To what extent do women accept, adjust and challenge the intersecting and shifting relations of cultural, political and religious discourses that organize their (sexual) lives?

Seeking to expand the focus on changing gender roles and construction of diasporic femininities and sexualities in migration studies, Farahani presents an original analysis of first generation Iranian immigrant women in Sweden. Certainly, highlighting the hybrid experiences of Swedish Iranians, Farahani explores the tensions that develop between the process of (self)disciplining women's bodies and the coping tactics that women employ. Subsequently, Gender, Sexuality, and Diaspora demonstrates how migratory experiences impact sexuality and, conversely, how sexuality is constitutive of migratory processes.

A timely book rich with empirical and theoretical insights on the subject of gender, diaspora and sexuality, it will appeal to scholars and undergraduate and postgraduate students of gender studies, anthropology, sociology, sexuality studies, diaspora, postcolonial and Middle Eastern studies.

About the Author
Fataneh Farahani is an Associate Professor in Ethnology at Stockholm University, Sweden.

Reviews

This book is an important addition to the literature on gender and migration providing a much needed exploration of sexuality in the diaspora. Using a nuanced intersectional approach the book skilfully explores how Iranian women in Sweden negotiate and perform their sexuality under the constraints and contradictions they face. Through addressing issues of displacement, marginalisation, racism and sexism as well as patriarchal forms of control, it explores amongst other issues, love and marriage, veiling and unveiling practices, sexual experiences, and demands for sexual purity. The book offers a much needed exploration of how women are embedded within contradictory sets of social relations around sexuality and gender in diasporic relations. This book is highly recommended as a central contribution to the area.

Floya Anthias, Professor of Sociology, University of East London, UK, Professor of Sociology and Social Justice (Emeritus), Roehampton University, UK, Visiting Professor, City University, UK

This is an informative and passionately argued study of how women's self-reflection in 'diasporic space', of sex and sexuality, veil, virginity, love and marriage, challenge past/present and home/foreign dichotomies. Farahani's analysis of sex, a vehemently protected taboo in Iranian/ Muslim culture and how it is unravelled in the process of displacement and migration is bold, perceptive and sensible.

Haideh Moghissi, Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar, Equity Studies, York University, Canada

Book Information
ISBN 9780415855686
Author Fataneh Farahani
Format Hardback
Page Count 172
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 385g