Politics of Culture in Iran Politics of Culture in Iran is the first comprehensive study of modern anthropology within the context of Iranian studies and politics in the twentieth century. This book analyses the ways in which anthropology and culture in Iran have interacted with Iranian politics and society. In particular it highlights how and why anthropology and culture became part of wider socio-political discourses and how they were appropriated and rejected by the pre- and post-revolutionary regimes. The author shows that there have been three main phases of Iranian anthropology, corresponding broadly to three periods in the social and political development of Iran and including: ● The Period of Nationalism: lasting approximately from the Constitutional Revolution (1906–11) and the end of the Qajar dynasty until the end of Reza Shah’s reign (1941); ● The Period of Nativism: from the 1950s until the Islamic Revolution (1979); ● The Post-Revolutionary Period. This book also places Iran within an international context by demonstrating how Western anthropological concepts, theories and methodologies affected epistemological and political discourses in Iranian anthropology. Politics of Culture in Iran is essential reading for those with interests in Iranian society and politics and anthropology. Nematollah Fazeli is Associate Professor of Allameh Tabatab’ai University of Iran and he specializes in Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies focusing on contemporary culture of Iran, ethnography and Higher Education Studies. Routledge/BIPS Persian Studies series Editorial Board Prof. C. E. Bosworth, Dr V. S. Curtis, Dr R. M. Gleave and Dr V. A. Martin In this series, Routledge in association with the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS) publishes scholarly books on the social sciences and humanities in Iran. Such works include: original research monographs; suitably revised theses; specially planned books deriving from conferences; specially commissioned, multi-authored research books and translations. 1 Iranian History and Politics The dialectic of state and society Homa Katouzian 2 The Making of Modern Iran State and society under Riza Shah 1921–1941 Edited by Stephanie Cronin 3 Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran New perspectives on the Iranian Left Edited by Stephanie Cronin 4 Religion and Society in Qajar Iran Edited by Robert Gleave 5 The Political Thought of Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari An Iranian theoretician of the Islamic state Mahmood T. Davari 6 Politics of Culture in Iran Anthropology, politics and society in the twentieth century Nematollah Fazeli Politics of Culture in Iran Anthropology, politics and society in the twentieth century Nematollah Fazeli First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2006 Nematollah Fazeli 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. 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 A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0–415–37005–1(Print edition) Contents Acknowledgements vii Note on transliteration viii 1 Iranian anthropology and ideology 1 Introduction 1 Anthropology as the research problem 1 Anthropology as the research subject 5 Methodological and theoretical considerations 7 The politics of anthropology 17 Writing a history of anthropology 20 Organization of the book 25 2 Anthropology and Iranian cultures: Iranian anthropology 1900–25 27 Introduction 27 Travel accounts 28 Orientalism 33 Mythology and nationalist history 34 Archaeology and the identity question 37 Folklore and modernist literati 40 Conclusion 43 3 Anthropology and nationalism: Iranian anthropology 1925–41 45 Introduction 45 Political discourses in Reza Shah’s time 46 Anthropology in the reign of Reza Shah 47 Anthropological institutions 52 Intellectual nationalist folklore studies 61 Conclusion 76 vi Contents 4 Anthropology and modernization: Iranian anthropology 1941–79 79 Introduction 79 Anthropology and modernization 82 Anthropology and the West 93 Indigenization 98 Monarchic nationalism 104 Anthropology and anti-modernization 109 Liberal nationalism 122 Socialism 125 Conclusion 133 5 Anthropology and Islamism: Iranian anthropology in the 1980s 135 Introduction 135 A Revolution against anthropology 136 The religious–secular conflict 148 The culture of anthropology versus political culture 159 Conclusion 163 6 Anthropology and Islamic modernization: Iranian anthropology in the 1990s 165 Introduction 165 Structural changes in postwar Iran 166 The teaching of anthropology 172 Local knowledge studies 182 Studies of the nomads 187 Cultural heritage studies 190 Folklore studies 196 Conclusion 198 7 Iranian anthropology: a conclusion 201 Introduction 201 Rethinking anthropology in Iran 212 Notes 216 Bibliography 223 Index 249 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my most profound gratitude to Professor Richard Tapper, for his direction, guidance and generous encourage- ment throughout the research and writing of this book. I also sincerely appreci- ate and thank Dr Ziba Mir-Hosseini for everything she has done for me during my four years of living in London. She has several times read and commented on the drafts of this book. I would like to thank my wife and my son for providing me a calm and comfortable situation for writing this book. During my years of study, research and preparation of this book, they made many sacrifices to support me and my work in every way possible. I hope we construct a better life. I owe a great debt to Linda Heidan for her great generosity and kindness to accept editing this book and for her effective and thought-provoking comments. I would also like to thank the SOAS librarians for their kind and warm hospital- ity and support. Many people in Iran generously gave me their time and agreed to be interviewed. I would like to sincerely thank Mr Mohammad Beheshti, Head of the Iranian Organization of Cultural Heritage; Mr Mohammad Mirshokra’i, the Director of the Centre for Iranian Anthropology; Dr Mortaza Farhadi, Anthropology Professor of Allameh Tabataba’i University; Dr Naser Fakuhi, Anthropology Professor of Tehran University; Dr Mahmud Ruholamini, Anthropology Professor of Tehran University; Dr Said Moidfar, Head of the Research Institute of Culture, Communication and Art; Dr Mahmud Sharepour, Head of the Department of Social Sciences of Mazandaran University; Mr Ebrahim Mossavi, Editor of the Journal Zakhayer Enqelab; Mr Mahdi Fahimi, Editor of Farhang Jebheh; Mr Jalal Sattari, prominent Iranian scholar; Mr Javad Safinezhad, prominent Iranian anthropologist; Dr Jalaloddin Rafifar, Head of Department of Tehran University; Mr Rahmati, an Iranian anthropologist; Mr Mohammad Fazeli, a PhD sociology student of Tarbiyat Modarres University in Tehran; Mr Alireza Kamari, co-Author and co-Editor of Farhang Jebheh; and anthropology students of Tehran and Mazandaran Universities in the years 2000 and 2001. I would like to thank Dr Vanessa Martin for her kind attentions to my study and her support to publish this book. Without her support and encouragement I would not be able to publish this book. Note on transliteration I have adopted a simple system of transliteration, close to modern spoken Persian. All Persian and Arabic words and names are rendered in accordance with the transliteration rules outlined here, except when cited in sources in European language. The full range of English vowels are used to express current Persian pronunciation of Arabic, Turkish, French and Persian words and names, though long and short ‘a’ are not differentiated. The following are some examples: Q as in Abol Qasem Gh as in Forughi O as in Mardomshenasi E as in Esfahan. For dates I have pursued the following format. For material originally published in Persian the bibliography provides both Muslim solar calendar years (Hejri Shamsi ) current in Iran and the equivalent years in Christian Era, respectively. In the body of the text and the notes, however, I provide the Christian Era dates, except for a few cases as noted. Finally, unless otherwise indicated, all translations from Persian are my own. 1 Iranian anthropology and ideology Introduction This book is a systematic empirical study of Iranian modern anthropology extracted from my PhD thesis called Anthropology and Political Discourses in the Twentieth Century Iran (SOAS, London University 2004). As a standard academic research project it had a certain research problem, a research subject, an objective and a theoretical and methodological framework. In this introductory chapter I introduce all these aspects. Furthermore, the theoretical and practical signifi- cances of this study for anthropology in general and contemporary Iranian studies will be explained. Also, at the end of this chapter, I shall introduce and