Epistemic Encroachment as a Form of Resistance in Life Writing: Exploring Iranian Women’s Travel Journals from the Qajar Era (1789–1925)

ABSTRACT: This essay formulates the concept of “epistemic encroachment,” an implicit and often unintentional yet infringing form of resistance in the domain of knowledge. It argues that women’s life writing, that is, journaling, is a form of epistemic encroachment by demonstrating the concept in five recently discovered and little studied travel journals by Iranian women of the Qajar era (1789–1925). Examining these travel journals through a lens of epistemic encroachment also contributes to an understanding of Iranian women’s literature by recovering Qajari women’s history which has been gravely neglected if not misrepresented in the history of record. Ultimately, the essay claims that epistemic encroachment is an important part of the resistance repertoire with typically slow but powerful long-term impact in the interminable struggle for justice.