REQUIRED TEXT (Book)
Michael Axworthy (2013). Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic. London: Allen Lane.
All other readings will be available on Fronter and/or via JSTOR. Please see class schedule for assigned readings.
COURSE SCHEDULE SPRING 2018
*Please note that the schedule is subject to change at any time*
Thursday, January 25
Class 1: Introduction: Overview of Structure and Requirements of the Course
● Shahab Ahmed. What is Islam? An Essay on the Importance of Being Islamic . Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2015. Chapter 1, “Six Questions about Islam.”
● Axworthy, “Introduction: The Hidden Continent of Iran,” xxvii-xxii.
● Ervand Abrahamian. A History of Modern Iran. “A Political Who’s Who of Modern Iran.” pp. xvii
and Introduction.
Suggested:
Abbas Amanat. Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850 . Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1989. pp. 295-331.A. K. S. Lambton. Qajar Persia: Eleven Studies . Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1988. “The Qajar Dynasty” and “Persian Society under the Qajars,” pp. 319-339.
Janet Afary. “On the Origins of Feminism in Early Twentieth-Century Iran.” Journal of Women’s History 1, no. 2
(1989): pp. 65-87.
Thursday, February 1
Class 2: The Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911)
Presentation 1
● Ervand Abrahamian. “ The Causes of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran .” International
Journal of Middle East Studies 10, no. 3 (Aug. 1979): pp. 381-414. JSTOR
● Mangol Bayat. “The Cultural Implications of the Constitutional Revolution.” In Edmund
Bosworth and Carole Hillenbrand (eds.), Qajar Iran: Political, Social and Cultural Change
1800-1925 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1983), pp. 65-75.
● Afsaneh Najmabadi. "Is Our Name Remembered? Writing the History of Iranian
Constitutionalism as if Women and Gender Mattered." Iranian Studies 29, no.1-2 (1996): pp.
59-81. JSTOR
● Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi. "Refashioning Iran: Language and Culture during the
Constitutional Revolution." Iranian Studies 23, no. 1/4 (1990): pp. 77-101.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4310728 . JSTOR
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Friday, February 2
Class 3: Reza Shah and the Formation of the Modern Bureaucratic State
Presentation 2
● Rudi Matthee. "Transforming Dangerous Nomads into Useful Artisans, Technicians,
Agriculturists: Education in the Reza Shah Period." Iranian Studie s 26, no. 3/4 (1993): pp.
313-36. JSTOR
● M. H. Faghfoory. "The Ulama-State Relations in Iran: 1921-1941." International Journal of
Middle East Studies 19, no. 4 (1987): pp. 413-432. JSTOR
● H.E. Chehabi. "Staging the Emperor's New Clothes: Dress Codes and Nation-Building under
Reza Shah." Iranian Studies 26, no. 3-4 (1993): pp. 209-229. JSTOR
● Afsaneh Najmabadi. “Hazards of Modernity and Morality: Women, State and Ideology in
Contemporary Iran.” In Women, Islam, and the State , edited by Deniz Kandiyoti, pp. 48-76,
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991.
● Camron Michael Amin. "Selling and Saving "Mother Iran": Gender and the Iranian Press in the
1940s." International Journal of Middle East Studies 33, no. 3 (2001): pp. 335-61. JSTOR
Suggested:
Keddie, Modern Iran , Chapter 4.
Feroz Abroad. “Historiography, Class, and Iranian Workers in Workers and Working Classes.” In Middle East
Struggles, Histories, Historiographies , edited by Zachary Lockman. New York: SUNY Press, 1993.
Thursday, February 8 ***** First Review Essay Due
Class 4: Iranian Nationalism under Mohammad Reza Shah: Political Elite, Parties, & Elections
(Guest Lecture and Cinema Presentation by Iman Amirteimour)
● Axworthy, “The Background: Ma Chegoneh Ma Shodim ?,” pp. 15-75.
● E. Abrahamian. A History of Modern Iran , Chapter 5, pp. 123-154.
● E. Abrahamian. “The Guerrilla Movement in Iran, 1963-1977.” MERIP Reports no. 86
(March-April 1980): pp. 3-15.
http://www.merip.org/mer/mer86/guerrilla-movement-iran-1963-1977
● T. Cuyler Young. “The Problem of Westernization in Modern Iran.” Middle East Journal 2, no. 1
(January 1948): pp. 47-59. JSTOR
Suggested:
Encyclopedia Iranica online, “Coup D’etat of 1332/1953,”
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/coup-detat-1953
Homa Katouzian. Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran . London: I.B. Tauris, 1990.
Ali Gheissari. Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century. Austin: University of Texas, 1998.
Thursday, February 15
Class 5: Theoretical Approaches on the 1979 Revolution
Presentation 3
● Axworthy, “Ten Days of Dawn,” pp. 1-14; “The 1970s and the Slide to Revolution,” pp. 76-132.
● Abrahamian. Iran between Two Revolutions , Chapter 11, pp. 496-529.
● Misagh Parsa. “Theories of Collective Action and the Iranian Revolution,” Sociological Forum 3,
no. 1 (Winter 1988): pp. 44-71.
Suggested:
Hamid Dabashi. Iran: A People Interrupted . New York: The Free Press, 2007. pp.137- 181.
Val Moghadam. “The Left and Revolution in Iran: A Critical Analysis.” In
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Post-Revolutionary Iran , edited by Hooshang Amirahmadi and Manoucher Parvin, pp. 23-40. Boulder:
Westview Press, 1988.
Charles Kurzman. “Structural Opportunity and Perceived Opportunity in Social-Movement Theory: The
Iranian Revolution of 1979.” American Sociological Review 61 (February 1996): pp. 153-170.
Hamid Dabashi, Theology of Discontent , pp. 41-146; 409-447.
Arjomand, pp. 36-55.
Abrahamian, Chapter 6.
February 19-23 Reading Week: No class.
Thursday, March 1
Class 6: Khomeini’s Charismatic Politics: Building a Theocratic State
Presentation 4
● Axworthy, “Like the Person He Ought to Be: Islamic Republic, 1979-80,” pp. 133-186,
● Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Islamic Government . Selections TBA.
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/rkhomeini/books/velayat_faqeeh.pdf
● Kazem Alamdari. “The Power Structure of Islamic Republic of Iran:
Transition from Populism to Clientelism, and Militarization of the Government.” Third World
Quarterly 26, no. 8 (December 2005): pp. 1285-1301. JSTOR
● Nader Entessar. “The Military and Politics in the Islamic Republic of
Iran.” In Post-Revolutionary Iran , edited by Houshang Amirahmadi and Manoucher Parvin, pp.
56-74. Boulder: Westview Press, 1988.
Suggested:
Said Amir Arjomand. “Shi’ite Jurisprudence and Constitution Making
in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” In Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies and Militancy ,
edited by Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, pp. 88-109. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
A. Ashraf. “Charisma, Theocracy, and Men of Power.” In The Politics of Social Transformation in Afghanistan, Iran,
and Pakistan , edited by M. Weiner & 4 A. Banuazizi. pp. 101-51.
Thursday, March 8***** Second Review Essay Due
Class 7: Paradoxes of a Modern Day Theocratic State: Social and Political Consequences of the
Revolution
Presentation 5
● Axworthy, “ Bim-e Mowj (Fear of the Wave),” pp. 324-369.
● Anthony Gill and Arang Keshavarzian. “State Building and Religious Resources: An
Institutional Theory of Church-State Relations in Iran and Mexico.” Politics & Society 27, no. 3
(September 1999): pp. 431-465. JSTOR
● Abdolkarim Soroush. Reason, Freedom and Democracy , pp. 3-25; pp. 156-170.
● John Foran. “A Century of Revolution: Comparative, Historical, and Theoretical Perspectives
on Social Movements in Iran.” In A Century of Revolution: Social Movements in Iran , edited by
John Foran, pp. 223-237. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994.
Suggested:
Said Arjomand. After Khomeini, Iran under his Successors . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Melanie McAlister. Epic Encounters . Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001. pp. 198-234.
William Beeman. “Images of the Great Satan: Representations of the United
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States in the Iranian Revolution.” In Religion and Politics in Iran , edited by Nikki R. Keddie, pp. 191-217. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
Friday, March 9
Class 8: Attending to Socioeconomic Reform: Rafsanjani, Khatami, Ahmadinejad, and Rouhani
Presentation 6
● Axworthy, “Everything Must Change, So That Everything Can Stay the Same: Ahmadinejad
and Khamenei, 2005-12,” pp. 370-424.
● Afshin Molavi. “Buying Time in Tehran: Iran and the China Model.” Foreign Affairs 83, no. 6
(Nov. - Dec., 2004): pp. 9-16. JSTOR
● Roksana Bahramitash. "Islamic Fundamentalism and Women's Economic Role: The Case of
Iran." International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 16, no. 4 (2003): pp. 551-68.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20020185 . JSTOR
● Jahangir Amuzegar. “The Iranian Economy before and after the Revolution.” Middle East
Journal 46, no. 3 (Summer, 1992): pp. 413-425. JSTOR
Suggested:
Akbar Ganji. “The Latter-Day Sultan: Power and Politics in Iran.” Foreign Affairs 87, no. 6
(November/December 2008): pp. 45-62, 64-66.
Parvin Alizadeh and Barry Harper. “The Feminisation of the Labour Force in Iran.” In Iran Encounters
Globalization: Problems and Prospects, edited by Ali Mohammadi, pp.180-196. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Thursday, March 15
Class 9: Enghelab Street Politics
(Guest Lecture and Cinema Presentation by Iman Amirteimour)
● Asef Bayat. Street Politics: Poor Peoples Movements in Iran . New York: Columbia University
Press, 1997, Chapter 3, “The Disenfranchised and the Islamic Revolution: ‘Our Revolution and
Theirs,’” pp. 35-58.
● Mehrdad Mashayekhi . “The Revival of the Student Movement in Post-Revolutionary
Iran.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 15, no. 2 (Winter, 2001): pp. 283-313.
JSTOR
● Ervand Abrahamian. “The Crowd in the Iranian Revolution.” Radical History Review , no. 105
(Summer 2009), pp. 13-34. JSTOR
Thursday, March 22 ***** Third Review Essay Due
Class 10: Mobilizing “Feminist Consciousness” in an Emerging Women’s Movement
Presentation 7
● Valentine Moghadam. “Islamic Feminism and Its Discontents: Toward a
Resolution of the Debate.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 27,
no. 4 (Summer 2002): pp. 1135-1171. JSTOR
● Fatemeh Sadeghi. “Foot Soldiers of the Islamic Republic's ‘Culture of Modesty.’” Middle East
Report , no. 250, The Islamic Revolution at 30 (Spring, 2009): pp. 50-55. JSTOR
● Haleh Afshar. “Islam and Feminism: An Analysis of Political Strategies.” In Feminism and Islam ,
edited by May Yamani, pp. 197-217. New York University Press, 1996.
● Kristin Soraya Batmanghelichi and Leila Mouri, “Cyberfeminism, Iranian Style: Online
Activism since 2009.” Feminist Media Histories 3, no. 1 (Winter 2017). JSTOR
Suggested:
Ziba Mir-Hosseini. “Beyond ‘Islam’ vs. ‘Feminism.’” IDS Bulletin 42, no. 2 (January 2011).
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Divorce Iranian Style , a film by Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, UK, 1998.
Class 11: Make-up class if necessary Thursday, April 5th.
Final Portfolio: April 9, 2018