The Zurkhāneh and Its Milieu: A Study of Traditional Athletics in Iran (Ilex Series) - Softcover

Rochard, Philippe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674298829 ISBN 13: 9780674298828

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2025

Synopsis

The athletes known in Iran as pahlavāns and the domed structure, the zurkhāneh, where they congregate to practice ritualized martial arts, physical culture, and spirituality, are usually presented as the cornerstone of traditional Iranian masculine identity. However, this idealization does not do justice to the complex history of Iranian society.

Philippe Rochard, who has observed the zurkhāneh world for the past thirty years and actually lived in it for over four years, sets out to reveal through his own experience and a reconsideration of the extant historiography the various identities―real or imagined―of the zurkhāneh, its role within ancient and contemporary Iranian society, and the intimate mechanisms of the male societies that frequent it, as well as the moral and social values―real or simply proclaimed―that the athletes embody.

This immersive study gives us an opportunity to observe at close quarters the workings of a sporting passion and way of life, and to discover how the forms and norms of the staging of the self and of the group have evolved in Iran.

About this title

About the Author

Philippe Rochard is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Strasbourg and former director of the Institut Français de Recherche en Iran (IFRI) in Tehran.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674298829
• ISBN 13: 9780674298828
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 286