In this Tavaana webinar series, Iranian author, journalist, and women’s rights activist Parvin Bakhtiarnejad shares her research on honor killings on Iran. In the first lesson, she explores the concept of “honor”, examining cases of honor killings and discussing the motives behind them. In the second lesson, Ms. Bakhtiarnejad investigates violence against women and the roots of such violence in Iranian society, presenting solutions that could help prevent honor killings.
Parvin Bakhtiarnejad is an Iranian journalist who began her career with the Iran-e Farda publication in 1995. After Iran-e Farda was shuttered by the authorities, she worked with many other newspapers and websites. At the same time, she pursued research projects, publishing her first study on self-immolation among Iranian women in 2001. Parvin Bakhtiarnejad’s third book, which covered honor killings in Iran, was barred from publication by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance after nine months in limbo. As a result, it was published on the Feminist School’s website on November 25, 2010. In 2013, Arash Publishers in Stockholm published a hardcopy edition of the work. In 2008, Bakhtiarnejad travelled to the United Nations General Assembly to speak about honor killings in Iran. While in New York, she was also invited to speak about honors killings at Columbia University and female self-immolation in Iran at New York University (NYU).
