A Study of the Role and Place of Women in Bakhtiari Songs

Songs are one of the most used genres of Bakhtiari oral and folk literature. In Bakhtiari culture and literature, the presence of human being in their individual and social senses plays a significant role in the lyrics of songs. Here, the role of women is even more noteworthy and important. The present paper deals with the particular role of women in Bakhtiari songs. Generally speaking, the songs are divided into eight main categories in terms of structure, and their lyrics have been examined following the descriptive-analytic method and field studies. In most cases, Bakhtiari women are both the song writers and the singers and express their thoughts and ideas in relation to what they do at different stages of their life in the mould of songs. In the course of this study, the researchers also came across some songs which have not been written by women but have been created by men on description of women.