The Predicament of Complicity with Hegemonic Masculinity in Goli Taraghi's In Another Place

Abstract

The theory of hegemonic masculinity has been influential in studies of men, masculinities, and gender relations. In most human societies, accordingly, a normative conception of manhood dominates over a network of subordinated, marginalized, and complicit masculinities within an intricate web of relations that sustain the overall subordination of women to men. Focusing on one representation of complicit masculinity in this article, I build on the notion of gender visibility in literary fiction towards a critique of masculinity in contemporary Iran from the vantage point of postcolonial feminism. In fact, masculinities and femininities are highly visible phenomena in Goli Taraghi's In Another Place, especially and exclusively when representations of urban, upper middle-class, and contemporary Iranians are concerned. The curious case of Amir-Ali, the novella's protagonist, is the scope of study as I contextualize a problem of complicity with hegemonic masculinity in modern-day Tehran. The problematic unfolds in the narrative towards Amir-Ali's fruitless but performative revolt, and eventually sheds light on Taraghi's exclusive feminist agenda.