This course will explore the cultural politics of kinship, Islam, and everyday life in post-revolutionary Iran. Moving beyond the sensationalist headlines, the course will use ethnographies on Iran (and elsewhere in the Middle East), films, and popular media to challenge commonly held assumptions about gender, martyrdom, and the veil the Islamic world. This course will additionally provide a very basic introduction to the anthropology of the Middle East and Islam, including concepts such as orientalism and islamaphobia.