Iranian Revolution

BCE

550-330Persian Empire
312-140Persia largely incorporated into Greek Empire

CE

140 BCE-224 CEPersian Empire

225-651Persian Empire; majority Zoroastrian religion
636Arab invasion, introduction of Islamic rule
1200sIslamic Caliphate in decline
1501Shia Islam declared official religion

1914-1918
1920s
1930s-1950s

1960s

Neutral in WWI
Rise of Reza Khan from prime minister to monarch
Persia renamed Iran
Clashes between government and religious citizens because of Shahs ban on
public hijab; police physically ripped chadors from the heads of women
protesting in favor of modest dress
Shah pro-Axis during WWII, deposed in favor of his son
Mossadeq takes control
1951 nationalization of oil industry limits British power in the region (partly
leveraged through the British-Iranian oil company)
Britain responds with an embargo and a blockade
Mossadeq overthrown through British and American design
Rezas son installed as Shah

1978
1979

1980s-1990s

Shahs regime increasingly brutal and decadent

Shah denounced by both liberals and conservatives
Shahs White Revolution, a program of modernization in 1963, which
includes Westernizing social climate and increased capitalism
Khomeini speaks out against White Revolution, is imprisoned; upon release,
he denounces the Shahs capitulation to Western interests; is exiled

Massive demonstrations against the Shah

Shah exiled
Iran hostage crisis52 Americans held by Islamic militants who demanded
the Shah be returned to Iran to face trial
Iran proclaimed an Islamic Republic

Iran-Iraq War
Iran-Contra scandal
Ayatollah Khomeini issues fatwa against Salman Rushdie
Several earthquakes kill tens of thousands
U.S. trade sanctions
Pro-democracy protests

Iranian Revolution
Symbols
and Motifs

Veil (hijab, niqab, chador, etc.)

Facial hair
Interior of homes
Religious iconography
Black and white
Women

Concerns

City v. Village/rural
Westernized/Secular versus Fundamentalist
Identity and national borders
Socioeconomic class
Western education

Themes

Theoretical
Dimensions

Western education v. Religion

How can they coexist when they are often contradictory?
Value of tradition versus value of progress
Gender and Sex
How differences between men and women are constructed in religious versus
secular arenas
Naturalization of character as determined by biology
National Borders
Who owns the land and the resources?
How is a nation formed?
The use of media
Rhetorical framing of the Middle East
What images are shown versus repressed
Illusion of access
Western media coverage as constructing a negative image of Middle Eastern
peoples
History of conquest
The right of people to self-determination
Globalization and its discontents
a stabilized and centralized viewpoint on globalization as the drama of the
Western subject and its sufferings (Mirzoeff)
The winners and losers in the global economy
Social class
Rigid hierarchy
Fluidity of class
Marxism

Benedict Andersonnations as imagined communities

SpivakCan the Subaltern Speak?
SaidOrientalism
Marxrise of the working class, religion as the opiate of the masses
Lenin

Iranian Revolution