Dialogues with the Dead: Necropoetics of Zahra’s Paradise

Shams, F. (2020). Dialogues with the Dead: Necropoetics of Zahra’s Paradise. Iranian Studies, 53(5–6), 893–909. https://doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2019.1689809 What can the poetry chosen for epitaphs on graves tell us about the political and cultural development of post-revolutionary Iran and the politics of death and dying under the Islamic Republic? This article explores contemporary Persian epitaph poetry as a valuable medium for understanding the socio-political dynamics of Iranian society. By analyzing the epitaphs of the Iran–Iraq war martyrs, who are buried in Zahra’s Paradise public cemetery in Tehran (Behesht-e Zahra), a new nomenclature can be established for the religious, political and socio-cultural ideas underpinning death and the afterlife. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit necropolitics.substack.com