Author Meets Critics: Candace Mixon's Fatimeh Matters in Contemporary Iran: Shi'ism, Gender, and Culture (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026)

Historically often treated as a woman of little significance, Fatimeh has become a key figure in the project of state building after the Iranian Revolution as the Iranian state, clerics, artists, and others have reimagined the importance of the mother of the Twelver Shi'i Imamate. Mixon’s book walks us through a wealth of material objects that reveal Fatimeh’s crucial role in the culture, politics, and religious ideology of contemporary Iran. She traces Fatimeh's presence in objects and places as varied as pamphlets, sacred manuscripts, the holy shrine cities of Mashhad and Qom, and the tile factory of the Astan-e Quds-e Razavi Foundation – a site where religious material culture is literally manufactured. This panel brings together readers who will discuss Mixon's contribution to the study of Islam, Shi'ism, Iran, gender, material culture, and religion.