Bøger af Pedram Khosronejad

Unveiling the Veiled: Royal Consorts, Slaves and Prostitutes in Qajar Photographs is the first public visual venue in the field of Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies bringing together photographs of Naser al-Din Shah's (b. 1831-d. 1896) consorts and their African female slaves (kaniz) inside the royal harem, accompanied by images of women, probably prostitutes of the Naseri period (1848-1896), inside the studio of Amir Doust Mohammad Khan Moayer al-Mamalek (b. 1857-d. 1913), one of the influential members of the royal court and the king's son-in-law. Indeed, properly analysing these three innovative and provocative topics -royal consorts, slaves and prostitutes- together requires a deep understanding of several fields of research. This is why I am presenting this exhibition in conjunction with the conference on Slavery and Sexual Labor in the Middle East and North Africa in the hope of providing a new platform for those of us who consider photographs of the Qajar period of Iran as material culture for use in further social, cultural and historical investigations. Dr. Pedram Khosronejad Associate Director for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies School of Global Studies & Partnerships Oklahoma State University

The exhibition focuses on the overlooked study of race and ethnicity in the field of Iranian photography. The photographs showcase Africans enslaved during the Qajar period of the 1840s-1920s and are considered to be a new topic in the field of visual studies of modern Iran. This is the first ever photo exhibition organized in the United States that uses photographs of the Qajar and early Pahlavi periods to study the level of ability of the medium as material culture. The photographs included in the exhibition are from the Dr. A. Fazel Visual Archive, Media Collection and Digital Resources (Oklahoma State University), the Kimia Foundation (U.S.A), and the Farhad and Firouzeh Diba Collection of Qajar Photographs (Spain). The exhibition is sponsored by the Mellon Research Initiative Reimagining Indian Ocean Worlds and co-sponsored by Bita Daryabari Presidential Chair in Persian Language and Literature and the Art History Program at UC Davis in cooperation with the Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies at Oklahoma State University.

This catalogue is one of the first visual representations of the material religion and art objects of Naser al-Din Shah's court, vis à vis popular Shiite beliefs during the Naseri period (1848-1896). In this work, Pedram Khosronejad has paid special attention to the role of Naser al-Din Shah's popular Shiite values in shaping attitudes toward the depiction in portraiture of the Prophet Mohammad and Imam Ali.Khosronejad's observations further confirm Naser al-Din Shah's deep-rooted connections to popular Shiite beliefs and related superstitions, along with his interest in Shiite rituals and ceremonies.Thierry Zarcone, Directeur de recherche, Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités, CNRS, France.

Khosronejad's unique collection provides us with a treasure trove of images focusing on the daily life of Naser al-Din Shah, his wives, concubines, and slaves of both sexes. Janet AfaryMellichamp Professor of Religious StudiesUC Santa Barbara Pedram Khosronejad has provided invaluable new information about the history of photography in Iran during the 19th-century Qajar period. In particular he has carefully researched the photographs taken by Naser al-Din Shah, perhaps the Qajar monarch most fascinated by Western technology. These intimate photographs of his own harem are unique and highly informative, not just for their intrinsic value in a period in which human images were disapproved of, but also for what they reveal about Naser al-Din Shah, his self-image, his household and his court. William O. Beeman Professor, Department of Anthropology University of Minnesota