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The Emergence of Iranian Nationalism: Race and the Politics of Dislocation
Contributor(s): Zia-Ebrahimi, Reza (Author)
ISBN: 0231175760     ISBN-13: 9780231175760
Publisher: Columbia University Press
OUR PRICE:   $64.35  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: March 2016
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Middle East - Iran
- Political Science | World - Middle Eastern
- Political Science | Political Ideologies - Nationalism & Patriotism
Dewey: 320.540
LCCN: 2015029286
Physical Information: 1.2" H x 6.3" W x 9" (1.19 lbs) 312 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Middle East
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Reza Zia-Ebrahimi revisits the work of Fath?ali Akhundzadeh and Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani, two Qajar-era intellectuals who founded modern Iranian nationalism. In their efforts to make sense of a difficult historical situation, these thinkers advanced an appealing ideology Zia-Ebrahimi calls "dislocative nationalism," in which pre-Islamic Iran is cast as a golden age, Islam is reinterpreted as an alien religion, and Arabs become implacable others. Dislodging Iran from its empirical reality and tying it to Europe and the Aryan race, this ideology remains the most politically potent form of identity in Iran.

Akhundzadeh and Kermani's nationalist reading of Iranian history has been drilled into the minds of Iranians since its adoption by the Pahlavi state in the early twentieth century. Spread through mass schooling, historical narratives, and official statements of support, their ideological perspective has come to define Iranian culture and domestic and foreign policy. Zia-Ebrahimi follows the development of dislocative nationalism through a range of cultural and historical materials, and he captures its incorporation of European ideas about Iranian history, the Aryan race, and a primordial nation. His work emphasizes the agency of Iranian intellectuals in translating European ideas for Iranian audiences, impressing Western conceptions of race onto Iranian identity.