Constructing Nationalism in Iran Nationalism has played an important role in the cultural and intellectual discourse of modernity that emerged in Iran from the late nineteenth cen- tury to the present, promoting new formulations of collective identity and advocating a new and more active role for the broad strata of the public in politics. The chapters in this volume seek to shed light on the construction of nationalism in Iran in its many manifestations; cultural, social, political and ideological, by exploring ongoing debates on this important and pro- gressive topic. Meir Litvak is Associate Professor at the Department of Middle Eastern History, Director of the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv Uni- versity. He is the author of Shi‘i Scholars of Nineteenth Century Iraq: The ‘Ulama’ of Najaf and Karbala’ and published widely on modern Shi‘ism. Routledge Studies in Modern History 18 Colonial Soldiers in Europe, 1914–1945 “Aliens in uniform” in wartime societies Edited by Eric Storm and Ali Al Tuma 19 Immigration Policy from 1970 to the Present Rachel Stevens 20 Public Goods versus Economic Interests Global perspectives on the history of squatting Edited by Freia Anders and Alexander Sedlmaier 21 Histories of Productivity Genealogical perspectives on the body and modern economy Edited by Peter-Paul Bänziger and Mischa Suter 22 Landscapes and Voices of the Great War Edited by Angela K. Smith and Krista Cowman 23 War, Peace and International Order? The legacies of The Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 Edited by Maartje Abbenhuis, Christopher Ernest Barber and Annalise R. Higgins 24 Black Cosmopolitanism and Anticolonialism Pivotal moments Babacar M’Baye 25 Constructing Nationalism in Iran From the Qajars to the Islamic Republic Meir Litvak 26 War and Diplomacy in East and West A biography of Józef Retinger MB.B. Biskupski Constructing Nationalism in Iran From the Qajars to the Islamic Republic Edited by Meir Litvak First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 selection and editorial matter, Meir Litvak; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Meir Litvak to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Litvak, Meir, editor. Title: Constructing nationalism in Iran : from the Qajars to the Islamic Republic / edited by Meir Litvak. Other titles: Routledge studies in modern history ; 25. Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge studies in modern history ; 25 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2016049514 | ISBN 9781138213227 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315448800 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Nationalism—Iran—History. | Islam and politics— Iran—History. | Iran—History. Classifi cation: LCC DS272 .C66 2017 | DDC 320.540955—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016049514 ISBN: 978-1-138-21322-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-44880-0 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of fi gures viii List of contributors ix Acknowledgments xiv A note on transliteration xv 1 Introduction 1 MEIR LITVAK 2 The construction of Iranian national identity: an overview 10 MEIR LITVAK 3 Persian-Iranian national identity: the longue durée , from Achaemenid times onward 32 AZAR GAT 4 Four iterations of Persian literary nationalism 40 NASRIN RAHIMIEH 5 Intersectionality and the narrative of nationalism 56 ELIZ SANASARIAN 6 Gendering the nation: masculinity and nationalism in Iran during the Constitutional Revolution 68 SIVAN BALSLEV 7 Nationalism and Islam in a provincial setting: late Qajar Isfahan 86 MEIR LITVAK vi Contents 8 Iranian nationalism and the question of race 101 ALI M. ANSARI 9 Nationalist representations of the Persian Gulf under Reza Shah Pahlavi 117 CHELSI MUELLER 10 Iranian nationalism, Islamic unity and Shi‘ism in Iran’s regional policy: from the Pahlavis to the Islamic Republic 130 RAZ ZIMMT 11 Surveying the ‘Sheikhdoms’ of the Persian Gulf, 1966–1973: newspaperman ‘Abbas Mas‘udi and the construction of Iranian nationalism in foreign policy 142 CAMRON MICHAEL AMIN 12 “True Muslims must always be tidy and clean”: exoticism of the countryside in late Pahlavi Iran 158 MENAHEM MERHAVI 13 “The Jew has a lot of money, too”: representations of Jews in twentieth-century Iranian culture 173 ORLY R. RAHIMIYAN 14 Jewish intellectuals in Iran and their quest for Iranian national identity in the fi rst half of the twentieth century 190 MIRIAM NISSIMOV 15 Pre-revolutionary Islamic discourse in Iran as nationalism: Islamism in Iran as nationalism 203 ALEXANDER GRINBERG 16 Nationalism and the Islamic Republic of Iran 218 BERNARD HOURCADE 17 Beyond boundaries: Iranian Azeris in an age of globalization 229 GEOFFREY F. GRESH 18 Guarding the nation: the Iranian revolutionary guards, nationalism and the Iran-Iraq War 248 ANNIE TRACY SAMUEL Contents vii 19 From state to nation and from nation to state in Egypt: the role of the state in the formation of nationalism and the role of nationalism in the formation of the state, 1805–1952 263 ISRAEL GERSHONI Bibliography 279 Index 307 Figures 6.1 “We do not want!” A cartoon of pseudo-patriots, Kashkul , 1907. 77 6.2 “The deathbed of despotism.” A cartoon of pseudo-patriots, Kashkul , 1907. 77 16.1 Villages with Islamic Republic Guards in 1996. 220 16.2 The presidential election of June 2013. 223 Contributors Camron Michael Amin (PhD 1996, University of Chicago, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations) is a Professor of History at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and serves as the coordinator for its undergraduate certifi cate in Middle East Studies (MEST). He has published articles in Iranian Studies , the International Journal of Middle East Studies and the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. He is the author of The Mak- ing of the Modern Iranian Woman: Gender, State Policy, and Popular Culture, 1865–1946 (University Press of Florida, 2002) and a contribut- ing co-editor (along with Benjamin C. Fortna and Elizabeth B. Frierson) of The Modern Middle East: A Sourcebook for History (Oxford, 2006). Ali M. Ansari PhD (Lon), FRSE, FBIPS, FRAS Professor of Iranian History and Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St. Andrews; Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute; President of the British Institute of Persian Studies. Author of Iran: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2014); The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2012); Crisis of Authority: Iran’s 2009 Presidential Election (Chatham House, 2010); Iran under Ahmadinejad (Adelphi Paper, IISS, January 2008); Confront- ing Iran: The Failure of US Policy and the Roots of Mistrust (Hurst, London, 2006); Modern Iran since 1921: The Pahlavis and After (2nd Edition, Longman, London, 2007); Iran, Islam & Democracy – The Poli- tics of Managing Change (2nd Edition, RIIA, London, 2006). He is also editor of the Cambridge History of Iran , Vol. 8 (The Islamic Republic). Sivan Balslev received her PhD from Tel Aviv University in 2015. She is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Polonsky Academy for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Her articles were published in Gender & History and in BJMES . She has also published two Hebrew translations of poet Forough Farrokhzad. Azar Gat (DPhil 1986, University of Oxford) is Ezer Weitzman Professor of National Security in the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv Uni- versity, which he currently chairs. His publications include The Origins of x Contributors Military Thought from the Enlightenment to Clausewitz (Oxford Univer- sity Press, 1989); The Development of Military Thought: The Nineteenth Century (Oxford University Press, 1992); Fascist and Liberal Visions of War: Fuller, Liddell Hart, Douhet, and Other Modernists (Oxford Univer- sity Press, 1998); and British Armour Theory and the Rise of the Panzer Arm: Revising the Revisionists (Macmillan, 2000). The fi rst three books have been reissued in one volume as A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War (Oxford University Press, 2001). His War in Human Civilization (Oxford University Press, 2006) was named one of the best books of the year by the Times Literary Supplement (TLS ). His most recent books include Victorious and Vulnerable: Why Democ- racy Won in the 20th Century and How It Is Still Imperiled (Hoover, 2010); and Nations: The Long History and Deep Roots of Political Eth- nicity and Nationalism (Cambridge University Press, 2013). His current book-in-progress is provisionally titled The Causes of War and the Causes of Peace. Israel Gershoni is a Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Middle East- ern and African History, Tel Aviv University. His primary fi eld of interest is the modern intellectual history of Egypt and the Arab Middle East. Among his latest publications are Narrating the Nile: Politics, Cultures, Identities (Lynne Rienner, 2008), co-edited with Meir Hatina; Confront- ing Fascism in Egypt: Dictatorship versus Democracy in the 1930s (Stan- ford University Press, 2010), co-authored with James Jankowski; Dame and Devil: Egypt and Nazism, 1935–1940 , 2 Vols.