In this presentation, Prof. Pourtavaf takes the late-Qajar court and its harem during Nassir al-Din Shah’s reign as a historically specific site through which we can examine the complex and diverse histories of slavery within the region in the 19th century, the ways in which hierarchies of race, gender and sex functioned as constitutive elements of this institution, and how specific enslaved people were able to understand and position themselves in ways that allowed for better life chances. Through examining a particular albeit very elite site occupied by a variety of enslaved and formerly enslaved constituents who were a product of the evolving slave trade, I offer a historical account of modern slavery in Iran that recognizes its racist and gendered implications, while historicizing the institution within its geopolitical specificity.

RSVP to iran@princeton.edu