Dissertation Information for Afshin Mararshi NAME: - Afshin Mararshi
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2003)
ADVISORS: - Nikkie Keddie
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - James Gelvin - Rogers Brubaker
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Nationalizing Iran: Culture, power, and the state, 1870--1941
Abstract: The period from 1870 to 1941--spanning the period of the late Qajar dynasty and the first Pahlavi Shah--represents the period of transformation for the Iranian state from a pre-modern monarchical state grounded in traditional Persianate and Islamicate patterns and norms to a modern national state based on an increasingly international model of political community. This dissertation analyzes the nature of this critical period of transformation in Iranian history. The elements of this transformation include a basic structural shift of the state's relationship to society, the emergence of new claims of political authority, and the development of new notions of the role of the state in relation to "Iranian culture".
The elements of this transformation were derived from new universal models of political community circulating during the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. From the late imperial model of political community Iranian reformers and state builders appropriated large-scale urban spectacles and rituals. These new styles of spectacle and ritual engendered a structural shift in the nature of political authority and its accompanying legitimizing practices. Likewise radical and rogue elements from among the marginalized intelligentsia began to appropriate models of political community derived from nationalism, in particular notions of cultural authenticity associated with Iranian antiquity. In the post 1920 period these two elements--a modern state sponsored apparatus of legitimation and an ideological grounding in nationalism--were brought together to form the basis of the Pahlavi state. The period from 1870 to 1941 is therefore important for understanding the critical transformation that took place in the relationship between Iranian state, society, and culture. While striking political discontinuities mark the period, the dissertation argues that the underlying pattern of historical transformation represents a process of consolidation and the ultimate establishment of a unified political field. The consolidation of this unified political field was the prerequisite for the emergence of modern politics in Iran and the ideological contestation over what cultural symbols should animate this similarly imagined nation-form.
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MPACT Scores for Afshin Mararshi A = 0
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calculated 2008-08-12 14:29:09
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