Institutionalized Representations of Black Baloch Women's Identity at the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Institutional Structures

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Women and Family Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Ph.D. Student, Cultural Sociology, Faculty of Literature and Human Studies, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

10.22080/ssi.2025.29079.2274

Abstract

Objectives: The present study aims to represent the constructed identity of Black Baloch women residing in the southern part of Sistan and Baluchestan Province and analyze the process of identity formation at the intersection of race, gender, and the caste system. Methods: This study employed a qualitative method and a grounded theory approach. In-depth, semi-structured, and purposeful interviews were conducted with 26 Black Baloch women residing in the cities of Chabahar, Nikshahr, and Iranshahr, ensuring maximum diversity. Results: The identity of Black Baloch women has been negatively represented due to the legacy of slavery and historical exploitation of their ancestors, race- and color-based stereotypes, and the pre-existing hierarchical order among the Baloch people. Social and cultural institutions within the Baloch community have played a central role in reproducing racial stereotypes. Consequences of this condition include gendered exploitation, physical and psychological violence, sexual abuse, restrictions on marriage and unstable inter-caste marriages, deprivation of social mobility, and lack of access to equal opportunities. In response to this situation, participating women have adopted various strategies, such as conciliatory, egalitarian, confrontational, and fatalistic approaches. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that an institutionalized, intersecting identity, shaped by race, gender, and other hierarchical structures of dominance, has led to diverse experiences of discrimination and deprivation. However, this identity is fluid. Participants who adopted an egalitarian approach are striving to transform their identity by altering their social, physical, and economic status. In contrast, adopting the other identified approaches in the study has resulted in the reproduction of a subordinate "Black Other" identity, further institutionalizing their experiences of discrimination.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

باقری، رضا و چاوشی، الینا سادات (۱۳۹۹). پایه‌های مدنی هویت ایرانی؛ بررسی هویت اجتماعی آفریقایی تباران در ایران. فصل­نامۀ سیاست، ۵۰(۲)، 481-459.
doi: 10.22059/jpq.2020.276614.1007392
بلوکباشی، علی (1399). بلوچ. در دایره المعارف بزرگ اسلامی، 12، 145-139.
توسلی، محمدمهدی و بامری، حمزه (1394). مقایسۀ نظام کاست در جنوب شرقی ایران (شهرستان دلگان) و هند. مطالعات شبه­قاره، 7(24)، 29-4.
رئوف ملایری، مریم و بهشتی، سعید (۱۳۹۷). نقش خانواده و مدرسه در شکلگیری هویت جنسیتی دختران. آموزش بهداشت و ارتقاء سلامت ایران، ۶(۳)، ۳11–۳02.
doi: 10.30699/acadpub.ijhehp.6.3.302
رئیسی، سمیه، تفضلی، حسن، توحیدفام، منصور و طاهری، ابوالرضا (۱۴۰۲). مشارکت سیاسی زنان بلوچ با توجه به قشربندی اجتماعی منطقۀ بلوچستان. زن در توسعه وسیاست، ۲۱(۱)، 112–83.
doi: 10.22059/jwdp.2022.342317.1008205
سلطان­پور اشتبینی، اکرم، عربستانی، مهرداد و ساروخانی، باقر (1400). شناسایی و اولویت‌بندی عناصر هویت فرهنگی در تکوین و پایداری هویت قوم ترک. جامعه‌شناسی نهادهای اجتماعی، 8  (18)، 113-89.
doi: 10.22080/ssi.2021.22637.1938
شهشهانی، سهیلا (۱۳۸۸). بلوچستان. فرهنگ و انسان، ۵( ۲)، 80-65.
عابدی، محمدحسین و قنبری اصل، سهیلا (1402). رویکردهای روایی جهت بررسی نظام‌مند و ترکیب شواهد در پی هویت‌بخشی اجتماعی وابسته به معماری زمینه‌گرا (مطالعۀ موردی: شهر کلاله). جامعه‌شناسی نهادهای اجتماعی, 10(22)، 282-251.
doi: 10.22080/ssi.2023.26253.2142
عضدانلو، حمید (1400). از استعمار تا گفتمان استعمار، دریچه‌هایی به ادبیات و نظریه‌های پسااستعماری، تهران: نشر نی.
فانون، فرانتز (1353). پوست سیاه، صورتک‌های سفید. ترجمۀ محمد امین کاردان، تهران: انتشارات خوارزمی. (سال اصلی اثر چاپ­شده 1952).
قائم مقامی، نجمه سادات و قاسمی، زهرا (1401). پیش­بینی سبک هویت براساس هوش معنوی و خودتنظیمی نوجوانان پسر متوسطۀ شهر تهران (پایان­نامۀ کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه پیام نور استان کرمانشاه، مرکز پیام نور پاوه).
مبارکی، داریوش و محدثی، حسن (1399). انقلاب اسلامی و تحول نظام قشربندی در بلوچستان ایران. مطالعات اجتماعی اقوام، 1(1)، 234-205.
doi: 10.22111/JSSE.2018.4436
محمدحسن، پدرام و اوریوئی، علیرضا (۱۴۰۳). نابرابری درآمدی و درهم تنیدگی هویت‌های جنسیت و قومیت در ایران. زن در توسعه و سیاست، ۲۲(4)، ۳33– ۳11.
doi: 10.22059/jwdp.2024.377061.1008452
مرتضوی قصابسرایی، مرضیه (1401). بنده­داری در عهد قاجار، بررسی موقعیت اجتماعی بندگان و زوال بنده­داری در ایران. تهران: نشر تاریخ ایران.
میرزایی، بهناز (1397). تاریخ برده­داری رهایی برده‌ها در ایران 1929-1800، ترجمۀ منیژه مقصودی. تهران: انتشارات اندیشۀ احسان.
Abedi, M., & Ghanbari Asl, S. (2024). Narrative approaches for systematic investigation and evidence combination following the social identification related to contextualist architecture (case study: Kalaleh city). Sociology of Social Institutions, 10(22), 251-282. [In Persian]. doi:
              10.22080/ssi.2023.26253.2142
Ahmed, M., & Khan, G. (2017). The history of Baloch and Balochistan: A critical appraisal. South Asian Studies, 32(1), 44. Retrieved from
              https://sasj.pu.edu.pk/9/article/view/1094/1086
Axelsson, L., & Rangdal, E. (2022). “If we don’t, then who will?”: A qualitative study about black Afro-Swedish women’s embodied identity experiences in working life (p. 36). Retrieved from
              https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1676965
Azdanloo, H. (2021). From colonialism to colonial discourse, a window to post-colonial literature and theories, Tehran: Ney Publishing. [In Persian].
Bagheri, R. & Chavoshi, E. (2020). The basis of Iran's civic identity; Afro-Iranians' social identity in Iran. Political Quarterly, 50(2), 459-481. doi: 10.22059/jpq.2020.276614.1007392
Blockbashi, A. (2020). Baloch. in encyclopedia of islam, Vol. 12, pp. 139. [In Persian].
Boyd, C. L., Collin, P. M., & Ringhand, L. A. (2025). Gender, race, and interruptions at supreme court confirmation hearings. American Political Science Review, 119(1), 492–499. https://profiles.wustl.edu/en/publications/gender-race-and-interruptions-at-supreme-court-confirmation-heari/
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. university of Chicago legal forum, 1989(1), article 8.
     https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8
Crenshaw, K.-W. (2021). Démarginaliser l’intersection de la race et du sexe : Une critique féministe noire du droit antidiscriminatoire, de la théorie féministe et des politiques de l’antiracisme (S. beaulieu, trans.; I. Aubert & M. Bessone, Rev.). Droit et société, 108(2), 465–487.
              https://doi.org/10.3917/drs1.108.0465
Duhaney, P. (2024). Fostering change: Black women's motivations for participating in intimate partner violence research. Affilia, 39(2), 265–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099231187861
Ergin, M. (2022). Racial otherness, citizenship, and belonging: Experiences of “not looking like a Turk.” In The politics of race and racialisation in the Middle East (pp. 80–100). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003270164-5
Fanon, F. (1974). Black skin, white masks. translated by Mohammad Amin Kardan, Tehran: Kharazmi publications. (original year of publication 1952). [In Persian].
Ghaem Maghami, N., & Ghasemi, Z. (2012). Predicting identity style based on spiritual intelligence and self-regulation of high school adolescent boys in Tehran (master's degree thesis. Payam noor university of Kermanshah province, Payam noor center, Paveh). [In Persian].
Hall, S. P., & Carter, R. T. (2006). The relationship between racial identity, ethnic identity, and perceptions of racial discrimination in an Afro-Caribbean descent sample. Journal of Black Psychology, 32(2), 155–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798406287071
McCoy, W. N., Morton, T. R., White, A. M., & Burnett, M. (2024). Focus groups as counterspaces for Black girls and Black women: A critical approach to research methods. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 78, 102298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2024.102298
Melcherts, A. (2021). Identity formation of black Surinamese Dutch women (Master’s thesis, Mississippi State University). Retrieved from
              https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/5369
Mims, L. C., & Williams, J. L. (2020). “They told me what I was before I could tell them what I was”: black girls’ ethnic-racial identity development within multiple worlds. Journal of Adolescent Research, 35(6), 754–779. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558420913483
Mirzai, B. A. (2017). A history of slavery and emancipation in Iran, 1800-1929: University of texas press. [In Persian].
Mobaraki, D., & Mohaddesi, H. (2020). Islamic revolution and the transformation of social stratification system in Balochistan of Iran. Journal of Social Studies of Ethnic Groups, 1(1), 205–234. [In Persian]. doi: 10.22111/JSSE.2018.4436
Mohammad Hassan, P., & Oryoie, A. R. (2024). Income inequality and the intersectionality of gender and ethnicity in Iran. Woman in Development & Politics, 22(4), 917-939. [In Persian]. doi:
              10.22059/jwdp.2024.377061.1008452
Mortazavi Qasabsaraei, M. (2022). Slavery in the Qajar era, a study of the social status of slaves and the decline of slavery in Iran. Tehran: tarikh-e-Iran publication. [In Persian].
Onnie Rogers, L., Versey, H. S., & Cielto, J. (2022). “They’re always gonna notice my natural hair”: Identity, intersectionality and resistance among Black girls. Qualitative Psychology, 9(3), 211–231.
              https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000208
Raeisi, S., Tafazzoli, H., Tohidfam, M., & Taheri, A. (2023). A study of Baloch women's political participation according to the social stratification of Baluchistan. Woman in Development & Politics, 21(1), 112-83. [In Persian]. doi:
              10.22059/jwdp.2022.342317.1008205
Ramdeo, J. (2025). Black women educators’ stories of intersectional invisibility: experiences of hindered careers and workplace psychological harm in school environments. Educational Review, 77(2), 475–494.
              https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2023.2217358
Raouf Malayeri, M., Beheshti, S., Eskandari, H., & Abbaspour A. (2018). The role of family and school on the formation of gender identity of girls: A qualitative study. Health Education and Iran Health Promot, 6 (3), 302-311. [In Persian]. doi:
              10.30699/acadpub.ijhehp.6.3.302
Shahshahani, S. (2009). Balochistan. Culture and Humanity, 5(2), 65-80. [In Persian].
Smith, S. (2013). Black feminism and intersectionality. International Socialist Review, (91). Retrieved from https://isreview.org/issue/91/black-feminism-and-intersectionality/index.html
Soltanpour Oshtobini, A., Arabestani, M., & Saroukhani, B. (2022). Identifying and prioritizing the elements of cultural identity in the creation and stability of the identity of the Turkish ethnicity. Sociology of Social Institutions, 8(18), 89-113. doi:
              10.22080/ssi.2021.22637.1938
Stokes, M. N., Hope, E. C., Cryer-Coupet, Q. R., & Elliot, E. (2020). Black girl blues: The roles of racial socialization, gendered racial socialization, and racial identity on depressive symptoms among Black girls. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49, 2175–2189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01308-5
Tavasoli, m., & Bamery, h. (2015). A comparative study of caste system in south-east of Iran (Dalgan city) and India. Journal of Subcontinent Researches, 7(24), 29–46. [In Persian].
Williams, M. (2019). Exploring the meaning making process of Black women's gendered racial identity development (Doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee). Retrieved from
              https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5789
 
Sociology of Social Institutions
Volume 12, Issue 26
February 2026
Pages 125-152

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics