"My research studies the role of Iranian women as visitors in museums. The museum visitor experience is physical, personal, social, and visual; studying this embodied experience is fundamental to understanding the cultural role of museums. Thus far, the field of critical museum studies has emphasized European and North American museums, by addressing how they produce national identity, educate citizens, and exclude certain groups, including different kinds of women, from them. My research will enrich the field by focusing on the diverse women who visit museums in Iran. Using methods of participant observation and archival research, I will explore the embodied experiences of women at two sites, namely the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts and the National Museum of Iran. Among other issues, I will consider how these museums may function as places for women to practice the “rituals of citizenship” described by museum scholar Carol Duncan. I will ask how different women move through, engage with, and understand the museum during their visits while attending to the museums’ ritual qualities.."
Rojina Sabetiashraf, MA Student, Art History