The Role of Naser al-Din Shah's Harem Women in the Reforms of Naseri's Era

In the present paper، to analyze the role of Harem women in the reforms of Nasseri’s era، using the rational choice theory as one of the general theories in historical sociology، we described the reasons which these women offered as the cons of the reforms in three reformative period: 1848–1851 (the reforms of Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir); 1859–1862 (the reforms of Nasser al-Din Shah); and 1871–1873 (the reforms of MirzaHossein Khan Sepahsalar). This paper criticized the dominant approach in historical narratives and the analysis that introduce harem women as sexual objects that were simply plaything of the courtiers، governors and clergymen by using their body for seducing. Focusing on two Naser al-Din Shah’s harem women، Mahd-e Olia (1805- 1873) andAnis al-Doleh (1842- 1896)، this paper emphasize on the rational choice of this actors and the reasons they are offered to criticize the reforms. This shows that their reasonings are not much different from the other groups who are known as the cons of reforms in Nasseri''s era.