Ruby's Annotated Bibiliography
BBC News. "Slideshow: Iranian Revolution 1979” BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2016.
This slideshow found on the BBC News website captures Tehran in the midst of the 1979 Revolution with a series of images and audio news reports. This source will help better understand the turmoil yet optimism from the people of Iran, which we see from Marji as she celebrates the new chapter of Iran’s history. I want this to be my first plot point as this is where Persepolis really starts and is the foundation of Marji's narrative.
de Mulder, Francoise. Iran-Iraq War: Iraqi Troops Constructing a Floating Bridge. Digital Image. Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
I have chosen this image sourced from the Encyclopaedia Britannica online to represent the plot point for Iraq. I feel it is especially important to plot Iraq not only because of it's participation in the war but also as a representation of the Arab League. The image depicts Iraqi soldiers building a bridge to bridge to Khorramshahr which lies on the border between the two nations of Iran and Iraq. Whilst Persepolis focuses on an Iranian's experience of the war I feel it is necessary to also know the other side of the story to fully understand the conflict and the environment our protagonist is living in.
Drapkin, Arnold H. May Day in Red Square. 1 May 1987. Getty Images. Web. 4 Apr. 2016
Found from Getty Images a database an American stock photo agency, this image depicts a poster Karl Marx, Fredrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin hanging in Red Square, Moscow in 1980. Moscow will serve as an important plot point in my map for a number of varying reasons. Firstly it is in the “Moscow” section of Persepolis that we encounter Marji’s Uncle Anoosh who believes in the ideals of Marxism after escaping to the USSR. Uncle Anoosh provides a significant influence on Marji and the way she thinks about politics as it is revealed he is a Marxist-Lenin like many in the USSR. At the time of the revolution Marxist’s and Nationalists joined forces to overthrow the Shah, however once the Islamic Republic was many were executed by the Islamic government or faced a violent backlash at the rejection of their communist beliefs and I want this plot point to explore the existence of the two ideals in the Iranian population.
SundanceTV. “Beginnings: Marjane Satrapi.” Online video clip. YouTube, 13 Oct 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2016
This source perhaps differs from the others - it will represent Paris, France on my map as it shows Marjane Satrapi in 2014 explaining her reasons for not only sharing her story about her past but also why she chooses so to do in the medium of a graphic novel. I think that adding a modern interview from Satrapi is powerful as this is her autobiography after all and is all too easy to get lost amongst all the historical information.This interview will help remind that this is a personal account of an experience. I chose the plot point as Paris because it is where her account ends in Persepolis, and we continue to see her struggles as a migrant. Paris is the last location we encounter Marji in, and subsequently she becomes a citizen residing in France up until today, brining this story into the modern age.
Background Sources:
Abdmolaei, Shirin. “(Re)Fashioning Resistance: Women, Dress and Sexuality in Iran.” Anthropology of the Middle East 9.2 (2014): 38-55. Web. 4 Apr. 2016
Found through the UT library database, this source acts as important background to my map as it explores a theme I have not brought up yet but I think is imperative for understanding Persepolis – sexuality. As the graphic novel is a Bildungsroman story it follows Marji and her coming of age, which includes her, exploring her sexuality through relationships as well as her aesthetic. This source provides a history of the stricter rules on showing a woman's sexuality but also provides modern research and statistics showing existing reactions to the laws. It is important it has these modern statistics from Iranian women themselves as it deters from being an enforced Western Feminist view and instead gives what actual women living in the Islamic Republic of Iran feel towards discipline of the regime.
Hakimzadeh, Shirin. “Iran: A Vast Diaspora Abroad and Millions of Refugees at Home.” Migration Policy Institute, 01 Sept. 2006. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
This source was found on the Migration Policy Institute and gives a historical pattern of migration and emigration of the Iranian people as well as discussing issues such as Diaspora. Significantly it shows the migration patterns during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran Iraq war with multiple graphs and charts, of not only Iranian's but also Iraqi's. The source provides information on which members of the Arab League accepted people seeking asylum from both countries. As Marjane Satrapi was a migrant herself it is worthy of attention that we look at not only her own personal story but the pattern of Iranian migration as a whole.
Olimat, Muhamad S. "Pan-Arabism and Pan-Islamism." The Encyclopedia of Political Science. Ed. George Thomas Kurian. Vol. 4. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2011. 1169-1172. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
This source provides a discussion between the ideas of Pan-Arabism and Pan-Islamism. Whilst it does not focus on the Iraq-Iran War, by using this source I hope to situate Persepolis in these deeply historical rooted and complex ideas to further the understanding of the differences between ideologies, the changing status of Iran and to begin to illuminate strained relationships between Iran and Iraq, as well as other Pan-Arab states.
Razoux, Pierre.The Iran-Iraq War. Trans. Nicholas Elliott. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2015. Web. 3 Apr. 2016
Again, this source was found through the UT Library Catalogue when searching for the Iran-Iraq war. I believe it will provide a strong background for references to the details of the Iran-Iraq war, which serves as the background for Marjane Satrapi's autobiography. The book offers a good referencing point as to why the war happened, the multiple reasons as to why it happened and the varying justifications for it as well as referencing back to the current state of relationships between the two countries and their relationships to the West. Again it is important to note that Iraq is considered an Arab country whilst Iran is not and I want to simultaneously concentrate on Iran's relationship with the Arab League during this conflict.
