Culture and Cultural Politics Under Reza Shah Culture and Cultural Politics Under Reza Shah presents a collection of innovative research on the interaction of culture and politics accompanying the vigorous modernization program of the first Pahlavi ruler. Examining a broad spectrum of this multifaceted interaction it makes an important contribution to the cultural history of the 1920s and 1930s in Iran, when, under the rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi, dramatic changes took place inside Iranian society. With special reference to the practical implementation of specific reform endeavors, the various contributions critically analyze different facets of the relationship between cultural politics, individual reformers, and the everyday life of modernist Iranians. Interpreting culture in its broadest sense, this book brings together con- tributions from different disciplines such as literary history, social history, ethnomusicology, art history, and Middle Eastern politics. In this way, it combines for the first time the cultural history of Iran’s modernity with the politics of the Reza Shah period. Challenging a limited understanding of authoritarian rule under Reza Shah, this book is a useful contribution to existing literature for students and scholars of Middle Eastern History, Iranian History, and Iranian Culture. Dr Bianca Devos is Assistant Professor/Lecturer at the Center for Near and Middle East Studies at the University of Marburg (Germany). Her main fields of research are Iran’s modern history, particularly the press and early modern entrepreneurship, and literary history. Professor Christoph Werner holds the Chair of Iranian Studies at the Center for Near and Middle East Studies at the University of Marburg (Germany). His main fields of interest are Qajar history, vaqf studies, and modern Persian literature. Iranian Studies Edited by Homa Katouzian, University of Oxford and Mohamad Tavakoli, University of Toronto Since 1967 the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS) has been a leading learned society for the advancement of new approaches in the study of Iranian society, history, culture, and literature. The new ISIS Iranian Studies series published by Routledge will provide a venue for the publication of original and innovative scholarly works in all areas of Iranian and Persianate Studies. 1 Journalism in Iran 10 City of Knowledge in Twentieth Hossein Shahidi Century Iran Setrag Manoukian 2 Sadeq Hedayat Edited by Homa Katouzian 11 Domestic Violence in Iran Zahra Tizro 3 Iran in the 21st Century Edited by Homa Katouzian and 12 Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam Hossein Shahidi Todd Lawson 4 Media, Culture and Society in 13 Social Movements in Iran Iran Simin Fadaee Edited by Mehdi Semati 14 Iranian–Russian Encounters Edited by Stephanie Cronin 5 Modern Persian Literature in Afghanistan 15 Iran Wali Ahmadi Homa Katouzian 6 The Politics of Iranian Cinema 16 Domesticity and Consumer Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad Culture in Iran Pamela Karimi 7 Continuity in Iranian Identity Fereshteh Davaran 17 The Development of the Babi/Baha’i Communities 8 New Perspectives on Youli Ioannesyan Safavid Iran Edited by Colin P. Mitchell 18 Culture and Cultural Politics Under Reza Shah 9 Islamic Tolerance Bianca Devos and Christoph Alyssa Gabbay Werner Culture and Cultural Politics Under Reza Shah The Pahlavi State, New Bourgeoisie and the Creation of a Modern Society in Iran Edited by Bianca Devos and Christoph Werner ROUTLEDGE Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Bianca Devos and Christoph Werner The right of the editors to be identified as the authors 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 identification 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 Culture and cultural politics under Reza Shah : the Pahlavi state, new bourgeoisie and the creation of a modern society in Iran / edited by Bianca Devos and Christoph Werner. pages cm. – (Iranian studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Politics and culture – Iran – History – 20th century. 2. Iran – Cultural policy – History – 20th century. 3. Iran – Politics and government–1925- 1979. 4. Iran – Intellectual life – 20th century. 5. Iran – Social conditions – 20th century. 6. Social change – Iran – History – 20th century. I. Devos, Bianca, author, editor of compilation. II. Werner, Christoph, 1967-author, editor of compilation. DS317.C85 2013 955.05’2 – dc23 2013005107 ISBN: 978-0-415-82419-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-79842-3 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Taylor & Francis Books Contents List of figures vii Notes on contributors ix Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 1 BIANCA DEVOS AND CHRISTOPH WERNER PART I Intellectuals and technocrats: Key figures in Iran’s cultural modernization 17 1 Modernization in literary history: Malek al-Sho‘ara Bahar’s Stylistics 19 ROXANE HAAG-HIGUCHI 2 Policy or puzzle? The foundation of the University of Tehran between ideal conception and pragmatic realization 37 CHRISTL CATANZARO 3 Mir Mehdi Varzandeh and the introduction of modern physical education in Iran 55 H. E. CHEHABI 4 Modernization of Iranian music during the reign of Reza Shah 73 KEIVAN AGHAMOHSENI 5 The king’s white walls: Modernism and bourgeois architecture 95 TALINN GRIGOR vi Contents PART II The Shah: State politics and authoritarian modernization 119 6 Archaeology and the Iranian National Museum: Qajar and early Pahlavi cultural policies 121 NADER NASIRI-MOGHADDAM 7 Depicting power: Reza Shah’s rule, cabinet politics and the commemorative stamp set of 1935 149 ROMAN SIEBERTZ 8 Press censorship in the Reza Shah era, 1925–41 181 KARIM SOLEIMANI PART III Life under Reza Shah: New bourgeois culture and other forms of practiced modernity 199 9 Drama and operetta at the Red Lion and Sun: Theatre in Tabriz 1927–41 201 CHRISTOPH WERNER 10 “Newly hatched chickens”: Bozorg ‘Alavi on the young literary scene of the 1930s 233 ROJA DEHDARIAN 11 Giving birth to a new generation: Midwifery in the public health system of the Reza Shah era 249 ELHAM MALEKZADEH 12 Engineering a modern society? Adoptions of new technologies in early Pahlavi Iran 266 BIANCA DEVOS 13 Religious aspects in communication processes in early Pahlavi Iran 288 KATJA FÖLLMER Index 319 Figures 3.1 Mir Mehdi Varzandeh, around 1970. Source: Private collection, courtesy of Nushin Turan Varzandeh. 56 5.1 Reza Shah’s cabinet members and other high-ranking officials during a horserace event in Gorgan, 1928. The central figure with the camera is court minister ‘Abd al-Hoseyn Teymurtash; on his right, finance minister Firuz Mirza Nosrat al-Dowleh; and on his left, justice minister ‘Ali Akbar Davar. Source: Library of Prince Firouz Mirza Firouz, by the permission of Shahrokh Firouz. 96 5.2 Map of major historical sites of pilgrimage for Twelver Imami Shi‘ism in Iran, overlaid by the modern sites of secular/civil pilgrimage constructed between 1934 and 1979 by the SNH. As an integral part of Iran’s modernization project, the state and the SNH intended first to utilize and then to shift the network and rituals of the Shi‘a pilgrimage to a different set of secular national destinations. Source: Talinn Grigor, 2009. 103 5.3 André Godard, main and southern façade of the Archaeological Museum of Iran (Muzeh-ye Iran Bastan), Tehran 1936–39. Source: Private collection, photo by Farokh Khadem; courtesy of Cyrus Samii. 104 5.4 Amjadiyeh Public Pool, Tehran 1940s. Source: Private collection, photo by Farokh Khadem; courtesy of Cyrus Samii. 108 5.5 General view of Reza Shah’s mausoleum by architects Mohsen Forughi, Keyqobad Zafar, and ‘Ali Sadeq, Rey 1947–51. In the background is visible the Shah ‘Abd al-‘Azim Shrine, 9th–20th centuries. Source: Ali Khadem Collection, courtesy of Farrokh Khadem and Cyrus Samii. 109 5.6 Local tourist posing on the steps of Hafeziyeh’s southern courtyard, Shiraz 1954. This kind of practice by an unveiled woman, much less by a Christian Iranian, would not have been tolerated before the 1938 spatial metamorphosis of the Mosalla cemetery into Hafez’s tomb garden, nor would she have visited the site. Here she practices tourism and citizenry in the context viii List of figures of a secularized space, not a religious pilgrimage. Source: Courtesy of Seda Hovnanian. 110 7.1 1882 definitive set, 5000 Dinar, portrait of Naser al-Din Shah. Source: Author’s collection. 151 7.2 1914 coronation set, 1 Toman, ruins of Persepolis. Source: Author’s collection. 151 7.3 1933 definitive set, 1 Rial, Reza Shah with kolah-e Pahlavi. Source: Author’s collection. 156 7.4 1935 commemoration set, 5 Dinar, allegory of education. Source: Author’s collection. 158 7.5 1935 commemoration set, 15 Dinar, allegory of justice. Source: Author’s collection. 158 7.6 1935 commemoration set, 10 Dinar, ruins of Persepolis. Source: Author’s collection. 159 7.7 1935 commemoration set, 75 Dinar, cement factory in Rey. Source: Author’s collection. 161 7.8 1935 commemoration set, 30 Dinar, Tehran airfield. Source: Author’s collection. 161 7.9 1935 commemoration set, 1.50 Rial, post and customs office in Tehran.