Sarah Eskandari

This dissertation investigates the multifaceted experiences of Iranian women during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods through the lens of pilgrimage. It posits that pilgrimage functioned as a dynamic sociopolitical arena in which women navigated patriarchal norms, contributed to public health initiatives, and expanded their social roles. By examining faith (devotion), flight (escape from patriarchal constraints), and fight (activism through religious rituals), this study highlights how transnational religious mobility intersected with public health. Although pilgrimage was deeply rooted in religious and patriarchal traditions, it created unique opportunities for women to forge emotional solidarity, build collective identities, and challenge entrenched gender boundaries.

Pilgrimage, as a sanctioned expression of faith, legitimized women’s departure from patriarchal household structures. This “flight” into liminal spaces—mobile, informal religious domains—offered temporary relief from domestic constraints and enabled greater autonomy. Despite its patriarchal framing, women actively dealt with pandemics, border regulations, and sociocultural pressures, which fostered resilience and solidarity networks. These experiences opened subtle yet meaningful paths to negotiate and contest restrictive norms. Over time, pilgrimage served as both a crucible for women’s empowerment and a contributing factor in the gradual emergence of secular demands and sociopolitical participation. More broadly, this dissertation explores how pilgrimage intersected with public health, mobility, and modernity, uncovering their role in shaping women’s aspirations and influence. It traces the ways in which these journeys laid the groundwork for the “women’s question” in early twentieth-century Iran, culminating in the secularization policies of the Pahlavi era (1925–1979). By centering religious mobility, the project reorients Iranian women’s history away from an exclusive focus on elite activism or major political movements. Instead, it underscores how religious rituals fostered agency among women from varied backgrounds, offering fresh insights into their capacity for both collaboration and resistance within patriarchal structures.