feminine identity that do not always mirror supposedly universal desires for recognition, autonomy, leadership, or authority. Taking readers into the classrooms, living rooms, and compounds where howzevi women participate in intellectual discourse, Paths Made by Walking invites readers to reconsider their conceptualizations of the women who support the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Note on Translation and Transliteration Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: The System 1. The Revolution and the Women's Howzeh Elmiyeh 2. Khomeini's Project, a Debate 3. The Howzevi and Ijtihad Part II: Constituting Practices 4. The Black Chador 5. Disputation and Play Part III: Howzevi Women Re-constituting Practices 6. Moving Through Exclusion 7. A Howzevi Marriage 8. Jang-e Narm and Khod Shenasi Coda Glossary Works Cited Appendices

About the Author :
Amina Tawasil is a faculty lecturer in the Programs in Anthropology, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Review :
"There has been as yet very little written about educated women who are aligned with the Islamic Republic of Iran and part of the inner circle of the state. This book takes an entirely new approach to these women and works to disrupt stereotypes that portray them as mouthpieces of the regime by untangling the minutiae of their daily lives and connecting it to their aspirations."—Rose Wellman, author of Feeding Iran: Shii Families and the Making of the Islamic Republic "There has been as yet very little written about educated women who are aligned with the Islamic Republic of Iran and part of the inner circle of the state. This book takes an entirely new approach to these women and works to disrupt stereotypes that portray them as mouthpieces of the regime by untangling the minutiae of their daily lives and connecting it to their aspirations."—Rose Wellman, author of Feeding Iran: Shii Families and the Making of the Islamic Republic "[Tawasil]'s discussion of veiling and staying out of sight is the most complex, comprehensive, insightful, grounded treatment l have ever seen. Her understanding of the howzevi women's perspectives of the meaning of their veiling, of their purposes, their goals for their religious selves is outstanding. We do not have anything like this—a study of the world of female religious students and teachers, as women striving to become the religious selves they want to attain."—Mary Hegland, author of Days of Revolution: Political Unrest in an Iranian Village "In Paths Made by Walking, Tawasil offers a profound rethinking about the lives and leadership of Howzevi (seminarian) women in Iran. Through a compelling blend of sharp analysis and evocative storytelling, the book reveals the pivotal roles these women have played in shaping the Iranian Republic. Tawasil's work challenges conventional narratives and enriches our understanding of Howzevi women's influence in religious and sociopolitical realms. Essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of gender and Islam in modern Iran."—Shenila Khoja-Moolji, author of Rebuilding Community: Displaced Women and the Making of a Shia Ismaili Muslim Sociality