An Analysis of Hamid Dabashi's Iran (Paperback)

Bryan Gibson

ISBN 10: 1912128403 / ISBN 13: 9781912128402

Published by Macat International Limited, London, 2017

About this Item

Paperback. Hamid Dabashis 2007 Iran: A People Interrupted is simultaneously subtle, passionate, polarizing and polemical. A concise account of Iranian history from the early 19th-century onward, Dabashis book uses his incisive analytical skills as a basis for creating a persuasive argument against the views of Iran that predominate in the West. In Dabashis view, Western approaches to Iran have been colored time and time again by the assumption that it is somehow trapped between regressive tradition, and progressive modernity. The reality, he argues, is quite the opposite: Iran has its own distinctive ideology of modernity, which is nevertheless opposed to many Western ideals. In order to prove his point, Dabashi draws on a lifetimes experience of literary criticism to analyse the relationship between Irans intellectual and political elites over two centuries. His analysis provides the key evidence for his reasoning by teasing out the implicit assumptions that underly the texts and people he examines. Looking beneath the surface of the evidence, Dabashi finds time and time again the traces of a uniquely Iranian notion of modernity that is quite at odds with its Western counterpart. Hamid Dabashi suggests that the Iranian Revolution of 1978-9 would not have taken place had it not been for the influential ideas set out by eight Iranian Islamic thinkers in the decades before it occurred. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781912128402

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Analysis of Hamid Dabashi's Iran (Paperback)
• Publisher: Macat International Limited, London
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1912128403
• ISBN 13: 9781912128402
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Hamid Dabashi’s 2007 Iran: A People Interrupted is simultaneously subtle, passionate, polarizing and polemical. A concise account of Iranian history from the early 19th-century onward, Dabashi’s book uses his incisive analytical skills as a basis for creating a persuasive argument against the views of Iran that predominate in the West.

In Dabashi’s view, Western approaches to Iran have been colored time and time again by the assumption that it is somehow trapped between regressive ‘tradition,’ and progressive ‘modernity.’ The reality, he argues, is quite the opposite: Iran has its own distinctive ideology of modernity, which is nevertheless opposed to many Western ideals. In order to prove his point, Dabashi draws on a lifetime’s experience of literary criticism to analyse the relationship between Iran’s intellectual and political elites over two centuries.

His analysis provides the key evidence for his reasoning by teasing out the implicit assumptions that underly the texts and people he examines. Looking beneath the surface of the evidence, Dabashi finds – time and time again – the traces of a uniquely Iranian notion of modernity that is quite at odds with its Western counterpart.

About the Author

Dr. Bryan Gibson is a diplomatic historian, who completed his PhD thesis, entitled, 'U.S. Foreign Policy, Iraq, and the Cold War, 1958-75,' at the LSE's International History Department.