Dadkhah mothers of Iran, from Khavaran to Aban: digital dadkhahi and transnational coalitional mothering

Abstract

This article offers a theoretical account of the figure of the ‘Dadkhah mother’, the ‘justice-seeking mother’, by highlighting her historical, political and feminist significance in contemporary Iran and beyond. By drawing on a conceptual analysis of visual images, oral and written history and social media posts, I outline the key qualities of the figure of the Dadkhah mother and her longstanding activism and solidarity-building practices. I elaborate on what I call ‘transnational coalitional mothering’ and ‘digital dadkhahi’. The article builds on feminist theorisations of mothering, resistance, affective (mediated) solidarity and conditions of (un)grievability to argue that the multiple mediatised, resistant and coalitional strategies of the Dadkhah mothers of Iran offer radical alternative modes of thinking about mothering and (elderly) women's resistance. Such modes acknowledge these women's undeniable contribution to activism and to doing gender and politics across borders, beyond patriarchal motherhood, familial kinship ties, Western-centric co-optive voices and hierarchical framings, and in direct opposition to authoritarian spatiotemporal nation-building myths and impositions.