Semester:
Fall
Offered:
2022
This course examines the history, society, and politics of modern Iran beginning with the Qajar dynasty in the 19th century up until the contemporary period. It undertakes an interdisciplinary approach situating Iran in its regional and international context while simultaneously exploring Iranian civilizational and religious heritage and the domestic dynamics of state-society relations in modern Iranian history. The course also explores the role of Islamic clergy (ulema), the institution of Shi’a seminaries and clerical hierarchy (marja’iyya), and the emerging contestation between divine and secular law in the realm of sovereignty. It also covers the modern history of Iran’s transnational connections with the Arab world, the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, Russia and the Caucasus, as well as its eastern neighbors such as Afghanistan. It additionally explores the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and factional disputes in post-revolutionary Iran, the Reformist movement, theocratic revivalism, the IRGC and Basij paramilitaries, and Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East, including U.S.-Iran relations and the rise of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance. The course assumes no prior knowledge of Islam or the Middle East.