First Year Reading Initiative 2008
Selected Reading: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
An autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis is written from the perspective of a child trying to understand the complexities of the revolution in Iran. Persepolis offers the Ithaca College incoming class the opportunity to consider the diversity of thought on justice, self-determination, and class difference in a country that is increasingly a topic of international debate.
Dates and Times
This year's First-Year Reading preparation session for the discussion facilitators will be Thursday, August 21, from 2 - 4 p.m. in the Park Auditorium.
A copy of Katharine Kittredge's PowerPoint presentation is available: Some Context for Persepolis. (Note: This is a very large file (37 megs) and will take a few minutes to download on a fast connection.)
The discussion sessions with the incoming class will take place on Tuesday, August 26 at 10:00 a.m., in the Ben Light Gymnasium; more details to follow.
Discussion Questions
- The primary audience for this book is Western. What kinds of themes about Iran does a Western Audience want to read? Which themes will a Western audience likely avoid? Why did a Western publishing company decide to produce this book?
- How does Marjane get her information about Iranian politics, Iranian history, and world politics? How does she decide whom to believe? How many times does she change her mind about whom to believe? How do we get our information about US and world politics? How do we decide whom to believe?
- Why did the author decide to write a graphic novel? What does she convey graphically that she might not be able to reveal only with words?
- What is Marjane's understanding of the role of Britain, the USA, and the CIA in Iran's history? What was the West's role in creating the Iranian revolution?
- What role did God play in Marjane's life before the execution of her uncle? And After? How does Marjane react to the Iranian State's edicts on religion?
- How does Marjane feel about her family's affluence? What is her relationship to servants?
- It may be easier to see how your life might be different from Marjane's. How might your life be similar to Marjane's?
- Marjane Satrapi is likely to be aware that you are her audience. What do you think she wishes to convey to you? How effective is she?
Resources
Provided below are some resources to find out more about Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, [etc...]
Please note that most of these resources are restricted to IC users--you must either be on campus or have an IC email address and password to view these articles.
Persepolis: Reviews, Interviews, Criticism
- Interview with Marjane Satrapi (NPR Fresh Air)
- Why I wrote Persepolis (Writing)
- God looked like Marx: A memoir in pictures about growing up in 1980's Tehran (New York Times Book Review)
- A Memoir Sketches an Iranian Childhood of Repression and Rebellion. (New York Times)
- Estranging the Familiar: "East" and "West" in Satrapi's Persepolis 1 (English Studies in Canada)
- Memoir as Iranian exile cultural production: A case study of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis series (Iranian Studies)
- The Personal is Global: Teaching Global Feminist Consciousness (Transformations)
- Interview with Marjane Satrapi (Fourth Genre)
Persepolis as Graphic Novel
- Introduction: Graphic Narrative (MFS Modern Fiction Studies)
- Expanding Literacies through Graphic Novels (English Journal)
- Autographics: The Seeing "I" of the Comics (MFS Modern Fiction Studies)
- Comic Visions and Revisions in the work of Lynda Barry and Marjane Satrapi (MFS Modern Fiction Studies)
The Iranian Revolution of 1979
- Iran's Religious Regime: What Makes It Tick? Will It Ever Run down? (Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science)
- The precarious revolution: Unchanging institutions and the fate of reform in Iran (Journal of International Affairs)
- The New Landscape of Iranian Politics (Middle East Report)
- The Islamic revolution in Iran: Retrospect after a quarter of a century (Thesis Eleven)
Iranian Women and Islamic Fundamentalism
- Islamic Feminism in Iran: Feminism in a New Islamic Context (Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion)
- A Women's Non-Movement: What It Means to Be a Woman Activist in an Islamic State
- Wearing the Veil to College: The Paradox of Higher Education in the Lives of Iranian Women (International Journal of Middle East Studies)
About Iran
Population: 65,875,223 (July 2008 est.)
Median Age: 26.4 years
Ethnic Groups: Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%
Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%
Government Type: Theocratic republic
Legal System: Based on Sharia law system
Suffrage: 16 years of age; universal
GDP per capita: $12,300 (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate: 11% according to the Iranian government (June 2007)
Agricultural products: wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, sugar cane, fruits, nuts, cotton; dairy products, wool; caviar
Oil Production: 4.15 million bbl/day (2006 est.)
Export Commodities: petroleum 80%, chemical and petrochemical products, fruits and nuts, carpets
Import Commodities: industrial raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods, foodstuffs and other consumer goods, technical services
Map and all facts from CIA World Factbook
First Year Experience Theme: Character
Through the components of the First-Year Experience and other programs on campus, first-year students will read about, discuss, and reflect upon issues that relate to character and character development.
