Feminine Discourse in Handwoven Carpets of Qajar and Pahlavi Eras

Iranian handwoven carpet is a phenomenon that carries the history, culture, tradition and civilization of Iran. But one of the less addressed issues is the women in the field of handwoven carpets. Since handwoven carpets have always been intertwined with women's lives, the main issue of research is to identify the female discourse in handwoven carpets and to articulate the effective elements of this discourse in Qajar and Pahlavi eras in Iran. Since handwoven carpet has always been considered masculine and women have not been looked at, more deeply than in the role of the weaver or the subject of the image in the pictorial carpets that were part of the productions of these two periods, this article tries to drag out the importance of the women's role in Iranian patriarchal society of those days.  In this study, based on Foucault's theories, a set of propositions producing knowledge in the field of women and carpet weaving in the Qajar and Pahlavi eras have been studied. However, Foucault had not clearly explained how the research must be conducted following the discourse, and it is difficult to find an easy guide to implement  in social research inspired by his work. Foucault uses archeology and genealogy in two major stages of his methodology. In archeology, Foucault focuses on the inner dimension of discourse and shows no interest in examining non-discourse elements. So, The present study emphasizes the method of Foucault's archeology and does not include genealogy as one of its components. The present study deals with the prevailing conditions in the Qajar and Pahlavi eras, especially in relation to the situation of women. According to Foucault's theory, in each period of epochs, a special discourse governs the behavior and actions of people and is accompanied by a series of discourse strategies that are inextricably linked with language and with the collapse of any system. Therefore, women in relation to handmade carpets in the two periods of Qajar and Pahlavi have been discussed and some power relations have been mentioned as well. In this regard, women have been analyzed in relation to handwoven carpets from three perspectives: 1) subjective; 2) objective and 3) the subject of the work. Also, an attempt has been made to discover the relationships of elements related to women and how to create meaning and discourse in the carpet. Also, the purpose of this study is to answer the following question: What was the position of women in Iranian handmade carpets during the Qajar and Pahlavi eras? The research method is qualitative and in terms of method of implementation is descriptive-analytical-historical. To study and understand past events, look at the causes, effects or trends of past events that helps to clarify current events and predict the future ones, Michel Foucault's archeology theory has been used as a theoretical framework and also as the conceptual model of the research to analyze the data and to respond to the problems. Considering the latter triad in Foucault's discourse analysis, the Iranian hand-woven carpet in the Qajar and Pahlavi eras has been studied from three perspectives. That is, women have been given subjective, objective, and conceptual situations in the handmade carpets of these two periods in order to recognize the dominant discourse of these two periods.
Finally, a final assessment of the discourse position of handmade carpets in the two mentioned periods in Iran is obtained. Rival discourse sources in the construction of femininity in this period can be considered as written sources obtained from that period. Because these sources, which are at the same time expressive of the ruling discourse of this period, also express the demands of society, especially women. Because the identity that refers to women in modern times is not an absolute concept, but it is completely relative, which is realized in the historical process and within a certain cultural, traditional and social context, and is strongly dependent on the components and factors of its constituent context. The constituents of the context and their internal relations with each other are also involved in the process of application and construction of female identity. Accordingly, we will be confronted with different kinds of female beings and identities, and it is not possible to judge and define the conceptual nature of it. Therefore, woman is placed in different situations in relation to the handwoven carpet, then studied in the historical context of the period in order to understand the dominant discourse and at the same time, to recognize the power relations. In order to better understand and include discourse analysis based on the archaeological approach, it is necessary to explore the propositions confirming the phenomenon under study, to recognize power relations, and to identify competing discourses. Then to understand the current discourse of that phenomenon.  In historical and sociological analyzes, most women have been ignored and a distorted image of them has been obtained because they have always been on the margins of analysis and research. This is not just because of the exclusion of women from research examples, but also as a result of the systematic prejudices and inefficiencies that exist in common male-centered contexts. Even in the examples that include women in research categories, it is from a perspective that considers men as a common standard. Women are related to all aspects of Iranian handwoven carpets in the historical period under study, and according to the documents collected. Relying on the discourse method of Michel Foucault and adopting a triple response method in archeology, the propositions related to Iranian handmade carpets in the Qajar and Pahlavi periods were examined. Propositions whose function is revealed by dealing with historical narratives. Until the answer to the main question was found, which is looking for the place of women in Iranian handmade carpets. The richness of historical material and documents related to the daily events of men compared to women in history is so high and even the smallest daily activities of men have been recorded in the history. But women, as the half of the population, enjoy less of the richness of written documents, and the  recorded history for them is often an oral history. The main purpose of this article is to take women out of the historical isolation of that time and to identify their activities and to record propositions and elements in writing and to include them in the realm of discourse to recite  the forgotten identity of women living in the patriarchal society of that era. An identity that is not inherent in nature and has always been introduced to others by her male relatives. Also, the expression of propositions that may be considered more accurately and in detail in future research. The meaning of each of these propositions may not be important, but how they are combined and united is important. In order to answer the research question, which was to find the position of women in the field of handmade carpets in the two mentioned periods, by granting three special positions to women in relation to handmade carpets, women's footprints were observed in all related aspects of handmade carpets. Although discourse theories are always subject to change and transformation and unstable; However, according to the studied data, the role of women in economic, cultural discourses, tastes and representations of handmade carpets and looking at all its dimensions, from the stages of spinning wool and silk to the stages of production, ownership circle and even its designs in In both Pahlavi and Qajar periods, it can be said that the element of femininity has always been alive and well in the field of Iranian handwoven carpets. Therefore,  the position of women in the context  of Iranian handwoven carpets in this period cannot be denied.