...Narges Bajoghli Abstract Based on ethnographic research in Iran among the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its Basij militia, this article explores the process of gaining access to these militarized groups in order to conduct long-term research. Specifically, what does...

..., in the Basij, recruitment opportunity of sorts. Almost imme- or “Mobilization,” militia. The Basij comprised diately after the closings, Telfilm, the film unit of a significant proportion of the Iranian fighting the state television network, organized informal force throughout the war and counted among...

...- nity who believed that the authorities were responsi- bers of the Basij Resistance Force in Zahedan that ble. 60 Two Sunni clerics from Sistan va Baluchistan “the enemy has opened a new front against the s-I were murdered during the fifth parliamentary election lamic revolution” undermines claims...

... socialities” to explore the complex social relations, domains of desire, and gendered representations through which groups of men and women engage soldiers on duty along the India-Bangladesh border. Narges Bajoghli, reflecting on her research with soldiers in the Basij and Revolutionary Guard in Iran, argues...

... have been members strongly anti-American and anti-Israeli. They of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), are from precapitalist upper-class backgrounds, Basij, and Ansar-e Hezbollah. such as the premodern bazaar (traditional trades...

... and International media already had a signifi- killed pro-­Mousavi protesters was attributed to cant presence in Iran during the run-­up to the “unidentified gunmen” and hooligans; any re- election and immediately began covering the sponsibility on the part of the basij...

..., unsettling official and state-supported explanations and distinctions.” Reflecting on her research with soldiers in the Basij and Revolutionary Guard in Iran, during which time she herself came to be designated as a national security threat, Narges Bajoghli shows that the work of intelligence gathering...

... television and radio channels promote the virtue of basij (ethical mobilization), but on the other hand, they advertise , ad nauseam , potato chips and mobile SIM cards: “It is as if today, our ethically mobilized brothers and sisters are mobilized not by the pursuit of virtues but by the advertisement...

... deprivation ties, be enlisted in the women’s auxiliary branch before the revolution. Nonetheless, they give im- of the Basij (basij sisters), and even in some cases   portant insights into their personal lives. Nearly choose their husband from this more available...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

... again and then benefited from more rigorous proofreading. Incon- finally opened up and told his story. sistent transliterations, misspellings of names and It appeared that he and his brother, Rasul, words, and grammatical errors detract from what is both enlisted in the Basij Volunteer Corps...

...) and paramilitary forces vate sector. At the same time, the number of (such as Komitehs and the Basij). The class ef- middle-class workers employed by the state in- fect gain of 936,000 for political functionaries creased sharply. The class effect for the increase...

... on the mobilization of Islamic nationalism in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, where the establishment of an Islamic Republic encountered resistance from various groups who participated in the revolution and fought at the beginning of the war along with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGs) and the Basij...