The Emergence Of Iranian Nationalism

Reza Zia-Ebrahimi revisits the Qajar-era intellectuals who founded modern Iranian nationalism, arguing that they advanced an ideology of "dislocative nationalism," in which pre-Islamic Iran is cast as a golden age, Islam is radicalized as an alien religion, and Arabs become implacable others. Tying Iran to Europe and the Aryan race, this ideology remains a politically potent form of identity.