The Anthroapologist Volume 1, Number 1, May 2017
Persepolis and Orientalism: Western
Ideology, Sexism, and Pedagogy
JACKLYN - ANTHROPOLOS
Cultural Anthropology Graduate Student
Abstract
Teaching about the Middle East in higher education has
become a more taboo topic. The questions of what
perpetuates Orientalism, and what are the best ways of
combating such racist ideologies, are at the forefront of
pedagogical studies for all disciplines, including English,
Literature, or Politics. This article overviews some of the
critical aspects of Persepolis and how it can be viewed
both as Orientalist and imperative to developing
students’ cognitive maps. Where issues of the Middle
East are progressively more in-tuned with finding how
Westerners can better understand such politically-loaded
topics, pedagogical suggestions are crucial for helping
educate future productive citizens.
___________________________________________
As an autobiography from the Middle East, alongside
other works that have grown popular in America post-
9/11 such as Reading Lolita in Tehran, Marjane Satrapi’s
(2004) Persepolis runs the issue of contributing to already
harsh Orientalist stereotypes that exist about Iran that
have developed since the Iranian Revolution, the U.S.
Embassy crisis, and the War on Terror. This makes
Persepolis not only a required reading for many American
students at all levels and departments in universities, but
a potential influence in how the post-9/11 generation
will construct the Middle East in their geographical
imaginaries. In addition, as a memoir written by an
Iranian woman, the issues of the Middle East, sexism,
and the savior narrative (Abu-Lughod 2002) also
emerge. As a student, I will be evaluating Persepolis’ ability
to contribute to Orientalist ideals of Iran as well as areas
in which it contradicts the popular discourse. I will be
arguing that Persepolis does play into Orientalist tropes as
it idolizes Western ideologies and resorts to conveying
Muslims as sexist, but will also be arguing against the
presumption that Satrapi’s (2004) work contributes to
some areas of the savior narrative. To do this, I will be
providing examples from Persepolis that demonstrate
these arguments. Afterwards, I will be arguing for a
pedagogical method that addresses these concerns.
Prior to providing evidence, I will be outlining
where these arguments come from. I will summarize the
different approaches that scholars have taken on
Persepolis, such as whether it is pro-Iranian, pro-Western,
Orientalist, or sexist. I will also be providing the
literature that are the basis for these critiques, such as
Said’s (1978) Orientalism and Abu-Lughod’s (2002) “Do
Muslim Women Need Saving?”, which I refer to as the
9
savior narrative. Afterwards, I will present my argument
for how Persepolis is contributing to Orientalist
stereotypes while paradoxically contesting a key feature
of the savior narrative. Finally, I will suggest the
pedagogical approach I would utilize if I were teaching
this in a college course about life writing.
Background
To begin, Orientalism is the racism against people from
the Middle East, popularly critiqued by Edward Said
(1978) in his book Orientalism. In this work, Said (1978)
traces the presence of Orientalism as it dates back to
when Europeans first had contact with people from the
Middle East. He describes basic stereotypes that have
survived and transformed over the years that target the
Middle East as a region, Middle Easterners, and
Muslims; and though he focuses greatly on Arabs, this
extends to Iranians, Afghans, Indians, and other groups
of people who are considered a part of the Orient. Some
of these stereotypes include: stagnant, backwards,
feminine, violent, barbaric, and misogynistic. As Said
(1978) shows repeatedly through his work, what makes
for Orientalism is opposite of what Europe considers
itself, such as modern and progressive. This makes for
the “us” v. “them” dichotomy, where “us” constitutes
the West and “them” constitutes the East, or specifically
in this case the Middle East. These make for the basics
of what Orientalism is, and will be used throughout this
paper.
Another concept popularized by Said’s (1978) work
is the geographical imaginary. This term is used to
describe how people conceptualize other places and how
they arrange such places spatially and materially in their
minds. Said (1978) argues that the Western geographical
imaginary of the Middle East is filled with Orientalist
ideas. When Western people think about the Middle
East, they believe that these stereotypes and tropes are
true representations of what the region is like. This is
because the knowledge gained to create the geographical
imaginary comes from Western media, filled with its
own political agendas. Rarely do Western people come
to the Middle East themselves and have their own
account and first-hand experience with the Middle East
to better inform their geographical imaginaries. Though,
as Said (1978) argues, even when Western people do visit
the Middle East, they approach and see it first through
the lens of a Westerner, and then as an individual. This
will become the main focus of a pedagogical activity later
on.
One follower of Said’s (1978) ideology is Abu-
Lughod (2002). As a response to the War on Terror and
the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, she published her most
popular work about the savior narrative. Abu-Lughod
(2002) seeks to understand why women, in particular
Afghan women, were used as symbols of the War on
JACKLYN – ANTHROPOLOS
Terror and as subjects who needed to be saved. As she
frames it, Americans were led to believe through media
and political speeches that Afghan women were
powerless victims of the Taliban who needed Western
support and democracy to be liberated. Abu-Lughod
(2002) critiques this claim, citing how Muslim women
are particularly prone to being subject to the savior
narrative due to how Westerns perceive Islam as innately
sexist. The savior narrative was also a response to the
Taliban forcing women to veil, which itself became a
symbol of Islam’s sexism and oppression of women. The
veil was then used as an excuse to pursue imperialist and
colonialist agendas. Abu-Lughod (2002) discusses the
differences in what constitutes liberation, freedom, and
agency for Muslim women, and the veil’s social
significance and context in Afghanistan as well as other
Muslim nations. Her explanation of the veil will also be
key in this analysis as it is a prominent symbol both in
Persepolis as well as in American discourse concerning the
War on Terror and women’s rights.
Abu-Lughod’s (2002) savior narrative will be used
as a supplementary reading in the pedagogical approach,
as well as an extension on the Orientalist trope of sexism
in Islam and among Muslim men. Because of the great
significance surrounding women’s rights in the discourse
of the Middle East, sexism will be elaborated on
concerning Satrapi’s (2004) work, as I believe it severely
plays into Orientalism directed at Islam and Middle
Eastern sexism. However, while Persepolis does represent
Islam and the veil as fundamentally sexist, I
paradoxically believe that it does not work into the part
of the savior narrative where women are victimized.
Abu-Lughod’s (2002) argument is that Muslim women
are propped as victims due to their religious beliefs.
Satrapi (2004) does not fit her work into this frame of
reference, instead showing women as having agency and
political roles. This will be analyzed in more detail later.
Both Said’s (1978) and Abu-Lughod’s (2002) works
make for adequate background knowledge for students
reading Persepolis because it encourages them to read it
critically. Without such guidance, students may see
Persepolis as another Iranian narrative that aligns with
their Western beliefs about the Middle East and Muslim
women. Teaching about the Middle East itself is a topic
that has also received wide attention from pedagogical
scholars post-9/11 (e.g. Botshon & Plastas 2010, Gurel
2009, Somdahl-Sands 2014). These typically include
methods that supplement reading assignments or
projects with pages from Orientalism and Abu-Lughod’s
(2002) article, or at least include Orientalist stereotypes
as key areas to dismantle from student’s knowledge.
Teaching Persepolis should be no different.
As a popular autobiography depicting a “true”
window into the Middle East and the lives of Middle
Easterners, it should be evaluated critically less it
10
contribute to the exacerbated image of Iran. Memoirs
and other forms of life writing are often given truth
value because they are considered nonfiction works
(Smith & Watson 2001). As such, it can have a greater
effect on the geographical imaginary of students. For
this reason, after providing evidence for the Orientalism
in Persepolis, I will be outlining a pedagogical approach
that can counter the Orientalist ideas that could become
infinitely ingrained in students’ minds.
Evidence
For this section, I would like to split the main Orientalist
themes into Pro-Western Ideologies, Sexism, and Savior
Narrative because they are the prominent tropes in the
text. I propose that Savior Narrative be its own section
because of its importance in real-world applications. The
savior narrative is used to pursue imperialist and
colonialist agendas. If these stereotypes persist, they
further contribute to the racist and Orientalist
persecutions of Middle Eastern people. If Persepolis is to
be read as either contributing to the savior narrative or
the veil as an oppressive strategy for Muslim men, then
it needs to be approached as a work that can lead to
more serious consequences.
Pro-Western Ideologies. While others have commented that
Persepolis is anti-Western (Leservot 2011, Mazhari 2015,
Naghibi & O’Malley 2005), there are plenty that find
themselves on the other side of the spectrum. These
include scholars that believe that texts like Persepolis only
become popular in the U.S. because: they reinforce
American ideologies while women authors are self-
Orientalizing (Bahramitash 2005, Gurel 2009), they can
implement stereotypes that contribute to New
Orientalism (Botshon & Plastas 2010), and they
Orientalize Iranian men because of the sexist depictions
(Fotouhi 2014). Of course, the argument can go both
ways because of the frequency of contesting images that
emerge from the graphic memoir. Here, I will be arguing
that the pro-Western images need to be further
addressed because of its impact on students’
geographical imaginary and providing examples from
the text that demonstrate this.
Throughout the graphic memoir, there are subtle
inferences of Western ideological superiority. In the
beginning, Marji makes it clear that she aspires to live in
the United States (72). This is suggested numerous times
throughout, such as when Marji criticizes her parent’s
decision to travel to Turkey rather than Europe or the
U.S. (126). This signifies that the West is desirable and
better suited place politically and socially than Iran. It
positions it as superior to Iran and to a greater extent the
Middle East, and this is a message that students may take
at face value. Students may interpret this as a validation
for Western involvement that should be viewed more
critically.

In addition to the West being a desirable place,
Marji’s parents believing that a French education is the
key to success (137), and having her enrolled in a secular
French school prior to the Iranian Revolution, are both
instances that place Western education on a pedestal.
Her parents stress throughout Persepolis that if Marji is
going to be truly free, she needs both a Western
education and to leave Iran. As a response to the
revolution, her parent’s Western viewpoints dictate
much of what Marji does with her life. They also propose
all of this in the face of a theocratic Iran that was
executing the educated elite (256), including Marji’s
uncle (70), and enforcing fundamentalist Islamic code.
In this light, it would be understandable why Marji’s
parents wanted her to leave Iran, but a message that can
be absorbed without critical thinking is that the West is
ultimately superior and that people from the East dream
about going there because of its perceived superiority.
Western education, and therefore ideology, can also be
interpreted as superior since it is the kind of education
that Marji’s parents want for her.
Continuing with Western ideology, Marji’s mother
reading Simone Beauvoir is an image that evokes
Western ideals (175). As argued by both Bahramitash
(2005) and Fotouhi (2014), Satrapi is from a family
considered a part of the Iranian elite and intelligentsia,
with a Western education who subscribes to Western
ideologies. This is just one, narrow look into Iran, and it
is one that caters to a Western, liberal audience. All of
these instances combined can make for a harmful,
Orientalist message that instructors should be cautious
of when teaching Persepolis.
Additionally, Satrapi (2004) references Western pop
cultural icons from films and the music industry. For
example, her and the family friends that come from
Abadan discuss Star Wars (91), Disneyland is referenced
as a “paradise” for children going to the warfront (101),
and Marji desires Iron Maiden and Kim Wilde
paraphernalia (126). Marji’s desire for Iron Maiden
posters and Michael Jackson pins shows her love for
Western culture. What this makes for are Western and
Eastern images that are appealing, and relatable, to a
Western audience (Naghibi & O’Malley 2005). What it
also does, I would argue, is hide the nuances of anti-
Western panels. For example, Uncle Sam is represented
as “modern imperialism” (2004, 11), family friends from
prison discuss the C.I.A.’s role in torture methods used
by the Iranian Guard (50), Marji’s father talks about the
West selling weapons to prolong the Iran-Iraq war (253),
Marji calls the nuns in Vienna “religious extremists”
(178), Marji’s mother calls Western “liberators” of
Kuwaitis as merely there for oil (322), Marji’s father
accuses Americans of only caring when oil is involved
(43), and other panels where Satrapi critiques Western
ideologies, interventionism, and imperialism. The
beginning of part two as well, when Marji is once more
11
The Anthroapologist Volume 1, Number 1, May 2017
surrounded by veiled women in Vienna (155), can call
attention to the problematic reductionist ideas behind
veiling and women in the Middle East (Whitlock 2009).
These instances could easily be missed by students who
may not have any background knowledge about U.S. and
other Western involvement in the Middle East. The
pages dedicated to Marji’s father discussing the U.S.
Embassy hostage crisis (2004, 72), for example, can be
read without the historical implications that led to such
an event. Leservot (2011) argues that Satrapi’s (2004)
depictions of the West are a particular Iranian
interpretation of the West, or Iranian Occidentalism.
Because the story presents these different “kinds” of
West, I would argue that it contributes to hiding the
areas in which the West and other ideologies such as
colonialism, imperialism, and particular supremacies, are
critiqued. This is because of how Western imagery, such
as pop culture mentioned above, is used differently and
proposed differently than perhaps other international
texts that students may come across. This is why an
informative and critical pedagogical approach is
necessary for political and Middle Eastern texts such as
Persepolis.
Sexism. Since sexism is a major theme in Orientalist
discourse concerning the Middle East, it warrants
attention in classroom settings where students have
already internalized the concept of a misogynistic Islam.
Instructors should be cautious during classroom
discussion about women’s rights and Persepolis because it
poses a danger of reinforcing Orientalist assumptions. In
teaching Persepolis, there are many areas where sexism
becomes a dominant idea, and such instances need to be
addressed by instructors if they hope to teach students
to be critical of life writing.
A majority of the sexism apparent in Persepolis
comes from Iranian men. This can project the
monolithic assumption that all Iranian men, and
extended further to all Muslim men, are extremely sexist.
As Fotouhi (2014) argues, Iranian narratives have an
impact on how Iranian men are perceived in the West.
The Middle Eastern man has been portrayed in media as
a terrorist, protagonist, primitively masculine, and
violent. Fotouhi (2014) points to Iranian women’s
writing as a source of reinforcement for these
stereotypes, including the lack of publishers publishing
Iranian men’s narratives. The issue, then, becomes about
why the story of the abused, oppressed Iranian woman
becomes a bestseller. Fotouhi’s (2014) goal is to establish
how Iranian men’s representations in diasporic Iranian
women’s narratives reinforce dichotomies of East and
West, barbaric and civilized. She also looks at how
Iranian women Orientalize themselves by playing into
the stereotypes that have long been used against Middle
Easterners. Though sounding harsh, Fotouhi states:
“Although there is no denying that such descriptions
may be representative of Iranian women and their lived
JACKLYN – ANTHROPOLOS
experiences, the representations of the oppressed
Iranian woman as narrated from a position of privilege
by Western-educated women also inevitably engender
hypervisible stereotypes of Iranian men and masculinity”
(9). Her evidence comes from some of the most popular
Iranian women’s narratives, such as Persepolis, as well as
a few of the Iranian men’s narratives that are available in
English. The same can be said of the men presented in
Satrapi’s (2004) work, the only exceptions being Marji’s
father and uncle.
Fig. 1 – Persepolis p. 337
Most of the men who are portrayed as overtly sexist
are guardians of the revolution, such as in instances
where they rape (implied on p. 145), call women whores
for being at parties (310), and stop Marji on the street
for running and seeming “obscene” (301). Other times,
sexism comes from men who are called fundamentalists,
such as when Marji’s mother comes across two
“fundamentalist bastards” who tell her that women who
do not veil should be “pushed up against a wall and
fucked, and then thrown in the garbage” (74). As a
traumatic scene in the text, it resonates with readers. I
do not doubt that it would leave an impact on students
who read and internalize these kinds of incidents. The
message that may be given to the reader is that
fundamentalists are sexist and misogynistic. This is
certainly the case for the men that Marji’s mother runs
into on the street. What this may contribute to, however,
is a worsened image of Islam as a whole rather than an
isolated incident that occurred in the context of Iran’s
Revolution. And as I reiterate elsewhere, the idea of
Islam and Muslims being sexist and barbaric leads to
imperialist and colonialist consequences.
There are other times when sexism comes from
men who were not considered fundamentalist, such as
the Kuwaiti who thought Marji was a prostitute. As a
result, her uncle says: “as in all Arab countries, women
are so lacking in rights that for a Kuwaiti, a girl who
walks outside while drinking a coke can’t be anything but
a prostitute” (320). This lumps all Arab countries as
innately sexist, and is arguably the most Orientalist panel
12
in Persepolis. It proposes an “us” v. “them” binary in that
Arabs are “them”, a backwards, sexist group of people
and countries. It would seem to the reader that Arabs are
incredibly sexist to the point that Arab women are not
found in public, nor doing something as mundane as
drinking a coke. While Satrapi (2004) does distance
Arabs from herself and Iran throughout the text,
especially at the beginning (i.e. illustrated as
“tyrants” on p. 11), in this case it certainly demonizes
them. Readers are left to their imagination what a
country like Kuwait must be like, where women are
oppressed to the point of not being allowed outside. As
any binary opposition, this panel almost brightens
Marji’s condition, where it could be read that she is
fortunate to be an Iranian rather than more oppressed in
an Arab country.
Another prime example of sexism in Persepolis is
when Marji and a friend visit an illustrator who was
imprisoned for a drawing he published in a newspaper.
Throughout the visit, the illustrator talks over his wife
and does not let her contribute to the conversation.
Afterwards, Marji and her friend are in the car on the
way back home, when they begin discussing “Iranian
men”, “all men, period”, and sexism implicit in Iranian
law (337). It ends with one of the women yelling, “I can’t
take it anymore. I want to leave this country!” (337, see
fig. 1). This is a great systemic analysis and political
critique. Students who may not read into the text in this
way, however, may be prone to assume that sexist
policies in a theocratic Iran are representative of all
Muslim beliefs. As this paper is addressing Orientalist
assumptions in students, a pedagogical method that
accommodates for this is needed.
Savior Narrative. As a part of the stereotype of a hyper-
sexist Islam, there comes the Western assumption that
women in the Middle East require saving. Abu-Lughod

(2002) describes Muslim women being interpreted as
victims who need Western ideologies to become free
from Islam’s oppressive force. There are two areas I
wish to address: women as victims, and the veil. For
women as victims, I argue that Satrapi (2004) does not
play into this narrative. This is because, for the most
part, she provides women who are agents over their own
destiny. Though this is coming from a Western-
educated, elitist point of view, the reader is still being
exposed to Muslim women who organize, fight, and
demand change. Marji herself, organizing a
demonstration with
Fig. 2 – Persepolis p. 75
childhood friends early in her life (10) and
going to a protest with her babysitter (38), makes it clear
throughout Persepolis that she is not afraid of speaking or
acting against authority. This includes consistently
confronting teachers from her childhood who enforce
fundamentalist ideologies in the classroom (97, 144); and
into her adult life challenging religious dress codes for
women at the university level (297). These scenes are
particularly important because they do not mark Marji as
a helpless victim amidst the violence and transformation
of the Revolution. They show her as an active participant
who wants to be a part of the social and political scenes.
As Abu-Lughod (2002) argues, this is not the typical
Western depiction of Muslim women, and therefore
Persepolis has the ability to challenge student’s
internalization of the savior narrative.
Other women in Marji’s life are also agents of
change and inspiration. Her mother takes a very strong
subversive role throughout the text, either through
feeding Marji liberal ideas during her childhood, or by
actively taking to the streets to protest. At the beginning,
Marji describes her mother by explaining a time when
she was photographed protesting and had to disguise
herself in public (2004, 5). Since this is one of the first
images that the reader is given about Marji’s mother, one
can assume that this is the kind of image that Satrapi
(2004) wants the reader to have while reading the text.
Later on, Marji makes friends when she attends college
13
The Anthroapologist Volume 1, Number 1, May 2017
in Iran. She says that these women acted against
authority in small ways, including laughing loudly,
wearing certain clothing, and showing their wrists (302).
This same group of friends would gather to party with
their male friends, leading them into having issues with
the guardians (305-310). These women are not posed as
victims or as weak, as Abu-Lughod (2002) argues
Western media does. Instead, they are humanized and
shown with subversive power.
In regards to the veil, I believe that Satrapi (2004)
does the opposite. Abu-Lughod (2002) explains that
the veil is often utilized by the West as a symbol of
Muslim women’s oppression. She argues that most
Muslim women wear it as a choice, and that cultural
context is necessary to fully understand it. Satrapi (2004)
does not explain the complex history of the veil in Iran
or in other Middle Eastern countries. Instead, there are
panels where she states: “… I again put on my veil…
And so much for my individual and social liberties”
(245). The enforcing of the veil is something I will
elaborate more on in the pedagogy section, but for now
something like this can say to students that the veil is a
religious barrier to freedom. It can be interpreted as
something that oppresses these women, and that
ultimately these women need help, thus Abu-Lughod’s
(2002) savior narrative.
Still on the topic of the veil, Satrapi (2004) goes so
far as to discuss the differences between
“fundamentalists” and “modern” men and women (75,
see fig. 2). The discourse as to what constitutes
“modern” in the Middle East has always been forcefully
embodied by women, whether that be through the
banning of the veil during Iran’s White Revolution or
the veil being banned or discouraged in certain spheres
during Turkey’s “modernization project” (e.g. Ertürk
2006, Farzaneh 2014).
JACKLYN – ANTHROPOLOS
Modernity is a concept that is used to determine
how “Westernized” a country is, and such countries
mentioned use women as a measurement of modernity.
Satrapi (2004) is playing into the discourse by providing
“fundamentalist” as the binary opposition to “modern”,
and thus calling religious and fundamental Muslims
backwards and static. Students reading this can also
gather that these are the two types of groups found in
Iran during the time. This oversimplification may be in
part based on how Marji personally viewed Iran during
the Revolution, split between “us” and “them”. “Us”,
for what a reader can conceptualize through the work,
are those who subscribe to Western ideologies, based on
the instances outlined above where Satrapi (2004) places
secular thought and education as superior. “Them”, it
can be gathered, are religious Muslims who opted for a
theocratic Iran, and is extended to the Arab world and
other Muslim nations who are short on women’s rights.
This aligns with the Western audience, and parallels
Bahramitash’s (2005) argument for why this text became
so popular in Western countries.
In Persepolis, it is not just Marji who dislikes the veil.
Her mother is also shown repeatedly discussing the veil
and its ramifications. She first calls other women
hypocrites for wearing it, such as their neighbor who
they see wearing a chador when just that past year the
same woman was seen wearing a miniskirt (2004, 75).
Additionally, when Marji’s mother comes to visit her in
Vienna, she states: “How good it feels to walk without a
veil on my head, without the worry of being arrested
over two locks of hair or my nail polish” (203). This can
cause issues in the classroom as it proposes that, again,
the veil is the opposite of freedom, or is at least
ideologically opposite to concepts of self-expression,
like nail polish. The veil in this situation is complex,
because there is the issue of forced veiling. As I will
argue in the pedagogy section, instructors need to keep
in mind that students may need to be reminded that in
the context of the Iranian Revolution the veil was forced,
but in other situations this is not the case. It runs the
problem of seeing Muslim women who veil as needing
saving, the prominent discourse that excused the war in
Afghanistan and Abu-Lughod’s (2002) core argument.
The scrutiny that the veil embodies throughout
Persepolis can be admired and dismayed by feminist
scholars. While many can approach Persepolis and wince
as they watch Middle Eastern women gain popularity by
abandoning their traditional practices (Gurel 2009),
others may feel that the traditional ways are inherently
sexist and need to be changed. Instructors need to keep
in mind that there are multiple approaches for disliking
the veil, such as subscribing to Abu-Lughod’s (2002)
savior narrative and believing that Middle Eastern
women are victims, or adversely believing that most
cultural processes are designed to perpetuate sexism and
uphold the dominant culture. For this reason, instructors
14
should be cautious about expressing opinions about the
veil, less it be misinterpreted. On the other hand,
instructors should be sure to let the veil discussion be
open to criticisms while also letting the discussion act as
a space that can be used to provide fruitful and
educational feedback about students’ Orientalist or
feminist critiques.
Pedagogy
As a memoir, Persepolis has the power to pose as truthful
and therefore represent a “real” Iran (Smith & Watson
2001). Above, I have shown that Persepolis may be
problematic to present as truth because of how it
represents Iran and Iranians. I have also mentioned
throughout the evidence section the importance of
critiquing Orientalism in the classroom while presenting
a text that may encourage Orientalism. The ideologies
behind Orientalism have been used throughout history
to dehumanize and marginalize the Middle East and the
people who live there. Previously, Orientalist stereotypes
were used to explain the need for colonialism.
Contemporarily, in the West these same ideas are
circulating to rationally support the War on Terror and
the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq
(Abu-Lughod 2002). While the evidence in Persepolis for
both Orientalism and the savior narrative may seem
trivial, these stereotypes have led to the systematic
oppression of Muslims, Arabs, and other Middle Eastern
people both in their places of origin and in the West. As
instructors of a text that has the potential to legitimize
such systematic oppression, certain approaches should
be implemented less they contribute to the worsened
image of Iran and the whole of the Middle East.
The first issue is one that seems simple: critique
Orientalism. The introduction of Said’s (1978)
Orientalism is a suitable supplementary reading as it
outlines the main stereotypes used. I would also opt for
students to read Said’s (1978) chapter “Orientalism
Now” as it better explains the violence that students are
subjected to in Persepolis. However, this would depend on
the instructor’s timeframe, and Said’s (1978)
introduction should be enough to give students a
background in common stereotypes used against Middle
Easterners. An adjoining exercise that should come
before reading Persepolis, or should come within the first
few chapters of reading, involves revealing students’
imaginative geographies. Westerners do not typically
critique their internalized knowledge about other places,
and this classroom activity, called ‘First Thoughts’
(Orzeck, Leyba, O’Donnell, & Weier, forthcoming),
should begin this process. The instructor would ask
students to take out a sheet of paper and write down five
words, images, or phrases that come to their mind when
they hear “Iran”. The same could be done for “the
Middle East” or “Islam”, as they often yield similar
results. This type of activity not only informs students of

their own preconceived notions, but also the instructor
who can accommodate for common themes they may
encounter. Certain words can elicit a negative
connotation, such as “terrorism” or “evil”, or more
seemingly neutral terms like “Islam” or “desert”. There
should be an open discussion that allows students to
express their ideas without being persecuted. Reading
Orientalism should inform students that these ideas have
been given to them largely from biased media sources
and popular Orientalist discourses. Students should also
become aware of how they came to internalize such
ideas.
Somdahl-Sands (2014) offers a pedagogical
approach to dismantle student’s preconceived notions
about the Middle East. She argues that students come
into a course with a frame of reference, which she refers
to as a cognitive map, that stores all the information they
know about the world around them. Since most of this
information comes from Western media that largely
supports Orientalist tropes, Somdahl-Sands (2014)
argues that certain pedagogical approaches can utilize
postcolonial theory and geography to address some of
these assumptions. Her approach includes an
assignment where students are expected to blog about a
contemporary event in the Middle East by finding news
reports about the event and analyzing the source.
Students realized throughout the course of the
assignment that the news source, what was said, what
was not said, and how it was said all impacted how a
reader interpreted an event. By using a blog and
contemporary events, Somdahl-Sands (2014) argues that
“students can see how their mental map of the world had
conventions, sources, silences, and material outcomes”
(29).
When instructors approach Persepolis, the same
considerations should be included. It may be easy for
students to read Satrapi’s (2004) memoir and perceive
that what is said about Iran and Iranians only pertains to
the time period of the Revolution, or the extent of
Satrapi’s writing. Students need to be allowed to discuss
the ramifications of such stereotypes in today’s world.
Most students typically do not have an extensive
background in Middle Eastern politics or history, and
therefore their cognitive maps will only have what they
have learned from non-scholarly sources (Botshon &
Plastas 2010). Their lack of Middle Eastern knowledge,
too, can impact how they view Persepolis and what
messages they receive from it, such as when students
learn about other conflicts or events that occurred in the
Middle East (Orzeck et al. forthcoming). This becomes
especially important for critiquing the savior narrative.
As mentioned previously, Satrapi (2004) does not
explain the complex history or cultural context of the
veil in Iran. She only displays her dislike of it, and how
it is impeding on her individual liberties (245). Since
students do not have this background knowledge, they
15
The Anthroapologist Volume 1, Number 1, May 2017
supplement Satrapi’s (2004) memoir with the
information they have learned from popular Orientalist
discourse about the veil, such as how it is oppressive and
a symbol of Muslim women’s inequality in a country
where women’s rights are vastly more inferior than those
found in the West. Instructors can approach this by
assigning Abu-Lughod’s (2002) article and having
discussion questions similar to the ones below:
• What happens when Westerners see Iran as
oppressing women by forcing the veil?
• How does this parallel, or contrast, what happened
in Afghanistan? (Additionally, do students know
why the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan?)
• Does Marji need saving?
• How could we reconcile Abu-Lughod’s (2002)
argument and Persepolis?
• What is the difference between women veiling in
Muslim countries like Egypt, Jordan, or Syria, and
forced veiling in countries like Iran or Saudi Arabia?
Including Saudi Arabia in the last question, I believe,
adds a different perspective since students are either
taught that 1. Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women is
representative of all Muslim countries (as suggested by
Smith 2015), or 2. Saudi Arabia is a great ally to the U.S.
These two ideas seem paradoxical, especially given that
women’s rights were used as a reason to forcefully
remove the Taliban from Afghanistan with military force
while the same is not done in regards to Saudi Arabia’s
oppressive monarchy. I suggest this approach because it
both highlights the savior narrative and brings a larger
context by comparing Iran to other countries in the
region.
Satrapi’s (2004) failure to contextualize the veil sits
alongside her ruthless depiction of Muslims as sexist.
Gurel (2009) argues that it is difficult to teach works like
Persepolis in the classroom because they feature women
who disregard or disavow Islam and their native cultures
while simultaneously praising Western ideas. Persepolis
does reference Western ideologies as being superior to
those used by Muslims and Middle Easterners, as argued
previously. Gurel’s (2009) approach focuses on
historicizing feminism and Islam while explaining the
complexity of representation. These suggestions are
offered to combat the gaps in knowledge that students
have about these three topics, including the areas of
knowledge that may be Orientalist in nature. When
historicizing feminism, students need to be taught the
long divide between Western feminism and non-
Western feminism, including the linkages between
Western feminism and imperialism. This would lead the
way to discussing transnational feminism, where
feminisms are criticized and need to be contextually
discussed. Historicizing Islam has much to do with
Orientalism and how works that are presented in class
JACKLYN – ANTHROPOLOS
settings may contribute to this geographic imaginary.
Lastly, representations of the Middle East, as well as
other areas of the Global South, should be viewed
critically and students should have an opportunity to
interpret texts on their own. These guidelines are
directed at instructors who may face significant
knowledge gaps in their students, a prominent problem
for those teaching about feminism and the Middle East.
While Persepolis may contribute to the idea of a sexist
Middle East, I argued previously that it does provide
Iranian women who are agents of change during the
Revolution, such as Marji and her mother. Botshon and
Plastas (2010) use Persepolis in their college courses
because they argue it can offer their students
transversalism. Their article uses transversalism as the
process in which enemies and Others form new
understandings of each other. They argue that Persepolis,
unlike other Iranian-women narratives that have become
popular post-9/11, has the ability to change students’
views of Iran and the Middle East rather than reinforce
their Orientalist stereotypes, saying that “Satrapi
effectively humanizes a group otherwise labeled as
terrorists in these students’ minds” (Botshon & Plastas
2010, 5). Their evidence comes from multiple channels
– firstly, they use what Sarpati (2004) has said about her
writing and how it has shocked Westerners she has
encountered; secondly, they use other academic sources
that show how Satrapi’s various elements in her memoir
(such as how it is graphic, humanizing, and depicting
violence) can resonate with students more than other
forms of writing; and thirdly, student accounts from
their own classrooms.
While I disagree that Persepolis does not contribute
to Orientalism, I do agree that it can change students’
perspectives of Muslim and Iranian women. As a
victimized group, they are shown in a different light
through Satrapi’s (2004) graphic depictions and
character development. An activity that could be used to
address how women are portrayed in Persepolis is to allow
students to express whether they are surprised by Marji’s
(and others’) actions, and why that is. There can also be
an activity that focuses on what methods Marji and
others use to defy authority, such as actively protesting,
altering their appearances, and collectively gathering in
private. This would encourage students to see that
women in the Middle East do not necessarily require
saving from the West because they are able to advocate
for change themselves.
Conclusion
Persepolis is an exemplary text that has been given praise
from critics of all perspectives. However, as other
scholars have argued, Satrapi’s (2004) work may create
issues in Western classroom settings. Students’
geographical imaginaries and cognitive maps are filled
16
with Orientalist ideas about the Middle East, and
instructors must acknowledge this when teaching
something as political as Persepolis. It poses the risk of
contributing to reductionist ideas about Islam, Muslim
women, and Iran through its depictions that come
largely from a Western-educated, elitist point of view. I
am not arguing that Persepolis should not be taught in
classrooms. Instead, it is crucial that students are capable
of critiquing this work with a critical lens. This can only
be possible if they have the background knowledge and
open discussion necessary to recognize Orientalism and
the key areas of the savior narrative. Instructors can very
easily provide this, by offering supplementary texts like
Said’s (1978) popular critique and Abu-Lughod’s (2002)
article. They can also conduct simple activities to reveal
students’ geographical imaginaries, create a comparative
discussion about the Middle East, and address both the
savior narrative’s approach to women and the veil.
Persepolis should be read like any other work from the
Middle East: with the caution and background necessary
to successfully learn from such a historical and political
text.
References Cited
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2002. “Do Muslim Women Really
Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on
Cultural Relativism and Its Others.” American
Anthropologist 104(3):783-90.
Bahramitash, Roksana. 2005. “The War on Terror,
Feminist Orientalism and Orientalist Feminism: Case
Studies of Two North American Bestsellers.” Critique:
Critical Middle Eastern Studies 14(2):221-35.
Botshon, Lisa, and Melinda Plastas. 2010. “Homeland
In/Security: A Discussion and Workshop on
Teaching Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.” Feminist Teacher
20(1):1-14.
Ertürk, Yakin. 2006. “Turkey’s Modern Paradoxes:
Identity Politics, Women’s Agency, and Universal
Rights.” In Global Feminism: Transnational Women’s
Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights, edited by Myra
M. Ferree and Aili M. Tripp, 79-109. New York: New
York University Press.
Farzaneh, Delaram. 2014. “One Step Forward, Two
Steps Back: A Brief History of Legal Discriminations
Against Women in Iran and the Violations of
International Human Rights.” Annual Survey of
International & Comparative Law 20(1):200-237.
Fotouhi, Sanaz. 2014. “An Analysis of Literary
Representations of Iranian Men in Diasporic Iranian
Literature.” Journal of Multidisciplinary International
Studies 11(1):1-20.
Gurel, Perin. 2009. “Transnational Feminism, Islam, and
the Other Woman: How to Teach.” Radical Teacher
86:66-70.
Leservot, Typhaine. 2011. “Occidentalism: Rewriting
the West in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.” French Forum
36(1):115-30.
 The Anthroapologist Volume 1, Number 1, May 2017

Nafisi, Azar. 2008. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in

Books. New York: Random House.
Naghibi, Nima, and Andrew O’Malley. 2005.
“Estranging the Familiar: ‘East’ and ‘West’ in Satrapi’s
Persepolis.” English Studies in Canada 31(2-3):223-48.
Orzeck, Reecia, Alexa Leyba, Christie O’Donnell, and
Jacklyn Weier. “Assessing Undergraduate Knowledge
of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Forthcoming in
The Illinois Geographer.
Satrapi, Marjane. 2004. The Complete Persepolis. New York:
Pantheon.
Smith, Benjamin. 2015. Market Orientalism. Syracuse:
Syracuse University Press.
Smith, Sidonie and Julia Watson. 2001. Reading
autobiography: A guide for interpreting life
narratives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Somdahl-Sands, Katrinka. 2014. “Combating the
Orientalist Mental Map of Students, One Geographic
Imagination at a Time.” Journal of Geography 114:26-36.
Whitlock, Gillian. 2009. “Bookends: AutoGraphs.” In
Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit, 187-202.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

17