Ali Mirsepassi

The Discovery of Iran

Taghi Arani, a Radical Cosmopolitan

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

"The Discovery of Iran examines the history of Iranian nationalism afresh through the life and work of Taghi Arani, the founder of Iran's first Marxist journal, "Donya." In his quest to imagine a future for Iran open to the scientific riches of the modern world and the historical diversity of its own people, Arani combined Marxist materialism and a cosmopolitan ethics of progress. He sought to reconcile Iran to its post-Islamic past rejected by Persian purists and romanticized by their traditionalist counterparts, while orienting its present toward the modern West in all its complex and conflicting facets. As Ali Mirsepassi shows, Arani's cosmopolitanism complicates the conventional wisdom that racial exclusivism was an insoluble feature of twentieth-century Iranian nationalism. In cultural spaces like "Donya," Arani and his contemporaries engaged vibrant debates about national identity, history, and Iran's place in the modern world. In exploring Arani's short but remarkable life and writings, Ali Mirsepassi challenges the image of Interwar Iran as dominated by the Pahlavi state to uncover fertile intellectual spaces in which civic nationalism flourished"--

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 232
• Erscheinungstermin: 23. November 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 150mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 476g
• ISBN-13: 9781503629141
• ISBN-10: 1503629147
• Artikelnr.: 61118213

Autorenporträt

Ali Mirsepassi is the Albert Gallatin Research Excellence Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. His latest book, Iran's Quiet Revolution: The Downfall of the Pahlavi State, was published in 2019.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction: Iranian Nationalism, Past and Present
chapter abstract
The introduction sets the stage for the subsequent reinterpretation of
Iranian nationalism by revisiting the motivations for Reza Shah's 1935
decision to change the name of what was then Persia to Iran. It questions
the historiographical tendency to view the name change and broader
nationalist attitudes of the interwar era as having been motivated by an
Aryanizing impulse imported from Germany. It is in this vein that the
introduction situates the intellectual impact of Taghi Arani, a radical
cosmopolitan thinker of Iran in the twentieth century.
1Transnational Cosmopolitanism: Arani's Life and Times
chapter abstract
This chapter offers readers an overview of Arani's life and times. It
weaves together his experiences living in foreign-occupied Tabriz, his
coming of political age in Berlin, and his return to Tehran to
contextualize the development of his increasingly cosmopolitan vision for
Iran. It surveys Arani's intellectual and political activities in 1920s
Berlin, and his work as editor of Donya magazine in 1930s Tehran.
2Among the Nationalists in Berlin, 1922-29
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the interwar history of Iran, focusing on the Pahlavi
state's assumption of power and Iran's occupation by British, Russian, and
Ottoman forces during World War I. It assesses how Iranians in 1920s Berlin
responded to these events, and examines their political activities and
written output. It argues that an overtly racialist strand of Iranian
nationalism, which sought to situate Iran in the arena of Aryan nations
contra its Arab and Turkish neighbors, developed a response to pan-Turkism
and Ottoman nationalism, which was encapsulated in Roshani Beik's arguments
for the "Turkishness" of Iranian Azerbaijan.
3Arani's Early Writings: A Racialized National Narrative
chapter abstract
This chapter discusses Arani's early years in Berlin with an eye toward
individuals and institutions formative to his political outlook, chief
among them Hossein Kazemzadeh and the German orientalist Friedrich Rosen.
It offers a close analysis of Arani's early writings on the social function
of the Persian language and its potential role in unifying the modern
Iranian nation.
4For a Radical Cosmopolitan Iran
chapter abstract
This chapter discusses Arani's publication of Donya magazine and the
political tenets central to its editorial outlook. It does so by analyzing
Arani's statements on Donya's mission and his editorials on its initial
reception in Iran. These self-reflective statements offer insight into how
Arani conceptualized the political function of Iranian intellectuals in
terms of their potential for introducing the idiom of revolutionary change
into public consciousness.
5The Persian Language, Past and Present
chapter abstract
One of the most noteworthy pieces of Arani's writings is his essay
"Changing the Persian Language." In it, Arani articulates his vision of a
cosmopolitan Iran by juxtaposing his vision of of the nation rooted in its
material or historical reality against those Iranian nationalists who
sought to alienate Iran from their own cultural heritage by purging the
Persian language of Arabic words. This chapter argues that Arani's call to
adapt Persian to modern scientific realities by accepting the use of
foreign technical terms already in currency evinced his pragmatic and
antichauvinist sense of nationalism.
6'Erfan, Reason, and the Nation
chapter abstract
This chapter focuses on Arani's major critique of the antimodernism he saw
as inherent to the contemporary resurgence of 'erfan or mysticism. Arani
published a three-part series of articles that advocated a materialist
reading of mysticism's popularity in Iran and abroad. His critique of the
contemporary French philosopher Henri Bergson, whom he regarded as
representing the latest strain of that antirational thinking, is central to
the chapter.
Conclusion: An Unfinished Iranian Enlightenment
chapter abstract
The last section of the book discusses the importance of Arani's thought to
Iran today. Arani's radical cosmopolitan vision encouraged a sense of
historical appreciation for Iran's pre- and post-Islamic past, while
retaining a forward-looking embrace of the modern moment.