Negotiations in the Third Space: Visualization of the Complexity of an Iranian Woman's Identity

Iranian female identity is typically represented as static and fixed, either portraying women as ‘modern’ or ‘victims’ (from the Western perspective) or ‘Westoxified’ or ‘modest’ (from the Islamic state’s perspective). Utilizing Foucault’s theorization of subjectivity and disciplinary power and Bhabha’s Third Space theory, I draw attention to the disciplinary institutions, such as family, school, urban space, government, and national and foreign media, and the ways that Iranian women resist and challenge these regimes of ‘regularization.’ I propose that through these contestations, ‘hybrid’ forms of Iranian gendered identity emerge as a result of creative borrowing and blending of Islamic, Iranian, and Western paradigms as the three dominant paradigms of modern Iran. My thesis project is a visual autobiography, titled Bahar's Story: Negotiations in the Third Space, which examines my experiences of being a female during my growing up in Iran, in order to visualize the complexity of Iranian women's gendered identities.