Each society and country has been affected differently by the pandemic. Nevertheless, I believe its impact on societies with dictatorial politics that control almost every aspect of people's lives could be more profound. During the last three years, citizens of these countries have been able to live their lives however they wished since they didn't have to worry about the 'public'; as a result, the sphere of their ‘private’ lives has been expanded to include their ‘public’ lives. Now we are back to 'normal life.' In these countries, 'normal life' is closely tied to the laws and forces of the state. However, living for three years more freely opens the possibility for the citizens of these countries the “I can” belief: “I can” live however I wish.
Iran is among these dictatorship-ruled countries where we observe women’s uprisings these days. These uprisings or protests are reactions to the “morality police” who control women's clothing and hijab. In my paper, I argue that the effect of living in isolation for almost three years in Iran has reshaped and reframed the resilience of women in a closed society like Iran. They have experienced living more freely during the pandemic, while the public sphere was not an issue for them. And as a result, now they are resilient to the state’s dictatorship. I will use Sandra Harding's view of women's bodies as an objection to show how this new shape of resilience is the resilience of women's 'figurative body.'

Authors:
Faegheh Hajhosseini, University at Buffalo, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Fae Hajhosseini, a Ph.D. student in comparative literature at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. My interests are continental philosophy, post-modern theories, Persian mysticism, and existentialism.

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