SCHEDULE (tentative)
An overview of Iran: an ethnic, religious, linguistic puzzle.
Required reading: Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran, 2013, introduction (this is your textbook, pls do get a copy asap, all other materials will be uploaded on moodle).
Reza Khan's coup d’état in 1921. The rise of the modern State with Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925-1941). Conscription. Persia becomes Iran.
Required reading: Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions, 1982, pp. 135-165.
The Allies' invasion of Iran in 1941. Iran's role during WW2.
Screening of the short documentary Children of Tehran on Polish and Jewish refugees finding shelter in Iran in 1942.
Required reading: Houman Sarshar (ed.), Ester's Children. A Portrait of Iranian Jews, 2005, p. 246.
The reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941-1979).
Mohammad Mosaddeq’s government and the coup d’état of 1953.
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 1.
The White Revolution of 1963. The Literacy Corps and its implications.
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 2.
Iran in the 1960s and 1970 and the economic reasons behind the Revolution of 1979.
Screening of Kamran Shirdel's documentaries (on poverty and prostitution in Tehran).
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 2.
The main events leading to the Revolution of 1979 and the Islamic Republic.
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 2.
Ayatollah Khomeini's biography, writings and political views.
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 3.
The seizure of the US hostages.
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 3.
The Iran-Iraq war and its legacy.
Screening of the film: Bashu the Little Stranger by Bahram Beizai.
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 4.
The political institutions of the Islamic Republic.
Required reading: Wilfried Buchta, Who Rules Iran? The Structure of Power in the Islamic Republic, 2000 (the relevant page will be uploaded on moodle).
Khomeini's death in 1989. His successor Ali Khamenei. Presidents Rafsanjani,
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 5.
President Khatami
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 6.
Presidents Ahmadinejad, Rohani, Raisi
Required reading: Axworthy, ch. 7.
Basij and Pasdaran. The building of consensus in the Islamic Republic.
Screening of the documentary films Bassidji by Mehran Tamadon and Letters to the President by Petr Lom.
Religious minorities in Iran. The Jews.
Screening of the documentary film Jews of Iran by Ramin Farahani.
Required readings: Houman Sarshar (ed.), Ester's Children. A Portrait of Iranian Jews, 2005, pp. 104-105.
Gender issues and women’s rights.
Required reading: Farian Sabahi, We, Women of Tehran, 2021.
(you can download the ebook here: https://prinp.com/?sez=negozio&sub=1&lid=1767).