<p>There is insufficient data on the practice and the repercussions of early childhood marriage (ECM) in Iran. Social Anthropologist Kameel Ahmady, recipient of the 2017 Truth Honour Award by the London Law School and the IKWR Womens Rights Organisation, exposes the ugly truth about ECM in Iran in this ground-breaking research study. Unflinching in its candour, An Echo of Silence is a frank examination of an unspoken subject on the staggering number of children who are married off in Iran. Kameel Ahmady is a British-Iranian social anthropologist who has worked mainly on international development. Following the success of Female Genital Mutilation In Iran (A Country Size Research Report and Book), which had taken ten years to comprise, the new study of An Echo of Silence is the result of a painstaking and detailed comprehensive field survey of ECM in seven provinces of Iran. An Echo of Silence provides a descriptive overview of ECM and its vicious impact by conceptually analysing the issues of young brides who have been forced into marriage. The book also unflinchingly describes the Iranian governments failure to address this tragic system where young boys and girls are married off routinely. An Echo of Silence is a provocative book about a hallowed cultural institution cloaked in non-acknowledgement. Kameel Ahmady gives the reader an unprecedented look into the world of ECM in Iran by focusing on the multiplicity of various complexes and prominent socio-cultural factors that contribute to and mirror this deep-rooted tradition, including the social attitudes and silent acquiescence of the Iranian government which influences its perpetuation. The silence is shattered by the observational scanning on marital customs and norms within the seven main provinces, and interviews with the families and the children themselves as they carry on with the tradition. The research study dissects the rationales for ECMs continual existence and adherence by probing the various causes and entailing consequences of ECM. This study acts as a voice for the silent and is a must-read.</p>

An Echo of Silence: A Comprehensive Research Study on Early Child Marriage (ECM) in Iran (Social Issues, Justice and Status)

Politics & Social Sciences

Ahmady, Kameel

Sociology

Nova Science Pub Inc

From the Prologue: Although efforts to eradicate a thousand-year-old custom are challenged by the very tenacity – and increasingly recognized ubiquity – of the practice, Female Genital Mutilation is an issue of urgency to feminists, human rights campaigners and social activists as well as international organizations such as UNICEF and many responsible governments determined to end it. I join them. ... This research [began] when I returned from Europe after a prolonged absence to my birthplace, Iranian Kurdistan, to learn more about FGM. For several years I had worked in Africa with humanitarian relief NGOs and observed UN projects to combat excision in countries like Egypt, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan. Remembering hushed tones from my childhood suggesting that FGM -- locally called sunnet -- existed in some parts of Iranian Kurdistan, I decided to conduct some preliminary research beginning with my own family and close relatives. Imagine my shock when uncovering evidence that FGM had long existed in areas of Mukriyan and that my grandmothers, mother and sister had all endured it. In fact, within Iran, a heavy omerta hangs over the practice. Only a limited number of people from non-FGM-practicing provinces know of its concentration within some regions of the country. Being male and having a ‘non-traditional’ background in the sense that I lived abroad, my detailed questions about this extremely sensitive topic—the cutting of women’s ‘private parts’— created resistance and bewilderment. Some local residents, especially men, refused to take me seriously, while others, including a number of my own relatives, opined that this subject was unworthy of an educated male’s attention. Researching FGM was deemed not a “manly” job. Here I would like to thank my late father who, despite the pressure of neighbors’ viewpoints and from time to time also the government’s, supported me throughout.The scope of the project gradually extended into regions of Iran beyond my home, and in this journey, I enjoyed assistance in fieldwork as well as in analysis and assembly of data.While focused most sharply on FGM-affected areas in the western part of the country, namely West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces, and some areas in southern Iran, that is, Hormozgan province and its islands, you will find a comprehensive overview of the custom’s prevalence throughout the entire country. (A 2017 unedited update is available electronically at http://kameelahmady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/THE-CHANGING-PARADIGMS-OF-FGMC-WEB.pdf.) 

In the Name of Tradition: Female Genital Mutilation in Iran

Anthropology

UnCUT/VOICES Press

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