Biography
Azadeh Vatanpour is a Ph.D. candidate in the West and South Asian Religions program. She has an M.A. in Ancient Iranian Culture and Languages from Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran. She also has M.A. in both Folk Studies and Religious Studies from Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Her interdisciplinary dissertation research focuses on marginalized and underrepresented voices in the Middle East, particularly among the Yarsan Kurdish group. She investigates the intersection of nationalism, ethnic discrimination, political theology, environmentalism, and their impact on various identity formations within the community.
Paper Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between political eco-spirituality, identity construction, and the environmental healing process through the study of nature preservation and restoration endeavors of the Yarsan, an Iranian ethno-religious group. The Yarsan strongly believe in the sacredness of springs and trees associated with their religious figure shrines. They are considered to hold the essence of the divine world. In recent years, however, aggressive exploitation of the land and deforestation destroyed the environment of the western part of the Zagros mountains. This prompted influential Yarsan spiritual leaders to disseminate letters on online platforms calling on the Yarsan to come together and preserve the Zagros habitat by cleaning the springs, planting more trees, and reviving the sacred dimensions of the local landscape. Inspired by these messages, this study shows how the Yarsan use environmental preservation and restoration as a platform in response to intentional environmental discrimination by the Iranian-Shi'ite state. This paper will investigate how the Yarsans' endeavor to sustain their ecology, rooted in religious practice and cultural history, has led to the development of what Robert Melchior Figueroa calls "environmental identity." This constructed identity is an amalgamation of ways of life, cultural identity, and the Yarsan's perception of their relationship with the environment in the face of years of internal Orientalism and discrimination. My aim is to show how the Yarsan, through an environmental platform and the intersection of musical repertoire, sacred practices, and metaphysical conceptions, confront ecological threats and find a path to resist assimilation into the hegemonic Shi'ite landscape and plant the seeds of healing by reclaiming their environment.