Spatial Histories: Geography, Memory, and Alternative Narratives of the Iranian Revolution of 1979

Abstract

In distinction from the overwhelming tendency to conceive history primarily in terms of its temporal chronologies, this paper considers the spatiality of history and historical memory. Engaging with seven Oral History interviews with diasporic Iranians in Toronto on the Iranian Revolution of 1979, we show that narratives of historical events are deeply shaped by the geographical location of narrators: those emplaced in differing geographical locations at the time of the Revolution not only remember disparate events, but also associate distinct temporal points with the Revolution. For instance, while those remembering the Revolution from the capital city of Tehran produce narratives that closely align with the official historiography of the Revolution (such as in recounting street protests and the culmination of the Revolution on February 11th, 1979), others remember events and dates that are only peripheral to official accounts (such as the arson at Cinema Rex on August 19th, 1978, or the hostage crisis that lasted from November 4th, 1979 to January 28th, 1980). In other words, both the content of memories (what narrators remember) and their temporal associations (which dates narrators recall) are informed by the embodied geography of memories. Hence, those whose geographical locations diverge from the largely capital-focused vantage point of official histographies produce narratives that diverge from these accounts. In short, geography and embodied emplacement are central to historical narrative, whether authoritative or narrated form geographical margins.