Michel Foucault the Orientalist - Rosemarie S.pdf

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The South Central Modern Language ssociation

Michel Foucault the Orientalist: On Revolutionary Iran and the "Spirit of Islam"Author(s): Rosemarie ScullionSource: South Central Review, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Summer, 1995), pp. 16-40Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of The South Central Modern LanguageAssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3189968 .Accessed: 01/07/2014 13:52

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MicheloucaultheOrientalist:nRevolutionary

Iran nd he Spirit f slam"'Rosemarie cullionUniversity flowa

Uta Liebmann chaub asobserved hat meeting f East andWest ccursnthewritings fMichel oucault here, he sserts,strong ndercurrentfBuddhisthoughts detectable. lthough enever

xplicitlycknowledgedts

nfluence,oucault

ppearsohave

been seducedby a radical otherness n Eastern philosophy,consistentlyrawing pon tspremisesn his historical ritique fmodernWestern ubjectivity. urprisingly,n her analysis fFoucault's orientalubtext," chaubmakes o mention f clusterof writings ublished etween eptember 978andMay1979 nwhich oucault ncounteredhat s arguably estern ivilization'smost nduring nd menacing riental ther: he world f slam.ClaireBriere nd Pierre lanchat's ran: La Revolution u nom deDieu (1979)includes ne such text, n interview ith oucaultentitled L'Esprit 'unmonde ans sprit"'3nwhich e commentedextensively pon the politico-religiouservor hat erupted noppositiono he hah f ran n he ate1970s. nthis nterviewndnumerousther ritings nthe ubject, oucaultxtolledhe irtuesof ran's revolutionaryspirit," emaining, shall rgue, ingularlyuncriticaln his appraisal f the mancipatoryotentialnd of thenew ubjectivityt was to bestow pon he ranian eople.4GivenFoucault's ntellectual reoccupation ith uestions f power ndmoralizing iscoursesf orporal onstraint,he argely nqualifiedenthusiasm e expressed or the slamicrevolution n Iran isperplexing ndeed. His ardor s even morebaffling henoneconsiders hat much f the repressive achinery et in motionimmediatelyollowingheShah'sdeparturen February 979wasdirectlypplied-much ike hedisciplinaryegimen ereprovesnSurveiller t punir 1975)-to the body nd soul of the ranianpopulace,ntroducingevels f coercion nfathomable venunderthe hah's uthless eign.

Judging rom tatements ade n that nterview nd in hisnumerous rticles ublishedn the allof 1978and the pring f1979 nboth he rench ress nd he talian ailyCorriere ellaSera,5whenhe cast his Western ntellectual aze uponwhat ormany rogressive bservers as a dumbfounding vent n thehistory fmodem ationaliberation ovements,oucault roducedanOrientalistiscourse-albeitne f decidedlyeftistnflection-that

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Rosemarie cullion 17

was blind o thereactionaryrajectoryf he evolution nd deaf o the voices fresistance-particularlyhose f women-that ould e faintly eard ver he in frevolutionary pheaval n the fall of 1978. This dissent ecame venmore

clamorousuring brief omentn he pring f1979when he slamic egime asgaining ts ootholdnthis ew andscapefpostcolonialtruggle.Inhis eminal ork rientalism 1978), dward aid cknowledgedn mportant

intellectualebt o Foucault,tating hat he ype f nquiryn which he renchphilosopher ngaged n L Archdologie u savoir 1969)6and Surveiller t Punircontributed onceptuallyoidentifying iscursive ormationsnd practices hatultimately ecuredmodernWestern omination f ts oriental ther.7 roadlydefining rientalisms"the orporatenstitutionor ealing ith heOrient.. bymaking tatementsbout t, uthorizingiews f t, describingt, byteachingt,settlingt, uling ver t: nshort .. as a Western tyle or ominating,tructuringandhaving uthority ver heOrient,"' aidbrings nto ritical elief he mageryand exicologyhat ave hapedWestern nowledgefMiddle astern ocieties.Chief mong hese onstructsrenotions f vast, omogeneousulture nfusedwith rrational eligiosity nd mysticism, xoticyet penetrable emininity,irrepressible motion, oracious exual ppetite, nd a brute will to especiallysavage political despotism. The result s an ethnographic omposite f"civilizationallynferior" ocieties hat orcenturies asboth fascinated ndrepelled ccidentals. lthough he ype f discursive thering racticed n theArabworld eneratedimilarlyelf-servingdeologicalnd conographiconstructsin the West's olonial enturesn Africa, sia, ndLatinAmerica, aid argelylimits is discussionothe slamicMiddle ast, bandoningretensesf nalyticalobjectivity nd forthrightly cknowledginghathis interest n deconstructingOrientalistodes temmedrom is wn xperiencesan"Orientalubject"9aisedand ducatednderWestern yes.

Ironically,aid'sOrientalismppearedn 1978 n the atter art fwhichMichelFoucault ravelled o Iran on two separate ccasions. There, s specialcorrespondent or both Le Nouvel Observateur nd Corriere Della Sera, hewitnessedhe opular prisingn tsmobilizingtages. nthe ate ummer f1978,two catastrophes-one olitical, he other atural--drew heattention f theinternationalress o ranwherencreasinglyold ppositiono he ahlavi ynastywasgathering omentum. hefirst nvolvedhe September978 laughter ythe Shah'smilitary orces f 250 anti-governmentrotestersn Teheran's alehSquare,'o spectacularisplay f he egime's rowesshat ame obe known sBlackFriday. A week ater, massive arthquake laimed he ivesof fifteenthousand eoplenTabas, city n heNortheastegionf he ountry,hat uicklybecame hesite of intense olitical ivalry itting heopposition's wift ndconspicuously ore ompassionatefforts t disaster elief gainst hemonarchy'slethargic, evil-may-careesponseo he alamity.

In reporting hese vents, oucault akes are o provide asicknowledge f ran'shistory nd culture. He informs is Western eadership, or nstance, hat ran snot, as many believe, n Arab country; hat he Shi'ite slam practiced here s



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18 South entral eview

distinct rom he unni ariant redominatingnmost ther uslim ocieties,ndthat he opulation adbeen iving or ome ime nder brutal ictatorshiphatwasrapidly ecomingelegitimized.et nclassic rientalist orm,nrelating he

highdrama f ran's

revolutionary oment,oucault ails o take nto ccount

crucial ocial ndhistoricalircumstanceshat ontributedecisivelyogeneratingthe massrevolt, erforming, would rgue, reading f he event hat s morerevealingfhisown ost-humanistolitical esires nd nti-authoritarianeflexesthan f he movement'somplexities,ontradictions,nd,most mportantly,f tspotentialventualities.

In both uantity nd nformational cope, oucault's talian eportingn theIranian risis-presented nder herunning ead Michel oucault: TaccuinoPersiano'""Micheloucault:PersianNotebook"')--farxceededis ontributionso

the French ress overage f the crisis. Between 8 September 978and 13February 979,Corriere ella Serafeatured inegenerallyengthy rticles yFoucault."Only ne of these ieces oundtsway nto e NouvelObservateurwherets talian itle Ritornol Profeta?""Returno he rophet?") asrenderedin French s the morewistful uery A quoirevent es Iraniens?""What reIranians reaming f?").With he xceptionf wo ssays-a 14April 979 OpenLetter" o henew egime'sprovisional)rimeMinister, ehdi azargan, rintedin Le NouvelObservateurnd a somewhat efiantly anguine rticle ntitled"Inutile e se soulever?""Is t Useless oRevolt?")arried n 11May1979 nLeMonde-Foucault ad ittle lse o ay bout he ranian matter nthe rench resswhere, n more han neoccasion, isrelativelyparse ommentarylicited ieryresponsesrom eaders.'2

The first wo rticles n the talian aily--"L'esercito,uando a terra rema"("TheArmy: hen he arth uakes")nd Lo Sci"hacento nni i ritardo" "TheShah is A Hundred ears Behind he Times")-set the political one andestablishedhe nterpretiverameworkor he eries f reports ofollow. he firstinstallment escribes heturmoil rought y the Tabasearthquake nd ever-

expandingnti-governmentemonstrations,he

ublicuror

parked yhe hah's

8 Septembermpositionfmartialaw, nd heJaleh quaremassacrehat ame nitsheels.Recognizinghat he military as he inchpin f hemonarchy'survival,Foucault evotes uch f his ntroductoryiscussiono he rmy's rganizationalstructurend ts unctionnmodemranian istory. n sharp ontrasto he aliantpatriotic ole layed y national rmies nLatinAmerica's ars f ndependence,Foucault ather nidely otes, the ranian rmy asnever iberated thing,"insisting hat t had ontributed reciousittle othe onstruction fmodemran'snation tate, nd, ince he atenineteenthentury, adconsistentlyieldedothe

imperial ims f foreign owerseekingoplunder he ountry's ealth.Offeringa more enetratingultural ndhistoricalritique,he econd rticle, Lo SciA acento nni di ritardo," penswith summary f the clichds irculatingn theWestern ress ince the uprising egan,glaringly urocentric otions oucault sobviouslyntent n dispelling:



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Rosemariecullion 19

Setting ut was told nevery ossible one:"Iran s going hrough crisis fmodernization;narrogant,lumsy,uthoritarianulers trying ocompete ithindustrializedations, issights ixed n the year 000;but raditionalocietycannot nddoesnotwant o onform;eelingiolated,tresists hange, alls ackon ts past, nd, n the name f millenaryeligions,sksto be sheltered yretrogradelergy.. ." And ow ften ave heard he most ophisticatednalystsseriouslysking hemselveshich orm fgovernmentillbe able nthe utureto reconcile mpenetrableran with ts necessary odernization: liberalmonarchy,parliamentaryystem,nenergeticresidency?13

Challenging henotion hat Western-stylendustrializations an imperative or llhuman ocieties,oucaultontendshat twas he ntiquatedorm fmodernityheShahhad ntroducedn the arly 960s hat is ubjects ere ejectingnmasse.Theknee-jerknti-moderntance nd

otalizinghetoricoucault

doptsn these

earlywritings re recurrent eatures f he pirited efense f the revolution emountedn the uropean ress uring he ix-montheriod recedinghe hah'sabdication f power. ronically,t s also these spects f Foucault's specific"intellectualnterventionnto he meanings roducedntheWestern edia n ran'spopular prising hat eveal heOrientalistrift fhisown ppositionaliscourse.Foucault's ssertion hat he ranianmonarch as "a hundred ears ehind hetimes" nd the rgument emakes n supporting hat laim re formulatedncondescendingerms hat etract rom hat ppears obehisgreat espector he

Iranian eople nd their truggle gainst heShah'sdictatorship. espitehisringing ounter-culturalndorsementf the nti-Shah ebellion-no oubt isthorn n the ideofWestern olicymakers triving ocontain he revolution'sdestabilizing eopoliticalffects-Foucault's tatementsn the uprising re notentirely reeof the ethnocentrismnd self-referentialitye impugns n themainstreamress.

Foucaultxplainshat is nsightnto he ources f he hah's ravailsirst ameina minor etail f verydayife eobserved hile isiting eheran's azaar oonafter is rrival. he shopkeepersndmerchants-whoseonservativeppositionto the egime's rogram f ulturaliberalizationasfierce-were ust reopeningfor business fter ight ays f nti-governmenttrikes. rowsing hrough hemerchandise,he hilosopher-journalistoticedows f versizedewingmachinesthat, nhismind, ere elltaleigns f he atheticallybsolete odernizationhemonarchy, n all its petroleum-drivenrandiosity, adbrought othe ranianpeople.

[In he azaar,here ere]ncredibleewing achinesndisplay,ike he nesyou indn19th enturyewspaperdvertisements.They ere]normousndornate, ecoratednclinging ines lossomingith lowers,audy eplicasfoldPersianminiatures. hese utmoded esternmitations, arked ith igns f nantiquatedrient, llcarried he nsigniamadenSouth orea.""

Foucault views these cumbersome ontraptions s pale imitations f what, bydiacritical mplication, s presented s the more efficient nd sleekly-designedWestern hing. Bearing ll the signs of an oriental ackwardness, he machines



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offer ranian onsumersn aestheticallympoverishedeflectionf heir ulturalheritagenthe orm fgarish, asse ommoditiesroduced ot nthe uthenticallymodemWest, ut nanother riental ocietyamely triving oreplicatets eats f

engineering.hat hesemechanical

yesores,owever

nefficient, ightelabor-

saving evicesor hewomen ostikely ouse hem oes not ccur o hisWesternmale bserver ho ocuses ore n he ntiquatedormhan he unctionalityf hemerchandise.n casting he iscerningye f Western onsumernthese tems,Foucaultntroducesnorm f ommoditylenitudend echnologicaldvancementthat smeaningfulnly nrelationo paradigmaticield f urchasingossibilitiestowhich, efails o cknowledge,he astmajority f heworld's nhabitantsavelimited ccess.

His discussion ith newho s anonymouslyescribed s one of ran's best

political nalysts upports oucault's laim hat he risis f egitimacyhe hah'sregime acedwasdirectly ttributableohis bungled ttempt omodernize herealm. Collapsing nder heweight f economic ailuresnd systemic oliticalviolence,hemonarchy-whichhroughouttsrule ad retained firm rip nthereins f power y pursuing policy f modernization-despotism-corruption"-was, ccording othis undit, ow eing ejected y he ranianmasseswhohadcollectivelyufferedts alamitousffects. ut he modernizationeing epudiatedbywhat oucault's eadersre irelesslyemindeds"anentire ulture nd n entirepeople,""was not simply n indictment f the Shah's much outed WhiteRevolution"'6f the arly 960s, top-down rogram f political eform hichIranian oetRezaBaraheni escribedn 1977 sa policy ywhich [a]ncientitieshave een ubjectedoopprobriousndecenciesf tinsel esternization,poiled ythe ulgaritiesf regimehat either alues or nderstandshe iving ttainmentsof he astortheWest.""7ather, he versionranians f all social lasses" addevelopedomodernity ould e traced, uite iterally, o the genealogyf thePahlavidynasty nd to the dentity f the overeign imself, ho, n Foucault'saccount, ould urely ave nvied onald eagan's eflon residency.

I then ad he eelinghad omeounderstandhat he ecent vents idnotsignifyhe ntransigencef hemost ackwardegmentsof he ociety]n heface f n speciallyrutalprogramfJ odernization,ut he efusal n he artof n entire ulturend nentire eopleo [formfJ odernizationhats nitself n nachronism.he hah as hemisfortunef eingdentifiedith hisanachronism.iserrors that fhavingonserved,long ith orruptionnddespotism,his ragmentf he ast n presenthat ants othing oreodowith t. Yes,modernization,s a political rojectnd s principlef ocialtransformation,s a thing f he astn ran. donot imply eanhat istakesand laws ave ondemnedhe ecentorms hichhe hah anted ogivet...The modernization"hatsno onger antedsthis eries f ailures. ut t salso omethinglder, omethinghat ticksike n adhesiveo he kin f he

current uler nd s his raison '&tre. t s not nly he oundationsfhisgovernment,ut f hisdynasty.'8

In two short aragraphs, eaders re acquaintedwith he origins f the Pahiavi



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someixty earsgo:an ttempttomodernize"slamicountriesn Westernfashion.he hahs still lingingo this im] s f twere is nly aison'8tre.I don't now fhe's till ookingo he ear 000.But know is amousazedates romhe 920s.2

Charting n undeviatingineof historical ontinuity rom heShah'speacock-struttingor, sthe aninemetaphoruggests,og-lapping)ule f he resento hefoolhardy odernizingenturesfhisfather, oucaultrgues hat he egimef hecurrent monarchwas succumbing o the ruinous ounding rinciples ftechnologicalrogressnd secularization ispredecessoradembracedarlier nthe entury; rincipleshatwere omehow nherentlyll-suitedo ran's slamiccultural errain nd, therefore, oomed rom heoutset o failure. With heexception f minor olitical djustments, ike he on's postwar ubstitution fAmericanor ritish nfluencend few ther nremarkable omingsndgoings,such s theBritish usting f he hah's athern 1941 nd ubsequentnvestitureof his son, hesputtering ngines f a dusty rientalmodernity ad taken hePahlavi's traight rom he lien rigins f heir ynasticeignn he arly 920s otheir nevitable emise half entury ater. Althoughn L Ordre u discoursFoucaultwelcomes he passing f historiographiconventions hatproduced"vaguely omogeneousr strictly ierarchized"" eaning ybringing ntoplayrelationsf cause nd ffectnthe ormlessnity f ome reat ecoming,"is wn

interpretationf he ranian evolutions

shaped y ustuch

methodology.he

"great ecoming"oucaultoreseesnOctober978sone nwhich decadent,otreally ooldorder-from ts nceptionpinelesslyubservientoWestern olonialpowers--is oppledy tidalwave f ighteous,ingle-mindedppositionrom nundivided eoplewhosewill o mancipationaspropelledymagnificentpiritualresolve.Historicalr even necdotalvidencedding hades f grey othis lackandwhite ortrait f slam's evolutionaryood nd he ahlavi'smodernizingvilis systematicallylaced nder nalyticalrasure.

Onefinds strikingxamplef oucault'somewhatatronizingversimplification,as well s of heself-referentialityfhis pproachounderstandingheranian prising,in an lluminatingxchangeehaswith group f ranian technocrats," socialcategory uite bviouslycorned ythishistorian f hepanoptic echniquesfmodern ocial ontrol. rawing irectdeologicalarallels etween urope's astof "come-to-the-rescueechnocrats"nd their ranian ounterparts, sector nwhom heShahhad, n effect, lacedmany f his modernizing opes, oucaultportrays is nterlocutorssmyopicrrivistes hohad ost ouch ith heir ulturalidentityndfailed orecognizehat he echnologicaldvanceshey nvisionedortheir ociety o onger ad nymeaning rmerit:

[T]heypeakf rowthnd evelopment,ut nmoderation,nd lso f ontext;they peakwith espectf he social abric." neof hem xplainedome hatall [sides] ould till eaccommodated,hat t waspossible omodernizeIran]"reasonably," aking nto ccount its] "cultural dentity," ut onlyon theconditionhat heKing elinquishesisdreams... This mbitious ellowndsome f he thers nhis ompany ould till ike o salvagemodernization"y



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limiting he owers f he hah nd caling ackhisambitions. hey avenotunderstoodhat oday, hemodernizationthat as] tobe in ran, s dead n tstracks.29

Foucaultgnores he act hat he echnologicalrogress hose lienating ffectsWestern ntellectualsnd writers ave opiouslyritiquedn the nineteenthndtwentiethenturies ight ave uite ifferent eaningsor hird orld ountriesstriving o transform conomieshat he olonial ra hadbound o the dependentstructuresf raw-materialxportation. y mpugninghenotion f progress outcourt, e saveshimself he rouble f taking n more econdite ssues f howpostcolonialocietiesmight ursue evelopment hile reserving heir ulturalintegrity nd asserting heir utonomy n a Western-dominated,ncreasinglyintegrated lobal marketplace. He thus ummarily eprives he peoplesofdevelopingocieties-whose olonial xploitation irectly ourishedheWest'seconomicxpansionnd echnologicalevelopment--ofhe reature omfortsheirlabor nd esourcesad fforded he owershat ad ormerlyubjugatedhem. utinwhat e claims s the ranian eople's ategoricalejectionf he modernizationhe declares dead n its racks," hisWestern ravellerppears ohave tumbledupon a univocalmasswhose piritual lation, e subtextuallyurmises, illcompensateor he gruelingabor nd material urdens f the premodernife owhich hey re more han willing o return n order o fend ff he deadening,

corruptingnfluencesfWesternndustrialism'sworld ithout pirit."3

Like he ranian technocrats"ho houghttpossibleomodernizeheir ocietywhilepreserving ts cultural eritage, ezaBaraheni,who n some respectsvalidates oucault's ssertions, as a morenuanced iewof things. Whileunwaveringn its opposition o the Shah'sautocratic ule, araheni's nalysiscontrasts arkedly ith oucault's ccount f the revolution's ualistic trugglebetweenhemodem nd the ntimodern, David nd Goliath ontest itting heforces f crassWestern aterialism gainst he piritual ranscendencef slam.Rather han ejecting odernitynbloc, sFoucaultlaimsranians ere oing n

masse n 1978,Baraheni--a issident riter ho himself adbeendetained ndtorturednthe hah's risons--makeserfectlylear hat twasnotWestern oodsand echnologyer ethat ere ispossessingranian ulture ut ather he doublealienation" roughty he ntroductionf "Woolworth"onsumerismhat eniedIranians allthat s of merit n theWestwhile heir wn alues re orroded"ndtheir ancient, istoricities are]disfigured."3'n contradistinctionoFoucault'sassertionhattwasnot implyhe ulturallyuinousorm he ahlavi'smodernizingprogram adtaken, ut hevery rinciple f modernizationtself hatwasbeingrepudiated,his ranian ntellectualallsnot or n outright ejectionf he notionofprogress utrather or levelling f the conomic laying ield n which heWest ashistoricallyxchangedts dmirable echnologicalattainments"or hetreasures f he ast.

Baraheni's estimonial o the brutality f the Shah's secret oliceand discussionof the political esentments moldering n Iran n the years mmediately receding



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the revolutionre an important eminderhat here ere iscourses f resistancethat poke he xperiencefdictatorialppressionnd mperialistominationn alanguagehatwasnot hat f he slamic raditionalists ho ltimatelyccededo

power n 1979; ecular oices hatweremufflednternallys the revolt atheredmomentumnd externallyyWestern ediawhich,much ikeFoucault, aintedthe Shah'soppositionn onebroad slamic troke nd remained ixated n thespectacularisplays f ollective eligiousevotionast adingntomass oliticalrebellion. n Coveringslam 1981), dward aidobserveshat n their eportingon "The ran Story," mericanournalists enerallyvoided he discussion fcrucialhistorical ircumstancesnd actual ffronts o the country's ights opolitical elf eterminationhatmight ellhave hed ight n he ourcesf ranianire, which ppeared elevisuallyobe driven olely y religious ealotry ndxenophobicysteria.32aidnotes, or nstance,hat he

one ubjectewspapersnd elevisionrogramsadookednto nlyuperficiallyfor he irst hree onthsf he mbassyakeover as he reviousranianregime: or remarkablyong imetwasnot opularo ake eriouslyurrentIranianrievancesgainstoth he eposed onarchnd longstandingnitedStates olicyo upportim ithout eservation.omehow,oo,he iolationfIranianovereigntyhat ccurrednAugust953,whenasKermit ooseveltdetailsnhis ecentnd recipitatelyithdrawnook, ountercoup)he IA nconjunction ith heAnglo-Iranianil Companyverthrew ohammedMossadegh,eritedlittle nvestigation,he ssumptioneinghat heUnitedStates s a great owersentitledochangeovernmentsnd orgiveyrannywhent s nflictedn lliterateonwhitestour iscretion."

In foregroundinghe ingeringffects nddeep esentmentheMossadeghffairhad pawned, araheni arnestlyndeavorsoclarifyranian rievancesf he ortSaid identifiesn political nd historical erms heAmerican udience e isobviouslyargeting ight eadily nderstand,ndwithwhich e clearly opestmight mpathize. doptingheOrientalistracticef onvertingastern eanings

into omething estern,othat, nthis ase, ne ranian oicemight eheard nthe foreign ealmwhosepolicies o directly nfluenced is country's estiny,Baraheni eminds isAmericaneadershat:

in August, 953, heCIAoverthrewhe egally lected overnmentf Dr.Mossadeq,roughtack o he ountryhe hah, iswife, is rothersnd isterswho ad un way arlier,nd einstalledhe resent onarch.maginemoretyrannicaleorgeIIbeingrowned,000milesway y he ery escendentsfGeorge ashingtonnd enjaminranklin ithmoneyaisedy he mericantaxpayer. heCIA e-createdhemonarchy,uilt p he AVAK-the hah'ssecretpolice--andrainedll ts rominentembers,nd tood y he hah ndSAVAKstheir owerfullly,making ay or he olicetate hichran asbecome.3

Oddlyenough, n his extensive eporting n the revolution's enesis, oucaultmakesonly poradic, uite uninformative eference othe Mossadeghmatter, he



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latest n a series fforeignnterventionsnd mperialistndignitiesowhich ranhadbeen ubjectedince hedawn f he entury. n strivingoseethat lame orthe raumas ran's modernization"adproducedtayedffixedo he ahlavis,wodictatorialulers hom e

stereotypicallyonfiguress classic riental

espots,he

often overt, hough onetheless eighty orces f Empire-Czarist ussian,British, ndtheir merican ostwarncarnation-are, n effect, elegatedo themargins f his analysis nd thus de facto diminished n their ignificance.Althoughnthe losing egments f he Lo Sci" ha cento nnidi ritardo" rticle,Foucaultunequivocallydentifies he Shah's regime s an instrument fcolonialism-again, n oversimplificationf the more refined elations fdominance odern estern owers ad stablished ith ran which as, nfact,never irectly ubjectedocolonial ule)-in its substance, is discussion nlyrather erfunctorilyactorshe ffects f foreign egemonynto he evolutionaryformula e s analyzing. hy oucault ight pt ode-emphasizehe istoric 953coup and its repressive ictatorial ftermath, hich many informedcommentators-Iraniannd non-Iranian like-saw as having ecisivelyuelledantagonismowardhe hah's egimend tsAmericannderwriters,sa questionthat s well worth xploring. A brief iscussion f the precise ircumstancessurrounding ossadegh's verthrow ayhelp o remindWestern particularlyAmerican) eaders f the negative orce his ntervention ad in shapingcontemporaryran's political ulture nd ts nowdeeply ntagonistic,uspicion-ladenrelations ith he West. Identifyingome f the nternal aradoxesndcontradictionseneratedy he oup ndby ranian ociety'somplex oliticalndcultural esponse o it further erves o illuminate n interesting ays theinterpretivelindspotsnFoucault'snalysis f he 979 slamic evolution.

In his lluminatingssay America,ran, nd he olitics f ntervention1951-1953),"James .Billnotes hat nthehalls fWashingtonower, heCIA's1953overthrow f Mossadeghwas "considered oryears . . to be one of the majorsuccess tories f American]irect overtntervention."35Operation jax," s itcame o be

known,hus ecame hemodel or he

gency's patef clandestine

operations hich ought, r so the ranian ntervention'sodename uggests,ocleanse oreignountries-ranging rom uatemalan 1954 o Chile n 1973-ofthemurky olitical orceshat ere erceivedobe a threat o ColdWarAmerica'svital nterests. here re, ndeed, triking arallels etweenheCIA-orchestratedcoupwhichnSeptember973 eposedheChilean residentalvador llendendthe nderhandeduster fDr.Mossadeghn ran wentyears arlier: oth eadershadcome opower hrough ree lectionsndboth dvancedhedaring roposalthat heir ountry's atural esources-Iran's lentiful ilreservesndChile's ich

coppermines-should e nationalized; propositionhat utraged heBritish-dominated nglo-IranianilCompanyAIOC), ust s it ater miffed heAmericanmining monopolieswith onsiderable rofit-margin takes n the political ateofChile'svast copper ields.Described yRichard ottam s a "devoted roponent fEnlightenment alues who]was dedicated o the ask f bringing eal ndependenceand national ignity ohis country,"' MohammedMossadeghheaded heNational



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Front, populistecularmovementtrivingoend he hah's ictatorialule nd obuild liberal emocratic tate hat would eclaim herights o ran's naturalresources rom heforeign oncessionshat, ince heir iscoveryarlier n the

century, adbeen heir hief eneficiaries. ppointedrime inisternMay1951,Mossadegh ingle-mindedly ursued is political bjective f freeing ran'seconomyrom oreign omination,policy riority hich gents fBritain's italinterests n the AIOCcountered hrough overt ttempts o destabilize hegovernment. arning imwhat n this ase was the dubious istinction f TimeMagazine's1952"Manofthe Year,"Mossadegh'santi-western"ampaign oreappropriateran's il fields as viewed ot s a legitimateatrioticssertion fnationalovereigntynddignity, ut s the roduct f fanaticism,rrationalityndirresponsibility"37hat, s hisBritish dversariesaw t, ypifiedtheworst spectsof he Persian haracter."'38Acting nitially s mediatorsn the ncreasinglyontentious ispute etweenMossadegh nd the AIOC,American egotiators ppointed y the Trumanadministration rged the British o abandondesigns or a direct militaryinterventionndto adopt more onciliatoryemeanor yactually onsideringIranian rievances.n July 951,Truman entAverell arriman nda team fdiplomatso ranwhere heymetwithMossadeghnd oured ilfields n he outh,facilities t which ritish ominancendprivilege ere learly videncedntheirsuperior iving onditions, nd, quite ymbolically,ythe water ountainshatdisplayedhe igns: "Not or ranians." ill relates hatwhen hey ttemptedopersuade im o ome o negotiatedettlement ith heAIOC,Mossadeghalked,invoking heexample f the BostonTea Party, skinghis interlocutors ow"Americanndependenceeaderswould] ave espondedf ome ersianmediatorshad ome board he hips nchorednBoston arbour nd sked he olonists otto throw hat ea overboard?""39fter n October 951visit o theUnited tatesduring hich ruman roubleshootereorgeMcGeepainstakingly orked ithMossadeghn formulating compromiseolution otheAnglo-Iranianmpasse,

Anthony den, he oreign ecretaryfGreat ritain's ewlylected onservativegovernment,ejectedhe roposal, hich alled or ationalizationf he il fieldsand he arring fBritish echnicalersonnelromran.

Onlywhen he isenhowerdministrationook fficen January 953didhigh-level officials n the American overnment egin seriously ntertaining hepossibility f resolving he conflict y attempting o topple Mossadegh'sgovernment. ill explains hatAmericanngst ver heCommunisthreat ndconcern or ecuringheap upplies f il norder ofuel ostwarxpansion, erethe major mpetus or bandoning heconciliatorypproach o dealingwithMossadeghndhisnationalistemands.While he ritish adharboreduspicionsthat SpolicymakersntheTruman ears ere ttemptingousurp tsdominantrole n IranbyusingMossadeghas an American edge o break heAIOC'smonopolistic rip n ran's oil reserves," hese earswere llayedwith he dvent fthe Eisenhowerdministration hich awto t that n "exchangefor Americansupport n overthrowing he [Mossadegh]government, he British grudgingly



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permitted Scompanies40percentnterestn ranian il."" Richard ottam, nofficialmarginallynvolvedn the formulationnd execution f the Americanpolicy oward ossadeghnd he il crisis hat isdemandsor ationalizationad

engendered,bserveshat he British lsoplayed n the nti-Communistaranoiasweeping merican ociety t the height f the McCarthy eriod, uccessfullydrawinghe tate epartmentnd he CIA nto ts nterventionist cheme.41amesBill explains he ong-termffects f this ivotal ecision o cooperate ith heBritishnthe ollowingerms:

TheAmericannterventionfAugust953was momentousventn he istoryof ranian-Americanelations,hich ere amagedor henext wenty-fiveyears;ollowinghe evolutionf 978-79,merica'sroubledelationsith heIslamicepublicf ran urned nto pen ostility. romheranianerspective,themannernwhichhe nited tates hoseo ntervenen heir nternalffairswas t east s reprehensiblesthe ecisiono ntervenetself. he act hatheCIAoined ands ith nterventionistnglandnco-ordinatingctivitiesfroyalistraniansnddistributingoneyohired emonstratorsas matterdiscussednd ondemnedy ranianitizensor earsfterwards. hiswasrecalledn he nti-Americanhantsnd peecheseard uringhe evolutionfthe ate 970s.42

That oucault ailsnot nly oexploren any epth, ut imply oacknowledgethe mpact f these aramount istoricalircumstanceserives, would enture,from isconsiderablentellectualnvestmentnthe hesis hat ran's evolutionarymovement as he xpressionf transcendent,ollectiveffort oreinjectSpirit"into aWorldWithout pirit." n order o ustain he rgumenthat heAyatollahKhomeini asthe mythic eadof the revolt" hich ada glorious ision f awholly ewform f politico-spiritualemocratizationnd emancipation romWestern alues and domination, oucaultwould have had to go throughconsiderablenalyticalontortionso xplain hy he slamic ierocracyad n factsupportedhe hah nd his llegitimate953 eturnopower n hewings fAnglo-

American nterventionnd participatedn the destabilization f Mossadegh'sgovernment.ndeed, uring he arlier ahlavi's eign,he ame lerical orces adbuttressed ezaKahn'sdictatorship,anking nthemonarch's uppressionf herepublicanspirationsf ran's merging iddlelass nd ecularizingntelligentiawhich t rightly aw as a threat o the religious raditionalismhatwas thecornerstonef he slamic ierocracy'suthority. aidArjomand otes hat ecadeslater, ezaShah's onMohammadwas lsogiven rucial lerical upport t themost riticalmoment f his reign. Though," epoints ut, commentatorsaveshown stounding orgetfulnessf the fact that] he upport f the AyatollahsKashani ndBehbehani.. was simportants that f he IA n taging he eturnofMohammadezaShah fter is lightoRomen 1953."' Just s Shi'ite eadershad ndorsedhe oundationf he ahlavi ynasty n 1925,n n effort o tave ffthe threat f secular epublicanism,heir uccessors urned o the Shah n 1953 as"a safeguard gainst the spread of communism."" Clerical support or themonarchy ontinued ntil 1963 when he reforms nd liberalization f the Shah's



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Rosemariecullion 29

"White evolution"rovokedhe re f he Ayatollah homeini ndhisreligiousfollowers. onvenientlyverlookinghe act hat hi'ite eaders ad, longwith heCIA,run oughshodver ran'sdemocraticspirationsn 1953,Khomeinindhis

supports eganmountingtiff eligiousppositiono he econd ahlavi's eforms,calling or onstitutionalimits o the Shah'srule. When, n October 962, hemonarchy nfranchised omen nd adopted ther measures hat imited hepoliticalnfluencef he hi'ite ierocracy,homeini ociferouslybjected,ust she dida year ater n denouncinghe ix-pointWhite evolution" hose andreform gendamade nroadsnto he raditionaleudalources f lerical evenues.Describing homeini's ppositionotheprogram s "black eaction,"heShahunleashed isbynow ormidableolice pparatus-buttressed,s it was,byCIAtechniquesndmateriel-which epressed ass emonstrationsy heAyatollah'ssupportersnd ent heir igureheadnto xile, irstnTurkey, henraq. nOctober1978, homeiniook presidencetNeauphles-le-Ch~teaun he utskirtsf ariswhere, ccordingo oneofhisbiographers,idier ribon, oucaultmetwith heIslamic evolution'salmost ythicalharacter."45n his28November978 ntryinto orriere's Persian otebooks,"oucaultsserted:

Today, ohead f tate, opoliticaleader,ven ne upportedy ll of hiscountry's edia,an oast einghe bjectf uch ersonalnd ntenseevotion.This ttachmenterivesndoubtedlyromhreeacts: homeinisn't here in

Iran]:or ifteen

earsehas

eenivingn xile rom hich ehimself antsoreturnnlyf he hahsgone; homeiniays othing,othingtherhan o--tothe hah, o he egime,odependence;inally, homeinisnot politician; herewillnotbe a Khomeiniarty, here illnotbe a Khomeiniovernment.Khomeinisthe ocalointf collectiveill."Foucault'smphasis)The rhetoric f nullificationowhich oucault esorts o insistently ere n

identifyinghe ources fKhomeini's agnetismsfully onsonant ith he laimhehadbeen mplicitlydvancingromhe eginningfhis ntellectualnvolvementwith heuprising: hat ran ould mancipatetself y severing ll ties othemodernworld, resumably xisting olely n the sustenance f Spirit. Inunflinchinglyracticinghe olitics fnegation hereinhe we-inspiringresentof the revolutionaryvent s dissociated rom oth ecent istorical ast, nd,perhapsmost isturbingly,rom hatmany bserversnthe all f 1978 aw s aportentous ear future, oucault eems to over-identify is own New Leftcontestation ith he ims f the ranian ppositionothe Shah nd his corruptmodernization.ndeed,nhisdiscussionfKhomeini's ole s"themythic ead fthe revolt n ran," oucault raws n altogetherstounding arallel etweenheIslamic evolutionnd hedecidedlyesspious tudent

prisingsf he1960s

"alittle ikeEuropeantudentsn the 1960s,ranians ant it all'"47),n analyticalleapwhich, would rgue, s yet nother ign f the projectiveharacter f hisintellectual nd political engagementwith the Iranian revolution. AlthoughFoucault's writing n the subject effectively ountered what Said called the"aggressivehyperbole"' much of the Western ress used in manufacturing hatquickly came to be an anti-Iran public consensus, Foucault's anti-consensus



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discourse as no ess hyperbolicn ts dealism. ngrossedn the massrebellioncarried ut with are hands" gainst he Shah nd his awesomemachinery frepression, oucault treamlines is accounts f thepast nd,more isturbingly,

dispensesith

onderinghe

possibilitiesf the

future, hereby osteringhe

Orientalist otion hat he slamic ast s somehow ot ubject to the ordinaryprocess fhistory,"ndreinforcinghe ense hat primitiveness.. inheredntheOrient, astheOrient, n dea owhich nyone ealing ith r writing bout heOrient ad oreturn, s if o a touchstone utlastingime ndexperience."49herhetorical annern which his cclaimed ounter-culturalistorianustifies isfixation nthe nthrallingevolutionaryresent-to he etriment f oth ast ndfuture-has remarkablyisingenuousing o t:

I don't now ow owrite heistory

f he uturend am bit wkward texploringhe ast. wouldike, evertheless,o anvasswhatshappening,"for, heseays, othings foregoneonclusionnd he ice re till olling.hisisperhapshework f he journalist,"ut n ll ruth,amust neophyte."

Theextreme odesty"Idon't now," I am bit wkward")f his 6Novemberstatementn Corriere ontrastsharply ith he upremeonfidenceoucault adexhibitednthe 1 Octoberrticle, LoSci" ha cento nni i ritardo,"n which eproclaimed:Idon't nowf the hah] sstill ookingo he ear 000, ut knowhis famous azedates from he 1920s" emphasis dded]). Perhaps n theintervening eeks, he outright ndignation oucault's arlier nalyseshadprovoked rompted im o strike more mateurish ose han he nehe hadsoauthoritativelyrojectednearlier eports.

In a terse ut esty xchangeetweenoucaultndone ranian eader esidingnParis hat ook lace nLeNouvel bservateurollowingts16Octoberublicationof he Aquoir8ventes raniens?"rticle-an pistolaryncounterhat ell mightbe seen s a new nd opographicallynvertedet fPersian_Letters-thextent owhich oucaultailed,r imply efusedofathom he ravemplicationsf he ast

social, olitical,ultural,nd

uridicaleformsslamic lerics ere

onjuringnthe

fall of 1978 is disturbingly vident. n the 6 Novemberssueof Le NouvelObservateur,neAtoussa . respondedoFoucault'selebrationf he evolution's"spiritual"lan. Vigorouslyndictinghe rench eftist ntelligentia,hiswomanchided oucault's omplacencyoward hepossible stablishmentf n Islamicregime n ran, tunned hat e could ind nything moving"n a traditionalistmovement o openly hampioninghepatriarchal nslavement f women ndplanning o enfranchise inorities nly so long as they o no harm o themajority."

Seekingogive he erm Muslimpirituality" ore extually-groundedeaningthan oesFoucault, toussa . suggests hat e and other Western eftists hofound hemselves nraptured y the revolutionary rdor nd aims of the slamicmovement akethe time o read passagesof the Koran, o that heymight ette'comprehend what the literal pplication f the Koran by moral order of theAyatollah homeini wouldmean." ',esperately amenting hat fter wenty-five



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Rosemariecullion 31

years f dictatorial ule, he ranian eoplewere eing iven heopportunityochooseonly between he Savak's treachery nd the Ayatollah's heocratictyranny-slim ickingsobe sure-she oncludes ith he loquentuery:

Spirituality?eturnopopularourceswhere]he ands nd eads f hievesand overs all?.. It wouldeemhat or a]Westerneft earyfhumanism,Islamsdesirable. . inotherands.Manyraniansikemyselfre istressed,despondent,t the houghtf n"Islamic"overnment.hey now hat tmeans. Throughoutran, slam s a smoke creen or eudal ndpseudo-revolutionaryppression. ften, oo, s in Tunisia,akistan,nd ndonesia,Islam--alas--ishe nly ormf xpressionvailableomuzzledeoples. heprogressiveeft n theWest hould ecognizehe ircuit reakerhe slamicreligionanbecome hen t contains ocietiesager or hange,ndnot etthemselvese educed

y remedyhats

perhapsorsehanhell.s5

Foucault's horoughlyondescendingeply n 13Novemberothe alient ointsAtoussaH. had raised week earlier ndicate hat, s was the case in hisconversationith is come-to-the-rescue-technocrats"n ran, ehad ittle nterestin considering iffering iewsof the ituation, ven, ndeed specially, hosearticulatedy ranians irectlyffected y he ataclysmichanges eshapingheirsociety. his nvestigativepartiris or spiritually"-inclinedourcessparticularlyevident n the "A quoi revent es Iraniens?" iece,where oucault eadily

acknowledgeshat

uringisvisit o Teheran nd the

holy ityQom,he had

refrained rom sking rofessionaloliticianshe uestion What o youwant?"opting opursue is nquiry egardinghe spirationsf he ranian eople mong:"religious igures,tudents,ntellectualsnterestedn problemsoncerningslam,orevenwith ormer uerrilla ighters hohad bandonedrmed trugglen 1976to workwithin raditionalociety."" hismuffling f different,hat s to say, fsecular ranian oices erves otonly osupport iscentral rgument hat hesociety adrediscoveredts ssential,rreduciblespiritual orce"gainst hich hefoundering onarchy'sepression aspowerless,ut lsotobuttress he weepingclaimthat an entire ulture nd entire eople""53ad embraced he deal ofestablishingn slamic egime; new orm f governmentywhich, ehad t ongood uthority,noone n ranmeans political egimenwhich he lergy ouldplay framing ndgoverning ole."" Butwhen he Iranianwomanmentionedabove ucceedsnpublicly oicing ery ound olitical bjectionsowhat he awasanoverly-optimisticand, nretrospect,ecidedlyaive) eadingf he evoltndcelebrationf ts piritualnergies,oucaultimplynd bduratelyharges erwithnot having eadhis article, far from ubtle ssertion f the Europeanmalephilosopher'sntellectualntegritynd uperiority. ristling t he deahis Aquoirevent es Iraniens" ssayhad n anyway uggestedhat 'Muslim pirituality'would dvantageouslyeplacehe Shah's] ictatorship,"oucault oints ut hathe had indeedunderscored spects f the movement hat were "less thanreassuring."nevaluatingoth he ontentnd enor f his ontentiousxchange,and n uxtaposingtwith he riginal ext hat ccasionedt,however,nehasthesense hat oucault'smperioustonewallingf he ery pecific oints toussa .



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hadraised, temmed ot rom refusal oengage n a debatewith n individual hohad not readhis article, ut rather rom n effort o neutralize heforce f critiqueformulated y readerwhohadrecognizedtsutopian not o mention exist) hrustall too well. Foucault

presentsimself n this

responses an

anti-essentialist,difference-tolerating ccidentalwhohasproven imself apableofmaking hefineanalytical istinctions is Iranian detractor as rather maliciously lossed over nher onfusion nd totalization f he slam experience:

Had there nly een n error f eadingnvolvednMineH.'s letter, would othave espondedo t. But t containswo ntolerablehings: ) [It] onfoundsllaspects, ll forms, ll of he virtualitiesf slam nthe ame disdainn order oreject t en bloc through millenary enunciationf its] fanaticism." ) [It]suspectsllWesternersf eingnterestedn slam nly ut f corn orMuslims

(what anonesay bout n Occidental hodespisesslam?).Theproblem fIslam s a political orces an essential roblemor ur ra ndwill emain o nthe years o come. The chief equisite or pproachingthe roblem] ithminimumf ntelligences not obegin y njecting atrednto t."

In this response o AtoussaH., Foucault eavesthe distinct mpression hat he"less than reassuring" evolutionary evelopments e had signaled n the 16OctoberNouvelObservateur rticle had something o do with hepotential heycarried or ntensified atriarchal ppression nd persecution f minority eligiousand ethnic

groups,wo of the most

threateningvirtualities" his reader had

signaled n her ritique fFoucault's nalysis.57et, n actuality, oucault sedthisskeptical erminology nly when speaking of the post-revolutionary odel ofgovernment lericswereformulating n the fall of 1978 and in cautioning gainstthe ll too "familiar" aveats f ts Western ontent:

Noone stobedeprivedf he ruits fhis abor, hat hould elongo veryone(water, ndergroundesources) ust otbe appropriatedy anyone.As forfreedoms,hey illberespectedothe xtent hat heir xercise s not njuriousto others, inorities illberespectedndfree o ive s they lease s long sthey onotharm hemajority, etween an ndwoman, here illnotbe aninequalityut difference f ights,ince gendernvolves]differencefnature.Inthe oliticalealm, ecisions illbe made y hemajority,eaders ill beheldresponsible ythe people, nd anyone anrise up andholdhe who governsaccountable.

It s often aid hat he efinitionsf he slamic overnmentre mprecise. uitethe ontrary,hey eemedome ohave very amiliar,ut, must ay, ess hanreassuring ransparencyo them. "These re formulas asedon bourgeois,

revolutionaryemocracy,"said, we haven't topped epeatinghem ince he18th entury,ndyou now hat heyed o."But was mmediatelyold: TheKoran nunciated hemwell before our hilosophes nd if the Christian,industrial est as ost sense f hem,slamwillknow ow opreserveheirvalue nd fficaciousness.'"Emphasisdded)



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Rosemariecullion 33

UnlikeAtoussa . who ncisivelyuestionsust whenminorities egin o doharm'?"' Foucaulteaves his ondition fminority ights nproblematized,ustas the blatantly iscriminatoryseparate ut qual"principle ogovern henewsociety's ender elationsemainsnaturalized."ending urtherredenceo hepropositionhat is writing nthe ranian evolution ossesseshighly rojectivecharacter, oucault harges toussa . with onfoundingall aspects, ll forms,all the irtualitiesf slam nthe ame disdain n order oreject t enbloc" andwith uspectingallWesternersfbeing nterestedn slam nly ut f corn orMuslims"emphasisdded), uite he ame otalizingnalytical ode ehimselfhadconsistentlydopted n singing hepraise f the slamic evolution. orestrikings the act hat oucault imself adobviouslyot read"with ny areAtoussa .'s statement f November,ince er one fpolitical ontention asnotwith all Westerners"ut ery pecifically ith eftist ntellectuals ho, sFoucault opublicly emonstratednhis"amateur"ournalism, eemedoeagerin thefall of 1978to see the piritualdeals f the slamic evolutionut ntoinstitutionalractice-"chez es autres." Despitewhat an now be seen s theinsightfulnessf his ranian ritic's hallengeoFoucault's eading,nhisquitemanipulative andling f this "difference" f opinion, he Europeanmalephilosopheromehow anagesoget he pper hetoricaland, ot nly nhavingthe astword ut ydeftly reating he mpressionhat t s hewhohas aken he

higherntellectual,

olitical, nd,most

stonishingly,oral

round, wistingAtoussaH.'s straightforwardlyormulated bjections nto the seeminglyunscrupuloustterancesf shamelessly esternized,elf-hatingriental.

Foucault's nresponsivenessoAtoussa .'sconcernssevenmore nsettlingnthat t ypifies isgeneral nwillingnessoexaminehe endermplicationsf hemovement'secourseoreligious rthodoxy hich-like tsmonologicariantsnJudaism nd Christianity-rigidlyodifies he ubordinatetatus f women, nimportant spect of the Shi'ite clergy's evolutionarymbitions hat goesconspicuouslynder-reportednhis Persian otebook."Whichsnot o ay hat

the ubject f, or xample,he onstrictingress ode bout obe mandated orwomen oesnot mpinge pon oucault'sntellectualonsciousnessnthe ourseof his nvestigativeeporting.When obering uestions egardinghe ocial,cultural, olitical,uridical, nd ndeed hysicalutonomyfwomen ome o thefore, owever, oucault ften hifts hediscussion, iving t a related, houghdistinctly on-genderedocus.A noteworthyxample f thismarginalizationfgender oncerns anbe found n the losing assages f he Esprit" nterviewwhere laire ridre, ne f he orrespondentsiberationent o ran, ecalls hatshe erms he immensentolerance"nd ontempt ithwhich ome f hemaleIslamic ctivists reated er uring demonstrationhen he ttemptedoboarda van ransportingoreignournalists. lthoughhewas ppropriatelylad nthechador, he ull-lengtheilprescribedorwomen, hewasnotwearing paquestockings nder er andals, violation hat rompted heseyoungmen odemandher removal rom hevan. WhileBribre erself ails oexplore he exualpolitics



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atwork nthis ncidentrationalizingt nterms uch s "[t]heMovement'sorce[comes rom]tsuniqueness. s soon s it perceivesmalldifferences,t feelsthreatened. believe n this ase, ntolerances necessary,"60oucault eadily

endorseshis eductionisteasoningith uch latitudess"[i]n rder oface ucha redoubtable rmed ower, ne must not feel alone,"6' urther oting hatrevolutionary ovements ften have an element f ingoism, ationalism,exclusion,ndhave mobilizingorcehat struly remendousor ndividuals."62Thenet result f this ort f displacements that oucault nd his discussantsretain othing f he gender pecificityf he ncident,ommentingnly n themost general ashion pon the necessary ntolerance hat uch momentousstrugglesften ntail.

HadFoucaulthown he ame nterest ncommentingnthe mmenseouragerequired f hewomen ho during heweek f 12March 979, ook nmasse othe streets f Teheran, sphahan, abriz, nd Bandar-Abbaso protest heimposition f the hador nd other raditionalistegislationn theworks, uchdisregard or he light fwomen nder prospectiveslamic egime ight eemlesssignificant. et Foucault's ilence n theweek-longemonstrations--whichadvancednder orrentsfwhat eMonde's ean ueyras escribedn14March sthe "insults nd eers" of slamic militants ho hounded he women withindiscriminateharges fbeing 'agents f he avak,nstrumentsf mperialism... tools f nternational ommunism,.. defendersf he ahlavi ynasty.. andadmirers f Princess shraf, heShah's ister whowas]known or her oosemorals"63-raisesroublinguestions egardingisastonishing isregard f theissues f gender ppression isobject f nalysis igorouslyoisted n him. Noless intrepid han he anti-Shah rotests f the preceding onths, hisboldinitiative y ranian omenoprotect heir ivil ightsnd o make very ublicpoint f he act hat hey adnot articipatedndeposinghe hah pour evenirenarriere,"64ent,ournalisticallypeaking,ntirely nnoticedy oucault hosecommentary n the Iranian matter ad by this time slowed o a dribble.

Lamentably, his ilence onforms ll to wellto the pathy e so consistentlyexhibitednhis nalysesoward omen nd he im uture religiously-fashionedpost-revolutionaryorldmight old or hem.

In the L'Esprit 'un monde ans sprit" nterview, oucault mphasizesheimportancefdistinguishing-as oesFrangoisuret nhis nalysis f he renchuprising f 1789--betweenhe roader rocessesf conomic,ocial, nd ulturaltransformationhat ed tothe evolutionndwhat eterms the pecificityf herevolutionaryvent."65et, s I have ought o llustrate,hroughoutisPersianadventure,oucault ocuses bsessivelynthe atter, ighlightinghedrama ndtheatricalityf he pellbindingisplay f collectiveouragehe ranians tagedfor he world n late 1978andearly 979. Captivatedythe beauty" f anuprising hose piraling iolenceeems o have heightenedhepolitical hrill fit all, Foucault ntroduces n aesthetic imension nto he argument e had beenadvancing ince he first ntry ntoCorriere ella Sera's "Taccuino ersiano" n28 September 978:



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Now what truckme in ran s that here s no struggle etween ifferentelements.What ives t uch eauty, nd t the ame ime uch ravity,sthatthere s only ne confrontation: etween he entire eople nd the statethreateningtwith ts weaponsndpolice.Onedidn't ave ogoto extremes,onefound hem here t once, nthe ne ide, he ntire illof he eople, nthe ther hemachine uns.Thepeople emonstrated,he anks rrived. hedemonstrationsere epeatednd hemachine-gunsired et gain. And hisoccurredn an almost dentical ay,with, f course, n intensificationachtime, utwithout ny hange f form r nature. t's the repetition f thedemonstration.hereaders fWestern ewspapers ust ave ired f t fairlysoon.Oh, nother emonstrationn ran But believe he emonstration,n tsvery epetition, ad n ntense olitical eaning. hevery ord emonstrationmust e taken iterally: peoplewastirelessly emonstratingts will. Ofcourse,twasnot nly ecause f he emonstrationhat he hah eft. ut necannot eny hat twasbecause f n endlesslyemonstratedejection. herewas n these emonstrationslink etween ollectivection, eligiousitual,and n expressionfpublic ight. t's rather ike n Greek ragedy here hecollectiveeremonynd he eenactmentf he principlesf right ohand nhand. In the treets f Tehran here asan act, political nd uridical ct,carried ut collectively ithin eligious ituals-an act of deposing hesovereign.Emphasisdded, ranslationltered)"

Along with he facile conversion f Eastern ignifiers nto Western ulturalcurrency i.e. Greek

ragedy,rangois uret's ccount f the French

Revolution)and he reezy irculationfmarkers fOriental espotism,67oucault's ecourseto he hetoricfdrama-languagehat esurfacesnce gain nthe Inutile e sesoulever?"rticle ublishednLeMonde n 11May

1979--mightwell e seen

as"demonstrating"et gain heOrientalistmpulsesssertinghemselvesnhisIranian ext. Edward aidpoints ut hat or heWestern raveller,heMiddleEasthas ong een onsideredaplaceofpilgrimage"hat unctionshiefly s a"spectacle, r tableauvivant."69 his notion f the Orient s site of exoticpilgrimage nd stimulating ableau ivant orwriters eeking elief rom he

tedium f he amiliarptly haracterizeshat ppears ohave een he ersonalcircumstancesurrounding oucault's ecision otravel o ran n September1978.Didier ribon urmiseshat oucault ecidedo ake orriere ellaSera'seditor pon noffer xtendedn 1977 o uthor series f rticles, ince efoundhimself adlynneed-to xtend he heatrical etaphor-of change f cenery.Unenthusedy heprospect fwriting n cultural ndphilosophicalssueswithwhich ehadbecome ocloselydentified,oucault roposedhe lternative fundertakingnvestigativeeportingbroad, owhich orriere's ditor eadilyagreed. n September978followinghe laughtern Teheran's aleh quare,whose olitical ftershocksompoundedhe raumas f heTabasearthquakeweek ater, eporting n "The ran Story" assurely ne of the most xoticassignmentsobe hadbyWesternournalists. iven isextendedntellectualinvolvement nd fascination with resistance o the formidable orcesof "LePouvoir," t snot urprising hat oucaultwould hoose nthe all of 1978to coverthe showdown etween monarch f egendary rutality nd a peopleprepared o



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"take othe treets,n thehundreds f housands,n theirmillions, ndface hemachine-guns are-chested."70 as the counter-proposalo act as one ofCorriere's oreigneportersimplyaway fgetting round the ditor's] equest,

as some ay, r," ribon sks, didhe, s others elieve,imply eel he eed ogetaway rom aris fter hat e considered obe the ailure f he a Volontd esavoir?""Althoughoucault'sctualmotivationsannot ow e determined ithany ertainty, n examinationf he exts roducednd tatements adeduringthe ranian pisode f hiswriting areer ndicatet was more utof desire oencounter dramatic, efamiliarizingifference han ut of a longstandinginvolvement ith, assion or, ndknowledgef hings ersian hat ed him oundertakehis roject.

In"Inutile esesoulever?",oucault's inal ssay nthe ranian evolution,hephilosopher eaffirmed is respect or the Iranian people,his awe of itsrevolutionaryill, nd he nduring enaceuch force epresentso llforms ftyranny:

Uprisingselongohistory. ut n way hey scapet. The movementnwhich solitary an, group,minority,r n ntire eopleays: Ino ongerobey," iskingts ife n he ace f powertdeems njust--this ovementseemsome nconquerable.or o owerscapablefmasteringt ompletely:Warsaw ill lways ave ts ebellious hettosnd ts ewers nhabitedy

insurgents.nd ecauseheman ho ises

p s,n he

nd,nexplicable,here

must ea wrestingway hat nterruptshe hread fhistory,nd ts ongshacklesf eason,othat man an really"referhe isk f death othecertaintyf avingo bey.n

With his loquent ffirmation f "man's" ndomitablepirit f resistance opolitical ppression,oucault o doubt ifted he pirits f Western rogressiveswhohadplaced uchhigh mancipatoryopesn the massuprising gainst heShah, utwho, yMay1979when his rticle ppearednLeMonde,were uiteprobably ecoilingn horror t thedraconian unishmenteingmeted ut othenew lericalistegime's apidly ultiplying oral nd political oes. n this wansong fhis ranian dventure,he incerityfFoucault's ffort ocombat yrannyand,more ommendably,o ngage different ind fdialogue etweenast ndWest that might ead to greater espect or the otherness f its Orientalinterlocutor,sverymuch nevidence.73nd uite ourageously,eeven oes ofar s to ntimate hat emight ellhave rred n his appraisal f ust what, sAtoussa . put t, the iteral pplication f the Koran ymoral rder f theAyatollah homeini ouldmean," imply tating: [t]herescertainly oshamein

changingne's

opinion."et even nthis ontemplative,uitemoving ssay,

Foucault verlookshepossibilityhat heprinciple f wrestingway rom hefiber f history"-a upture hat nables he ebellingubjectosay I no ongerobey"-might lso have nterpretivelympinged ponhis reading f ran'srevolutionaryext s a tableau ivant f men ising p," eading im o privilegedazzling olitical pectaclever he omplexitiesfhistoricalrocess. nthe nd,



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perhaps oucault's reatest versightn the Iranian ffair" assimply hat fhaving ailed orecognize,s Atoussa . hadmonths efore uggestedemight,that hird orld evolutions not spectatorport orWesternntellectualsenmald'humanisme,"hat s,for ntellectuals eary f he reedoms hat raditionhas ong ince ecured or hem.

NOTES1. I would ike o extend my hanks oAllanMegill or haring isvaluable omments n an earlier raftof this ssayand to CinziaBlum,AlanNagel, nd Vahid Nowshirvani or heir areful eading f andsuggestions n the final version. Thanks lso to PeggyTrezbiatowski orher research ssistance ngatheringhedocumentationponwhich have basedmy nalysis.

2.Uta Liebmann

haub, Foucault's riental ubtext," MLA104.3 May1989):306-15.3. ClaireBrihre ndPierre lanchat, nterview ithMichel oucault, L'Esprit 'unmonde ans sprit,"Iran: La Rdvolution u nom de dieu Paris:Seuil,1979),225-41. For an English ranslation f thisinterview, ee"Iran: The Spirit f WorldWithout pirit," olitics, hilosophy, ulture: nterviews ndOtherWritings, 977-1984,ed.Lawrence . Kritzman NewYork: Routledge, 988),211-24.4. In their rticle Foucault t 'Iran: A propos u d6sir e r6volution" CanadianJournal fPoliticalScience24.2[June 9911:221-36), awrence livier nd Sylvain abb6 ffer very ifferent olitical ndphilosophicalssessment f Foucault's nalysis f he 1978 ranian evolution. uch s Foucault, r so Iargue n the discussionhat ollows, lided he ultural, olitical ndhistorical pecificity f he ranianRevolution, livier nd Labb6analyze oucault's exts n the ubject hrough hecorpus f he Westernphilosopher'shought,onspicuouslyssigning riorityo t, ather han o he other" erm f the oucault-Iran encounter, hat s, o the ranian ultural nd political ontext, hich ltimately roves obe of verylittle mport othese ommentators.5. Foucault's articles n and Corriere ella Sera,LeMatin, eMonde, ndLe NouvelObservateur, reasfollows: AquoireventesIraniens?"LeNouvel bservateur, 6 October 978:48-49; "IImitico apodella ivoltaell'Iran," CorriereDella era, 26November 978: 1+; "Inutile e sesoulever?"LeMonde,11 May 1979: 1+; "La rivolta ell'Iran orre ui nastri elleminicassette," orriere ella Sera, 19November 978: 1+; "L'esercito, uando aterra rema," orriere ella Sera,28 September 978: 1+;"Lettre uvertei MehdiBazargan," e NouvelObservateur, 4April 979: 46; "Lo Scii ha cento nnidi ritardo," orriere ella Sera, 1 October 978: 1+; "R6ponse e MichelFoucaulti une lectriceiranienne," e NouvelObservateur, 3November 978: 26; "Michel oucault t L'Iran," e Matin 26March 979: 15;"Ritorno l Profeta?" orriere ella Sera,22October 978: 4; "Sfida ll'opposizione,"Corriere ella Sera, 7 November 978: 1+; "Teheran: a fede ontro o Scii,"Corriere ella Sera, 8October 978: 11; "Unapolveriera hiamata slam,"Corriere ella Sera, 13February 979: 1; and"Una rivolta on e maninude," orriereDella era, 5 November 978: 1+; LeNouvelObservateur,November 978: 27.6. Michel oucault, 'Archdologie usavoir (Paris:Gallimard, 969) (translated yAlanM. Sheridanas TheArcheology fKnowledgeNewYork: Pantheon, 972]).7. EdwardW. Said,OrientalismNewYork: Random ouse,1978),3.8. Ibid.9. Ibid., 5.10. In the L'Esprit 'un monde ansEsprit" nterview, oucault ites he ranian pposition's ount f4,000 protesters illed n the Jaleh quaremassacre, hile decade ater, hehistorian aid Arjomandestimatedhat here ere 50fatalities.11. See "L'esercito, uando aterra rema" 28 September 978),"Lo Scii ha cento nnidi ritardo" 1October 978),"Teheran: a fede ontro o SciV"8 October1978) "Ritorno l Profeta?" 22 October1978),"Unarivolta on e maninude" 5 November 978), Sfida ll'opposizione"7 November 978),"Larivolta ell'Iran orre uinastri elleminicassette"19November 978), 11mitico apodellarivolta"(26November1978), nd Unapolveriera hiamataslam" 13 February 979).12. See AtoussaH., "Une ectrice ranienne crit," e NouvelObservateur, November 978:27; andClaudeand Jacques royelle's A quoi reve esphilosophes?:MichelFoucault 'est-il romp6 ur a



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r6volutionranienne?" eMatin, 4 March 979:13.13. Foucault, Lo Scii";unless therwise ndicated,ll translations remy wn.14. Ibid.15. Ibid. This totalizing hetoric eturns ime nd again n both he Corriere rticles s well as in the

"L'Esprit 'un monde ansesprit" nterview, here he djective tout" r "toute" s used no fewer hantwenty-twoimesnreferenceo ran nd ranians.16. The Shah's White evolution" as a series f reforms hich hemonarch dopted nJanuary 963under ressure rom oth omestic pposition nd the Kennedy dministration. n The Turban or theCrown: The slamic Revolution n ran Oxford:Oxford niversity ress, 988),SaidAmirAjormandsummarizeshe cope fwhat oucault alls all the grand nitiatives fpower" "tutte egrandi niziativedelpotere") s a six-point rogram obring bout: "1) land eform, ) saleof ome tate-owned actoriesofinance he andreform, ) the enfranchisementf women, ) nationalizationf forests nd pastures, )formation f literacy orps, nd6) institution fprofit-sharingchemes orworkersn ndustry"72).17. RezaBaraheni, he Crowned annibals: Writings n Repression n ran (NewYork: Vintage,1977),5. In his ntroductiono Baraheni'swork, . L. Doctorow escribes he uthor s a "chronicler fhisnation's orture

ndustrynd

poetf hisnation's ecret

oliceforce." Doctorow urther otes hat in

[Baraheni's] ase,our aesthetic esponsemust e a shade ess righteous ecause ran, y all responsibleaccounts,s a country hose uler e nstalled urselves nd o whose ealth ndwell-being e have beendevotednall the sual ways-with urplanes nd anks nd omputers"x).18. Foucault, Lo Sci&."19. Between 927 and 1938,Reza Shah nitiated umerous ublicworks rograms hat ncluded heconstructionf heTrans-Iranian ailway nd he xpansion f he ountry's oadwaysrom ight undredto fourteen housandmiles Arjomand, 5).20. Said,Orientalism, 7-68.21. Fernand raudel, nHistory, rans. . MatthewsChicago:University fChicago ress, 980),21.22. For a discussion f the earlyAnnales historians' onceptualization f historical ime pans, eeBraudel'sOn

History.23. MichelFoucault, 'Ordre du discours Paris: Gallimard, 971). The Englishversion f thistext, "The Discourse on Language," was published as an appendix to Alan Sheridan's 1972translation fFoucault's L 'Archdologie u savoir, which ad been ublishednFrance woyears eforeL 'Ordre udiscours.24. Foucault, TheDiscourse nLanguage,"nTheArcheology fKnowledge, 30.25. In he Esprit" nterview, oucault nfact ses trikinglyimilar anguage o describe hat eobservedin ran: "je ne saispas s'il vous est arriv6, vous, n Iran, de ddterminer, e cerner a nature e cetteimmense ontestation eligieuse, oi, e trouve uec'esttrbs ifficile. es Iraniens uxm&me agedanscetteambigult6tont lusieurs iveaux e angage, 'engagement,'expression,tc." Bri6re ndBlanchat,229).26.

Baraheni,.

27. Foucault, Lo Scii."28. Foucault, TheDiscourse nLanguage,"nTheArcheology fKnowledge, 30.29. Foucault, LoSci."30. Bribre ndBlanchat, 25.31. Baraheni, .32. EdwardW. Said,Coveringslam NewYork: Pantheon ooks, 981),75-103.33. Ibid., 08.34. Baraheni, -6.35. JamesA. Bill, "America, ran, nd the Politics f ntervention, 951-1953."Musaddiq, ranianNationalism, nd Oil ed. James . Bill andWilliam oger ouis London: .B.Tauris, 988),287.

36. Richard Cottamn,Nationalism n Twentieth-Centuryran and Dr. Mohammed Mussadiq," nMusaddiq, ranian Nationalism, nd Oil,23.37. Ibid.38. Fakhreddin zimi, AnOverview f he Political areer fDr. Muhammad usaddiq,"nMusaddiq,IranianNationalism, nd Oil,55-56.39. Bill,271.40. Ibid., 75.



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41. Cottam, 80.42. Bill,280-81.43. Arjomand, 1.44. Ibid., 5.

45. Didier ribon,MichelFoucaultParis: lammarion, 989),304.46. Foucault, IImitico apodellarivolta ell'Iran."47. Ibid.48. Said,Covering slam,108.49. Said,Orientalism, 30-31.50. Foucault, IImitico apodellarivolta ell'Iran."51. Atoussa ., "Une ranienne6crit."52. Foucault, A quoi revent es Iraniens?"; oucault s most ikely eferring ere o the People'sMojahedin, political ormationepehr ebih haracterizes s "one of he most ctive, hebest rganized,and perhaps he argest uerrilla rganization" f the radicalLeft-identifiedroups n pre-revolutionaryIran. Zebih xplains hat during heir landestine ctivity, hegroup dvocatedhe ntegrationfwhat heyviewed s genuine hiaradicalismnd ome spects fMarxist ocialism. hey ould econsideredeftist,both n advocatinghe se offorce nd rmed esistanceotopple he xisting egime nd n he cceptanceof social and economic oncepts enerally dentified ith Marxism. The regimehad no difficultydesignatinghem s an slamic Marxist rganization,ven hough better erm ould havebeen RadicalShia-Marxistocialist rganization ecause he erm Islam' has broader onnotationshan he ctivitiesand deology f his articular roup xhibited"TheLeft nContemporaryran: Ideology, rganizationand the Soviet Connection London: CroomHell, 1986], 12). Zebih's study ffers concise ndinformative iscussion f herole nd nfluenceheOld,New, ndpredominantlyecular eft as had nmodem ranian olitics ince he 1917 formation f he ranian ommunist arty, nown n ran as theTudeh arty.53. Foucault, Lo SciA."

54. Ibid.55. Foucault, R6ponse eMichel oucault une ectriceranienne."56. Ibid.57. Atoussa H., "Une iranienne crit." She writes: "Pour avoir une id6ede ce que signifierait a'spiritualitk' uCoran ppliqu6e a lettre ar 'ordremoral e 'ayatollah homeini,ln'estpasmauvaisderelire es textes. ..] Sourate : 'Vos 6pousesont our ousun champs, enezdone votre hampscomme ous 'entendez.' n clair: l'homme st e seigneur, a femme sclave, npeut n user elon oncaprice, llen'a rien Adire. Qu'elleporte evoile, 6 de a alousiedu Prophte nvers lcha Ilne s'agitpas deparabole pirituelle aisbiend'un choix e soci6t6. esfemmes evoil6esont ouvent nsult6esnce moment t es eunesmusulmans, ux-mmnes ecachent as que, dans e r6gime u'ils veulent, esfemmes 'aurontqu'i bien e tenir. l est6crit ussiqueles minorit6s nt roit a libertd, ondition ene

pas porter ortA

a majorit6.A partir equand esminorit6s ommencent-elles'porter ort'?" TheIslamic egime's igilant epressionf he Ba'haiminority nd of Kurdish emands or utonomyn theearly tages f ts nstitutionalizationsample ndication fAtoussa .'s political cumen.For discussionof the Koran-inspiredegislation hichgreatly ntensified he nstitutional ppression f women, eeNayareh ohidi's Gender nd slamic undamentalism: eminist olitics n ran," ThirdWorldWomenand the olitics fFeminism, dsC.Mohanty, t l. Bloomington:ndiana niversity ress, 991):251-67.58. Foucault, Aquoirave es raniens?"59. Atoussa ., "Une ranienne crit."60. Bri&rendBlanchat, 40.61. Ibid.62. Ibid.63. '"Tout u long uparcours, esjeunes emmesnt td ccabldes 'injures tdericanement. llesout6t6accus6esourA our '&tre es agents e la SAVAK',des instruments el'imparialisme', es outils essupp6ts ucommunismenternational', es d6fenseurs ela dynastie esPahlavi', t des admiratrices ela princesse chraf', oeur uchah, onnue our alibertd esesmoeurs" JeanGueyras, LesFormationsdegauche 6conseillentux femmes apour uite esmanifestationserue," eMonde, 14March 979,4). Gueyras lsoreports hat he ranian eft ailed o participaten he women's emonstrations,laimingthat nyfurther ction n the treets oulddestabilize ehdiBazargan's rovisional overnmentnd ead



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"in6vitablementi l'arriv6e u pouvoir '616mnentseligieuxesplus xtr6mistes"4).64. Ibid.65. Briare ndBlanchat, 30.66. Foucault, olitics, hilosophy, ulture, 16.

67. In a subsequent ortion f the Esprit" nterview, oucault gain ntroduces he rope f Orientaldespotism hen eferringo the Savak, tating: on avait ffairei unepolicequin'6tait ertainement asefficace, aisdont a violence t a cruaut6 emplacaienta finesse" Bri6re ndBlanchat, 33). Foucaultneglects, owever,oremind eadershat he hah's ecret olicehadbeen rganized,rained,nd quippedby CIAoperatives, hich hereforextends esponsibilityor ts violence nd cruelty" nto heWesternhemisphere. et here gain, s in the ase of hePahlavi's orrupting odernity,heSavak'sbrutality smade o"stick ike n adhesive" o the ranian gentswhile eleasingWestern echniciansf orture romthe grip f ts moral eprehensibility.68. Foucault esorts venmore nsistentlyothe anguage f drama n this ssay,writing: lesfameusesmanifestations,ui ontjoud un rdle i important, ouvaient la fois 6pondre6ellement la menace el'arm6e (jusqu'i la paralyser), e ddrouler elon e rythme es cdrdmonies eligieuses t finalment

renvoyerune

dramaturgie ntemporelleiie

pouvoirst

oujoursmaudit.tonnante

uperposition,llefaisait pparaitre nplein ingtiameiacle n mouvementssezfort our enverserer6gime pparammentlemieux rm6, out n6tant roche evieux aves ue 'Occident connu uture ois, uand n nscrire esfigures de la spiritualit6 ur e sol de la politique." In the "Esprit" nterview, e also refers o therevolutionary ovement s "cette orte de thdatre u'ils fabriquent u jour le our et qui constitue aR6volution"Briare ndBlanchat, 30 [emphasisdded]).69. Said,Orientalism, 58.70. Foucault, olitics, hilosophy, ulture, 17.71. Eribon, 89.72. Foucault, Inutile e se soulever?"73. In the Esprit" nterview,t s apparent hat oucault nderstands he ranian evolution asan rritantto the

Western ody olitic-oftheeft nd

ofthe ight. However, equite bviously idnot omprehendthat he historical, iscursive, nd ideological orces f Western rientalism ere plainly t work,signifyingystem hich dward aid dentifiesnd nalyzesnOrientalism, nd rom hich, have rguedhere, oucaultwas unable oextricate imselfn hiswriting n ran. In response oa question y ClaireBriare sking im o explain owhe had become, ikeherself spellbound"envofitd) y herevolution,Foucault esponds y aying hat e began is nquiry sking imself: qu'y a-t-il one u d'un euaga9antdans e qui s'estpass6 n ranpour oute ne 6rie egens egauche u de droite? 'Affaire 'Iran t amani"re ont lle s'est d6roul6e 'ont pas soulev6 a m^me orme e sympathie ansproblame ue lePortugal ar xemple, u que eNicaragua.Jene dis pas que eNicaragua, nplein t6, u moment ui esgens e doraient nplein oleil, soulev6 eaucoup 'intarat, aispour 'Iran, 'ai tras ite enti nepetiter6action pidermiqueui n'6tait asde 'ordre e la sympathiemm6diate. n exemple: ette ournalistequevous onnaissez ien. Elle fait T6h6ran npapier u'on publie&aris, t, ans a phrase inale ui lleparlait e a r6volte slamique,lleretrouveaphrase u'elle vait crite vec, jout6 outcrnlment,'adjectif'fanatique', u'elle n'avait bien ur pas 6crit. (a me parait sseztypique e l'especed'agacement u'aprovoqu6emouvementranien"Briare ndBlanchat, 27-28).

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