Power, Legitimacy and the Public Sphere: The Iranian Ta’ziyeh Theatre Ritual

This book focuses on Ta’ziyeh ritual performance as a means of aiding and targeting specific behaviours during three liminal periods: the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the
Iraq–Iran War (1980–1988) and the 2009 Green Movement. By gathering evidence from these historical periods, it aims to study the constitutive associations between Ta’ziyeh performance and the public sphere in Iran and to demonstrate that the public sphere can be targeted by the likes of depraved political actors and fanatical religious leaders. Such characters have the ability to manipulate the public, and to mobilise crowds and movements to meet their own aims. This is why, despite the changes in culture, population and education in Iran over the last three decades, we still witness systematic oppression.