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

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 memo-
rialisation. 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 historiog-
raphy or commemorative practices, except during a brief period (2008–
2013) when it found its way into the prevailing political discourse.