Imperial wars and the violence of hunger: remembering and forgetting the Great Persian Famine 1917–1919

Abstract

The Great Persian Famine of 1917–1919 is one of the greatest calamities in the history of Iran. While some scholarly work has explored the causes and dynamics of the famine, less attention has been paid to its memorialisation. This paper aims to understand how the Great Persian Famine is remembered – or not – in public and personal spheres in Iran. Discussing the historical events that have been silenced, neglected or publicly recognised and commemorated before and after the Islamic Revolution, the paper focusses on the processes that hinder public and private memorialising of hunger violence. Drawing on existing literature, personal diaries, artistic representations, and interviews with persons whose parents or grandparents experienced the Great Persian Famine, we discuss why it has not figured prominently in the national historiography or commemorative practices, except during a brief period (2008–2013) when it found its way into the prevailing political discourse.