Iranian Studies

Index of the Ph.D. Thesis "La letteratura tagica fra riforme e rivoluzioni (1870-1954). Con uno studio preliminare delle Yoddoshtho [Memorie] di Sadriddin Ayni e appendici bibliografiche"

by Evelin Grassi

Università degli studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", 2010-2011

Index of the Ph.D. Thesis "Tajik literature between reforms and revolutions (1870-1954). With a preliminary study... more Index of the Ph.D. Thesis "Tajik literature between reforms and revolutions (1870-1954). With a preliminary study of Sadriddin Ayni's Yoddoshtho [Reminiscences], and bibliographical appendixes" [In Italian]

The thesis focuses on the period of reforms and revolutions the Tajik intellectuals and men of letters experienced in the field of culture and literature from the second half of the 19th century, when Tsarist Russia penetrated in Turkestan, to the first Soviet decades (1870-1954).
In 1870, Ahmad Donish, one of the first reformers in the history of Modern Tajik literature, wrote the Risola dar nazmi tamaddun va taovun [Treatise on the organization and regulation of common decency], trying to persuade the emir of Bukhara of the need of reforms.
In 1954, Sadriddin Ayni, the author commonly regarded as the founder of Soviet Tajik literature, died of disease. His final major work, Yoddoshtho [Reminiscences; 1948-1954, uncompleted], to which a preliminary study is devoted to in this thesis, is a collection of lively short-stories where the author describes his childhood spent in two villages near Bukhara, his youth and schooldays in Bukhara city between 1882 and 1903, also depicting the social and economic situation of the Emirate with particular reference to the lowest social strata (petty farmers and craftsmen) living there.
The period under consideration in this thesis also marked the transition from the manuscript era to the periodical press age.
The reformers of the first two decades of the 20th century, the Jadids, turned newspapers and journals into an instrument of protest against the social, cultural, and spiritual degradation of the Bukhara Emirate. In the 1920s, magazines became a platform for the expression of a nascent Tajik nationalism, as in those years Tajikistan, rather than a Federal Republic of the Soviet Union, was an Autonomous Region within the Republic of Uzbekistan. Moreover, Soviet magazines became the first editorial space for the spreading of the Tajik realistic prose, since during the 1920s and the 1930s Tajik tales and novels were first published there in serial form, later in book form.

Exporting anti-Zionism: The delegitimization of Israel in the Iranian Press

by Rusi Jaspal

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Jaspal, R. (under review). Exporting anti-Zionism: The delegitimization of Israel in the Iranian Press. Submitted to Israel Studies.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Anti-Zionism has remained an important ideological building-block of the Islamic... more Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Anti-Zionism has remained an important ideological building-block of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This paper examines the manifestation of anti-Zionism in the English-language Iranian Press in order to elucidate how this ideology is ‘exported’ to an international readership. The paper presents the results of an empirical study of two leading English-language Iranian newspapers: The Tehran Times and Press TV. The study uses critical discourse analysis and draws upon tenets of Social Representations Theory and the notion of Delegitimization from social psychology. The following themes are outlined: (i) “Problematizing Israel’s right to exist”; (ii) “Unveiling the global Zionist conspiracy”; and (iii) “Leading the global anti-Zionism – the declining ‘Zionist regime’”. Both anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic representations are observable in the corpus. The paper identifies three key components of the delegitimization process in textual representations of Israel, and discusses possible implications of outgroup delegitimization for identity, emotion and action.

Keywords: media representations; Iran; Israel; anti-Zionism; prejudice; social representations theory; critical discourse analysis; qualitative; social psychology

AFC puts Iran on the spot on women’s rights

by James M. Dorsey

By James M. Dorsey

Iranian women soccer fans have set their hopes on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)... more By James M. Dorsey

Iranian women soccer fans have set their hopes on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to return them to the terraces after having been banned from stadiums for years to prevent them from looking at men’s bodies.

The women expect the AFC’s insistence that Iran adhere to the Asian soccer body’s standards when it hosts this fall the AFC Under-16 Championship to grant them access to matches during the tournament but would like to see that spark a permanent lifting of the ban imposed after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979.

"So far as AFC is concerned, there should be no sex discrimination regarding the presence of men and women at stadiums," AFC Director of National Team competition Shin Mangal was quoted as saying by Shiite news agency Shafaqna.

The AFC said it had received assurances from Ali Kaffashian, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation (IRIFF) that it would comply with AFC regulations.

The AFC quoted Mr. Kaffashian as saying at the drawing of the groups for the tournament that the IRIFF is “fully ready to follow all the requirements and instructions from AFC.” The Iranian soccer boss repeated his position in remarks to Iranian reformist newspaper Sharq.

In an editorial the newspaper said "the youth championships could create a great change in Iranian football. They are an excellent opportunity."

The IRIFF’s apparent willingness to counter Iranian policy and adhere to international standards has sparked significant domestic debate that pits conservatives against liberals.

Proponents of a permanent lifting of the ban are weakened by a power struggle within Iran’s soccer elite.

Two proponents of lifting the ban are at each other’s throats.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an avid soccer fan who at times micromanages the affairs of the IRIFF and six years ago unsuccessfully attempted to lift the ban, is trying to get Mr. Kaffashian’s re-election in March as head of the Iranian soccer body annulled by the courts.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s attorney general has argued that Mr. Kaffashian could not hold public office as a former civil servant even though that was not an issue four years ago when he was first elected with the president’s backing.

Mr. Ahmadinejad turned against Mr. Kaffashian because Iranian soccer has failed to perform internationally under his leadership. The president had hoped to shore up his tarnished image and dropping popularity by associating himself with the country’s most popular sport. For that tactic to work, he needed a soccer success that Mr. Kaffashian failed to deliver.

In effect, Mr. Kaffashian is the fall guy for the failure of successive national coaches to deliver performance even though Mr. Ahmadinejad took a direct interest in their appointment. The coaches failed to take Iran to the 2010 World Cup finals or triumph in the 2011 Asian Cup. Iran still stands a chance for qualifying for the 2014 Brazil World Cup but that will do Mr. Ahmadinejad little good after his supporters were trounced in parliamentary elections in March.

Mr. Ahamdinejad, however, also turned against Mr. Kaffashian because the soccer pitch on Mr. Kaffashian’s watch has repeatedly in Tehran and Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan, has become a venue for protest against his government. The government, aware that the pitch was an important incubator of the revolt that toppled Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and has played a role in popular revolts elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, last year suspended soccer matches in Tehran during celebrations of the anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

While Iran is almost certain to comply with AFC rules to ensure that it does not lose the hosting of the games, more difficult will be turning the breaching of the wall into its destruction. It would not be the first time that Iran opportunistically complies with international soccer requirements only to return its discriminatory practice afterwards. Iran allowed women into the stadium during World Cup qualifiers played in the country in 2007 but maintained the ban for all other matches.

"Women looking at a man's body, even if not for the sake of gratification, is inappropriate. Furthermore, Islam insists that men and women should not mix," said Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani back in 2006 when Mr. Ahmadinejad failed to get the ban lifted permanently.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s effort was in part sparked by the fact that significant numbers of Iranian women were succeeding to circumvent the ban by sneaking into stadiums dressed as men.

The practice attracted attention when Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won international acclaim for his documentary Offside that tells the story of a group of young girls who dress up as boys to pass through stadium gates only to be detained. A second more recent movie, Shirin Was A Canary, recounts the tale of a girl who is expelled from school for her love of soccer.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, and a consultant to geopolitical consulting firm Wikistrat.

[review] Om de ziel van de Iraanse natie

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 1998. "Om de ziel van de Iraanse natie [For the soul of the Iranian nation]." Review of Mackey, Sandra. 1998. The Iranians. Soera. Tijdschrift over het Midden-Oosten 6 (2): 41-3.

Univocism and Monadology in Post-Avicennan Iranian Philosophy: Mulla Sadra Shirazi and the Philosophical Development of Ibn al-'Arabi's Gnosis (Spanish)

by Carlos Segovia

"Univocismo y monadología en el pensamiento iraní postaviceniano: La prosecución filosófica del 'irfan de Ibn al-'Arabi en la obra de Mulla Sadra Shirazi," Anales del Seminario de Historia de la Filosofía 18 (2001) 78-108.

The Reception of Avicenna in the Eastern Lands of Islam (Spanish)

by Carlos Segovia

"Avicena en Oriente," Revista de Filosofía 11.20 (1998) 85-98.

Mulla Sadra Shirazi and the Concept of Nature in Post-Avicennan Islamic Philosophy (Spanish)

by Carlos Segovia

"El concepto de naturaleza en la filosofía islámica postaviceniana: Mulla Sadra Shirazi," Ontological Studies / Cuadernos de Ontología 1-2 (2001) 436-37.

Univocism and Monadology in Post-Avicennan Iranian Philosophy: Mulla Sadra Shirazi's Ishraqi Hermeneutics of Ibn 'Arabi's Gnosis and His Discussion of Avicennan Ontology

by Carlos Segovia

in: Endoxa. Series Filosóficas 16 (2002) 295-209.

Intellect and Angelology in Avicenna's Gnosis (Spanish)

by Carlos Segovia

"Del entendimiento al Ángel: En torno al lugar de la gnosis aviceniana," in Intellect et imagination dans la philosophie médiévale: Actes du XIe Congrès International de Philosophie Médiévale de la Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale (Porto, du 26 au 31 août 2002), ed. M.C. Pacheco & J. Meirinhos (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), 3.563-69.

Gnosis, Philosophy, and Scriptural Hermeneutics in Suhrawardi (Spanish)

by Carlos Segovia

"Suhrawardi: Filosofía, gnosis y hermenéutica," in El conocimiento y la experiencia espiritual, ed. Agunstín López y María Tabuyo (Palma de Mallorca: J. J. Olañeta, 2007), 43-63.

L'oiseau Karšiptar

by Céline Redard

in : Yama/Yima : Variations indo-iraniennes sur la geste mythique, éd. par S. Azarnouche et C. Redard, Publications de l’Institut de Civilisation Indienne, Fasc. 81, 193-205.

A bird named Karšiptar, attested only once in the Avesta at V 2.42, was charged with the propagation of the religion... more A bird named Karšiptar, attested only once in the Avesta at V 2.42, was charged with the propagation of the religion in the vara. The Avestan term karšiptar, literally « black-winged », was identified as a crow by Gershevitch, who based his hypothesis on a mythological parallel in Armenian. It is not the only attestation of a crow fulfilling the role of messenger in Indo-Europeans legends.
Cognate is the Middle-Persian name karšift. In the texts, he represents the leader of the birds and is described by two terms: cakrawāk and carg. Here can also be considered cixrāz, the name of the leader of the birds according to MX 60.9. These three terms may be etymologically related: cakrawāk < *cakra-vāka- “the one who says cakra”, with an historical spelling ; cixrāz, which shows a different suffix but is semantically identical < *cakra-vāca- ; and carg, which would be a form without a suffix and displaying a metathesis. Unfortunately, this does not permit a conclusive identification of the bird.
No argument allows us to make a decisive choice, but the hypothesis of the crow combines the etymological signification with the role of messenger between the two worlds that is attributed to him.

Introduction

by Jean Kellens

2012, in : Yama/Yima : Variations indo-iraniennes sur la geste mythique, éd. par S. Azarnouche et C. Redard, Publications de l’Institut de Civilisation Indienne, Fasc. 81, 11-15.

Ardavirafnâme tanıtım yazısı

by ercan akyol

[review] Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the last 500 years

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 2006. Review of Chehabi, H.E. (ed.). 2006. Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the last 500 years. Ethnopolitics 5 (4): 407-8.

Unsur-unsur Sufisme Neo-Tradisional di Iran

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 2008. Unsur-unsur Sufisme Neo-Tradisional di Iran [Translation of 2007. Elements of Neo-Traditional Sufism in Iran]. In Urban Sufism (eds) M.v. Bruinessen & J.D. Howell. Jakarta: Rajawali Pers, pp. 63-88.

Elements of Neo-Traditional Sufism in Iran

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 2007. Elements of Neo-Traditional Sufism in Iran. In Sufism and the Modern in Islam (ed.) M. van Bruinessen. London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 61-75.

[revised edition] Sufi authority in Khatami’s Iran

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 2008. “Sufi authority in Khatami’s Iran.” [Revised edition]. In Sufism. Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies. Vol. 3: Ritual, Authority, and Word (ed.) L. Ridgeon. London: Routledge, pp. 203-33.

The Sufis of Karaj are Under Pressure

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 2009. The Sufis of Karaj are Under Pressure. [Translation of anti-Gonabadi Sufi pamphlet of 19 pp. published and distributed in Karaj in January 2007]. http://www.insideofiran.com/en/?p=894 (accessed 16 March 2009).

Seculiere illusies

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 2009. Seculiere illusies [Secular illusions]. ZemZem 4 (3): 48-54.

‘European Islam’ in the Iranian Ettehadiyeh

by Matthijs van den Bos

Van den Bos, M. 2012 IN PRESS. ‘European Islam’ in the Iranian Ettehadiyeh. In Shi'i Islam and Identity: Religion, Politics and Change in the Global Muslim Community (ed.) L. Ridgeon. London: Routledge, pp. [64-92].