Iran: A People Interrupted
Encyclopedia
Iran: A People Interrupted is a book written by Hamid Dabashi
, the noted scholar of Iran
and Islam
at Columbia University
. The book was published in 2007 by The New Press
and is a one-volume analysis of Iranian history--from the nineteenth century up until today. It attempts to describe events in Iran
--Iranian cultural trends, and political developments, up to the collapse of the Iranian reform movement in 2005 and the resumed hostilities with the Bush Administration
over the nuclear issue and the war on terror
.http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1579. The outline of these historical details is the premise of Dabashi's
theory of anticolonial modernity.
Dabashi
tells a story of Iran through a "lens of a worldly cosmopolitanism" where he pays close attention to emancipatory movements the country has witnessed--among others through its literature
, art
, cinema, and feminism etc. His thesis is that Iran must be understood as a place of defiance against both domestic tyranny (which he defines as absolute monarchy
or theocracy
but nonetheless patriarchal) and foreign intervention (colonialism
and imperialism
).
Among its topics, the book features discussions regarding the new and combative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his current showdown with the United States
, as well as the rise of Iran as a regional power in the Middle East
, the Salman Rushdie Affair, the Iran–Iraq War, the Islamic Revolution, the U.S. hostage crisis of 1979, the role of Iran during the Cold War
, the Pahlavi dynasty
, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the end of the Qajar dynasty
.
Chapter One: On Nations without Borders
Chapter Two: The Dawn of Colonial Modernity
Chapter Three: A Constitutional Revolution
Chapter Four: The Pahlavis
Chapter Five: An Islamic Revolution
Chapter Six: To Reconstruct and Reform
Chapter Seven: The End of Islamic Ideology
Postscript
Notes
Index
of Cornell University
writes that "the book [Iran: A People Interrupted] cuts through the myths, past and present, that Americans have been told about Iran. It is a wealth of information, presenting Iran's history through the lens of its literary cosmopolitanism, and interpreting recent politics in the broader context of postcolonial resistance. More than a monograph, it contributes to global knowledge, exemplary of a new Leftist discourse that is undogmatic and non-sectarian. The style is open and intimate. You will know when you read this book that you are with a humanist who deeply loves his country, and invites you to feel very much at home." http://www.amazon.com/dp/customer-reviews/159558059X
Mahmood Mamdani
states that “Hamid Dabashi provides a lucid narrative of the last two hundred years of Iranian history around the compelling argument that contemporary Iran needs to be understood as the site of an ongoing contest between two contrasting visions of modernity, one colonial, the other anticolonial.”
Hannan Hever of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
writes that Dabashi's book is an "brilliant analysis of the Iranian state of mind…Dabashi insists on a nuanced reading of the complexities of the Iranian social fabric.”
Publishers Weekly
states that "Dabashi focuses on the last 200 years of Iranian history, through the lens of a worldly cosmopolitan. He rejects the familiar dichotomy between the "traditional" and the "modern" in Iran....Instead, Dabashi [hypothesizes] the notion of an "anticolonial modernity," predicated on Iranians' struggles against "domestic tyranny" and "against the colonial robbery of the moral and material foundations of [their] historical agency."...[The book] is peppered by delightful vignettes from his Iranian youth".http://www.amazon.com/dp/159558059X
Kirkus Reviews
review of the book states that, "set aside the question of whether Iran is part of an axis of evil. Ask instead: What is Iran? Iranians, Dabashi...writes, "have a sense of impermanence about Iran as a nation, a people, a place." The country is a mix of cultures and religions and geographies, in some ways wholly modern, as with its film industry, while in others drifting toward medievalism. It is also a colonial victim, by Dabashi's account, of foreign adventurers and plunderers and even today threatened by "a predatory empire" served by the likes of Kenneth Pollack
, who, having made a case for invading Iraq, now counsels the same for Iran...Not that Dabashi likes the mullahs or the Pahlavis; it is just, he explains, that he wishes the Iranian people to be conceived as a complex body capable of resisting oppression, whether colonial or internal. Iran served as an important launching point for America's projection of military power into Asia during the Vietnam era; it is strategically important now, but for ends that are just as wrong, so Dabashi suggests. While making these arguments, he provides illuminating glimpses...[for] many nonspecialist readers, such as the constitutional crisis that accompanied the Iran-Contra affair in Tehran as well as Washington. When that crisis came, the Ayatollah Khomeini needed to alter the rules of succession so that a low-ranking cleric could become his successor, and to do this he needed a smoke screen, which is where the fatwa against Salman Rushdie comes in. Today's leadership, Dabashi closes, flirts with fascism and seeks smoke screens of its own. But, he insists, Iran is a democracy all the same, even if a flawed one. An eye-opening...consideration of a nation in need of understanding." http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781595580597&itm=1
Hamid Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi born 1951 in Ahvaz is an Iranian-American Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.He is the author of over twenty books...
, the noted scholar of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. The book was published in 2007 by The New Press
The New Press
The New Press is a not-for-profit, United States-based publishing house that operates in the public interest. It was established in 1990 as an alternative to large commercial publishers, and is supported financially by various foundations, groups and corporations including the Ford Foundation, the...
and is a one-volume analysis of Iranian history--from the nineteenth century up until today. It attempts to describe events in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
--Iranian cultural trends, and political developments, up to the collapse of the Iranian reform movement in 2005 and the resumed hostilities with the Bush Administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
over the nuclear issue and the war on terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
.http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1579. The outline of these historical details is the premise of Dabashi's
Hamid Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi born 1951 in Ahvaz is an Iranian-American Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.He is the author of over twenty books...
theory of anticolonial modernity.
Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi born 1951 in Ahvaz is an Iranian-American Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.He is the author of over twenty books...
tells a story of Iran through a "lens of a worldly cosmopolitanism" where he pays close attention to emancipatory movements the country has witnessed--among others through its literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
, art
Iranian art
Persian arts, or Iranian arts is one of the richest art heritages in world history and encompasses many disciplines including architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking and stonemasonry.-The Persian rug:...
, cinema, and feminism etc. His thesis is that Iran must be understood as a place of defiance against both domestic tyranny (which he defines as absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
or theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
but nonetheless patriarchal) and foreign intervention (colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
and imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
).
Among its topics, the book features discussions regarding the new and combative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his current showdown with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as well as the rise of Iran as a regional power in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, the Salman Rushdie Affair, the Iran–Iraq War, the Islamic Revolution, the U.S. hostage crisis of 1979, the role of Iran during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the Pahlavi dynasty
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the end of the Qajar dynasty
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....
.
Contents
IntroductionChapter One: On Nations without Borders
Chapter Two: The Dawn of Colonial Modernity
Chapter Three: A Constitutional Revolution
Chapter Four: The Pahlavis
Chapter Five: An Islamic Revolution
Chapter Six: To Reconstruct and Reform
Chapter Seven: The End of Islamic Ideology
Postscript
Notes
Index
Reviews
Susan Buck-MorssSusan Buck-Morss
Susan Buck-Morss is an American philosopher and intellectual historian. She is currently Professor of Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center.- Books :...
of Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
writes that "the book [Iran: A People Interrupted] cuts through the myths, past and present, that Americans have been told about Iran. It is a wealth of information, presenting Iran's history through the lens of its literary cosmopolitanism, and interpreting recent politics in the broader context of postcolonial resistance. More than a monograph, it contributes to global knowledge, exemplary of a new Leftist discourse that is undogmatic and non-sectarian. The style is open and intimate. You will know when you read this book that you are with a humanist who deeply loves his country, and invites you to feel very much at home." http://www.amazon.com/dp/customer-reviews/159558059X
Mahmood Mamdani
Mahmood Mamdani
Mahmood Mamdani is an academic, author and political commentator. He is a Professor and Director of the at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, and the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University, New York. He grew up in Uganda and acquired his B.A from the University of...
states that “Hamid Dabashi provides a lucid narrative of the last two hundred years of Iranian history around the compelling argument that contemporary Iran needs to be understood as the site of an ongoing contest between two contrasting visions of modernity, one colonial, the other anticolonial.”
Hannan Hever of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
writes that Dabashi's book is an "brilliant analysis of the Iranian state of mind…Dabashi insists on a nuanced reading of the complexities of the Iranian social fabric.”
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
states that "Dabashi focuses on the last 200 years of Iranian history, through the lens of a worldly cosmopolitan. He rejects the familiar dichotomy between the "traditional" and the "modern" in Iran....Instead, Dabashi [hypothesizes] the notion of an "anticolonial modernity," predicated on Iranians' struggles against "domestic tyranny" and "against the colonial robbery of the moral and material foundations of [their] historical agency."...[The book] is peppered by delightful vignettes from his Iranian youth".http://www.amazon.com/dp/159558059X
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
review of the book states that, "set aside the question of whether Iran is part of an axis of evil. Ask instead: What is Iran? Iranians, Dabashi...writes, "have a sense of impermanence about Iran as a nation, a people, a place." The country is a mix of cultures and religions and geographies, in some ways wholly modern, as with its film industry, while in others drifting toward medievalism. It is also a colonial victim, by Dabashi's account, of foreign adventurers and plunderers and even today threatened by "a predatory empire" served by the likes of Kenneth Pollack
Kenneth Pollack
Kenneth Michael Pollack, PhD , is a noted former CIA intelligence analyst and expert on Middle East politics and military affairs. He has served on the National Security Council staff and has written several articles and books on international relations.Pollack obtained a BA from Yale University,...
, who, having made a case for invading Iraq, now counsels the same for Iran...Not that Dabashi likes the mullahs or the Pahlavis; it is just, he explains, that he wishes the Iranian people to be conceived as a complex body capable of resisting oppression, whether colonial or internal. Iran served as an important launching point for America's projection of military power into Asia during the Vietnam era; it is strategically important now, but for ends that are just as wrong, so Dabashi suggests. While making these arguments, he provides illuminating glimpses...[for] many nonspecialist readers, such as the constitutional crisis that accompanied the Iran-Contra affair in Tehran as well as Washington. When that crisis came, the Ayatollah Khomeini needed to alter the rules of succession so that a low-ranking cleric could become his successor, and to do this he needed a smoke screen, which is where the fatwa against Salman Rushdie comes in. Today's leadership, Dabashi closes, flirts with fascism and seeks smoke screens of its own. But, he insists, Iran is a democracy all the same, even if a flawed one. An eye-opening...consideration of a nation in need of understanding." http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781595580597&itm=1