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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2009, page 63 Music & Arts Moaveni Discusses Honeymoon in Tehran
ON MARCH 4 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace associate Karim Sadjadpour hosted Azadeh Moaveni, journalist and author of Lipstick Jihad, who introduced her newest work, Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran. Moaveni, who is fluent in both Farsi and Arabic, has reported from Iran since 1999 on youth culture, women’s rights, and Islamic reform for several major news outlets. Currently, she is a Time magazine contributing writer on Iran and the Middle East, based in London. Describing Iran as a “tremendously young country,” Moaveni sought to present a “portrait of this young generation, how they saw themselves in the world...[and how they are] trying to change their culture through daily life.” Iranian youth are sophisticated, well-educated, and connected to culture and music, Moaveni said. They are “preoccupied” with economic pressures burdening mid-to-late 20-year-olds to get married and be economically independent from their parents, she added. However, due to the economy and high unemployment rates, many “can’t even consider moving out of their parent’s place until their mid-30s,” Moaveni observed. She described the relationship between Iranian youth and the theocratic government as a dynamic “culture war,” saying that actions from both groups elicit reactions from the other—which continue ad infinitum. Moaveni recalled her personal experience of attending a pre-marital class, mandatory for all marrying inside Iran, and her surprise that it was about sexuality and female empowerment. This, she suggested, could be a sign of changes within the Islamic Republic. Despite the depth and complexity of Iranian youth culture, Moaveni explained that the country’s young people are a fragmented group that has “turned inward,” with low-levels of political activism or cohesive ideas about their country’s future. —Nina Hamedani |
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