The Representation of Medicine in the Iranian Constitutionalist Humor (1906-1911): A Socio-Historical Analysis

Abstract

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution (Persian: Mashrūtiyyat), 1906-1911, culminated in the foundation of the first Iranian parliament. During and before this era, Iranians became acquainted with modern medicine. The high recurrence of the topic of medication in Constitutionalist’ humor gives occasion to feel qualms about the claim that the issue was simply due to its attractiveness instead of broader socio-political aims and objectives. Given that the Constitutionalist satirists used humor as a tool to criticize tradition, as well as to promote and defend modernity and its principles, it seems that they had a socio-political motive to use the theme of medication. Thus, they attempted to make the inefficiencies of tradition clear by contrasting it with medical discourse as a tangible and practical aspect of the life of people belonging to different classes. Their objective was to imply the superiority of modernity and to portray it as inescapable in the modern world.

Keywords

• traditional medicine
• modern medicine
• constitutional revolution
• iran