Book ‘Purchased Women’ Introduced

According to Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), the Association of Women Historians will hold a book introduction session for ‘Purchased Women: A study of the status of female slaves in Iran: from the Tahirids to the Mongols’. Fereiba Kazemnia, the author, will give a speech at this session, which will be held on Monday, December 14, at 5 PM at Andisheh Club.

‘Purchased Women’ is an effort to reconstruct a part of Iran’s social history that has been overlooked in official and elitist narratives. Using a diverse range of historical, jurisprudential, literary, and travelogue sources, the author examines the status of female slaves across economic, legal, social, and cultural dimensions, demonstrating that the institution of slavery in Iran was not merely a marginal phenomenon but an interwoven structure connected to political power, economy, religious institutions, and family structures.

This research emphasizes the role of female slaves in reproducing dominance relations and their representation as ‘commodities’. It highlights the complexity of the lived experience of these marginalized women, analyzing aspects such as their education, occupations, family status, potential for freedom, and social identity. Thus, this work, within the framework of social history and gender studies, attempts to fill a research gap in the history of anonymous women and to reveal the gender-class mechanisms in premodern Iranian society.

Andisheh Club is located at No. 23, Naebi Alley, Vesal Shirazi Street, Enghelab Street.