Molla Nasreddin

A study of the iconic illustrated periodical Mollā Nasreddin, whose editors, writers and illustrators were Muslims and Georgians of South Caucasus In 1906, a group of artists and intellectuals reinterpreted the tales of the Middle Eastern trickster Nasreddin to construct a progressive anti-colonial discourse with a strong emphasis on social, political and religious reform. Using folklore, visual art and satire, their periodical - Mollā Nasreddin - which had full-page lithographic cartoons in colour, reached tens of thousands of people across the Muslim world, from Iran and Turkey, to India and Egypt, impacting the thinking of a generation. The founder of the periodical was Jalil Mamedqolizadeh, an Azerbaijani educator and playwright. As a transnational and social democratic publication, Mollā Nasreddin saw itself as a mouthpiece for other persecuted Muslim populations and colonised peoples around the globe. This book looks at the milieu in which the periodical was born, the manner through which the journal recast the trickster trope for its audience, and the influence of European graphic artists on its cartoons and illustrations. Key features  Provides a new reading of the text and illustrations of one of the best-known journals in the Muslim region in the early 20th century  Based on primary and secondary materials in Azerbaijani, Persian, Russian and Georgian languages, as well as English and French sources, collected on trips to Baku, Tbilisi, Moscow and Tehran, and translated with the help of a team of researchers from the region  Carefully curates a selection of over 300 colour images from Mollā Nasreddin Janet Afary holds the Mellichamp Chair in Global Religion and Modernity at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she is a Professor of Religious Studies. Kamran Afary is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at California State University Los Angeles and Lecturer at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.