Tag Archives: Iran

A Persian Preacher’s Westward Migration: Táhirih’s Transnational Rhetoric, 1817–2015

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Illustration of Táhirih’s travels with five key stops starred by Layli Maria Miron.
Map: Clipping of “Middle East in the 19th Century,” University of Chicago

Journal of Communication and Religion, vol. 42, no. 4, 2019, pp. 5–27.

Abstract: During her brief life in the early nineteenth century, the Persian poet and theologian Táhirih advocated for a spiritual revolution. Authorities executed her for heresy in 1852. After death, Táhirih attracted admirers around the world; Western writers—especially women—have interpreted her history to argue for gender equality, religious renewal, and global interdependence. This Middle Eastern preacher has established a posthumous pulpit in the United States, as members of the Bahá’í Faith there have authored a dozen books about her. After introducing Táhirih’s rhetorical rebellions, this essay demonstrates her transnational influence by analyzing her afterlives in U.S. Bahá’í discourse.

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A Persian Preacher’s Westward Migration: Táhirih’s Transnational Rhetoric, 1817–2015Download

Making Visible the Nativism-Ableism Matrix: The Rhetoric of Immigrants’ Comics

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Rhetoric Review Journal

Rhetoric Review, vol. 38, no. 4, 2019, pp. 445-462

Abstract: Nativist ideology, which dominates public discourse, implements ableist hierarchies to reduce immigrants to diseases of the body politic. Immigrants’ graphic narratives, on the other hand, reveal the disabling effects of xenophobic environments. Rhetoricians have begun to recognize comics’ persuasive potential but thus far have not explored their role in immigration rhetoric. Using this medium’s affordances, immigrants critique the nativism-ableism matrix, as exemplified by Parsua Bashi’s comics memoir about immigrating to Switzerland from Iran, Nylon Road (2006/2009). Bashi’s self-worth, displaced by her unreceptive context, depends on accepting a mental (dis)ability. Her comic counters nativism’s eugenic underpinnings by visualizing variation.

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Image courtesy of Rhetoric Review.