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Bam-Pow 'Stupid Scarves'

How a graphic novel is battling Iran's veil of extremism.

By Sarah Weigum 6 Aug 2007 | TheTyee.ca

Sarah Weigum is on staff of The Tyee.

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'Persepolis': from bestseller to film fest.
  • Persepolis
  • Marjane Satrapi
  • Pantheon (2003)

Ten-year-old Marji fights Iran's veil of extremism with wit and defiance. At one point she joins a cluster of women chanting, "Guns may shoot and knives may carve, but we won't wear your stupid scarves." That is until a group of club-wielding men come after her. She's not in a documentary or even a non-fiction book; rather, she's a character in Persepolis, an autobiographical graphic novel about Iran's Islamic revolution.

So how, at a time when the media is saturated with talking heads and books by Middle East "experts," does a comic strip end up on the top of the heap, not only on bestseller lists and even film festivals, but also as assigned text in English Lit classes?

In France, where the author, Marjane Satrapi, now lives, the book is a bestseller and winner of the Angoulême Coup de Coeur prize, the highest award given to a comic book -- quite an honour in a country where the bande dessinée (literally "drawn strip") genre has a devoted and serious following. The first English translation appeared in 2003 and quickly earned acclaim from North American reviewers. Satrapi toured the U.S., reading Persepolis to packed crowds in bookstores and libraries. And this summer, the film version received a standing ovation and the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival.

Required reading

Professor Manuela Costantino is one prof who's teaching it in her English Lit course at UBC this summer. And she's not alone. The book is on reading lists in over 100 colleges in the U.S. and is on the approved curriculum for elementary schools in France.

But when Costantino explains the book's success to her students, it's with a sense of incredulity. "She's touring the U.S. reading in public libraries," she says, eyebrows raised, disbelief in her voice. "It's just a comic book."

Being marketed with the fancy title "graphic novel" certainly doesn't hurt, but Costantino also attributes Persepolis' rise to a combination accessibility and timing.

"This generation wants easy, quick information, and a comic fulfills this need," she says, pointing to a page where Satrapi depicts 2500 years of Iranian history in a half-page frame. On the surface, Satrapi provides Western readers with a fairly acceptable account of the revolution as well. The child of progressive parents, young Marji displays a defiant streak from the book's first page. She mocks the veil, challenges the teachers who tout the doctrines of the Islamic republic and listens to contraband Michael Jackson albums.

'Freedom'

When Persepolis was published, the political climate was ripe for the views of an Iranian woman who decried the veil as a repressive device of Islamic fundamentalism. The book appeared in France in 2000 as officials were campaigning for increased secularity, which eventually led to a ban on headscarves in schools. In 2003, when the English version was published, the "War on Terror" was in full swing, and if the presence of weapons of mass destruction couldn't be used to justify a pre-emptive strike, then surely bringing "freedom" to the oppressed people of the Middle East could.

But Costantino wonders if another reason for the book's success is that a simplistic reading of it perhaps fits too easily with prevalent Western attitudes towards Islam. "If the book had been, in fact, questioning Western ideas about the Middle East, would it have been so popular?" Costantino asks the class. Her answer: "Probably not."

The numerous arguments for and against veiling as voiced by Muslims and non-Muslims, make it clear that the issue is a complex one, influenced by social, religious, and personal factors.

Banning the ban

Ironically, even though she detests the veil, Satrapi has spoken out against the French ban on headscarves, calling the law "complete nonsense."

Back in Professor Costantino's class, a guest lecturer adds another layer to the evening's discussion. Amany Al-Sayyed, a UBC graduate student doing research on Persepolis, talks about the way Satrapi uses the image of the veil. Al-Sayyed grew up in a Muslim family -- her mother is Lebanese and her father is Palestinian -- but the women in her family didn't cover their hair until Al-Sayyed decided to veil when she was 20 years old.

"I just woke up one morning and decided this is something I should do," says Al-Sayyed. Later, her mother also began wearing a head covering.

Despite Satrapi's secular stance and her rejection of the veil, Al-Sayyed says Persepolis gives her a chance to navigate her own identity and talk about what it's like to be a veiled woman, and, often more importantly, what it's not like. For Al-Sayyed, the book's power lies in Satrapi's ability to present an alternative to the standard dichotomy that portrays Iranians either as violent fundamentalists or victims of tyranny, longing for Western redeemers.

"She is not adopting a position of victimhood," says Al-Sayyed, pointing to the look of resistance Marji wears in the book's first frame. "She doesn't need someone else to come save her."

Veiled values

Al-Sayyed echoes thoughts that Satrapi voiced in an interview. "If we want a democracy, the Iranian people have to do it themselves," Satrapi insists. She rejects the notion that foreign intervention can bring freedom to her people.

After Al-Sayyed's presentation, the class is quiet, and Costantino notes that students' reactions differ when there is a veiled woman in the room. There's a certain hesitancy that betrays the North American unfamiliarity with Islam. Finally, one student asks Al-Sayyed why she wears the veil. She tells him that it allows her to express her values. He pushes the point, asking, "What are those values?"

"I veil because I value the idea of spirituality and I practice spirituality every day," responds Al-Sayyed. A discussion about sexuality, chastity and the exoticism of veiled women ensues. There is plenty of curiosity in the room, but no hostility or pity towards the veil.

As she establishes her own identity in a primarily non-Muslim world, Al-Sayyed admires Satrapi's ability to grapple with the complexities of cultural difference in a way that appeals to readers who know little about the Middle East and Islam. However, she knows many Muslims who would not approach Satrapi's work so favourably.

Fifth grade foray

"If I showed this book to older people, I'd probably get slapped in the face," says Al-Sayyed. She's even doubtful that the Muslim Students' Association at Simon Fraser University where she completed her undergrad would put Persepolis in their library.

Not surprisingly, the Iranian government voiced their displeasure when the film premiered at Cannes, but so far, Al-Sayyed says, the book hasn't received enough exposure in Iranian communities to cause widespread anger. It's been translated into 20 languages, none of which are Persian.

"Once she does get the coverage in the Muslim community, we will hear something," predicts Al-Sayyed. In the mean time, she continues her grad studies on Persepolis and toys with the idea of doing a Ph.D. on the book. Later this year, when she volunteers in a Vancouver school, she hopes to teach Persepolis to a class of fifth graders.

It's clear that in lifting the veil, she's enabled people to talk about the veil.

 [Tyee]