Navigating a Crisis Workshop: Iran

Levi Thompson

Goals

My goals are for YOU to leave this evening: Knowing a little about overall Iranian history Knowing a bit of the political context in Iran since the

1979 Revolution (The Islamic Revolution) Knowing the context (historical and political) surrounding

last summer's presidential elections in Iran With some tips about finding/using teaching resources

particular to Iran

Before We Begin

None of us are starting from scratch; what do you ALREADY know about Iran?

People, Places, Events, etc?

Let's make a list (here or on the blackboard)

Iran: A Brief History

Where do we encounter Iran from a Western perspective, for instance, in a Western Civ. course?

Alexander the Great and Darius III

Zoroastrianism

Early monotheism—relationship to Christianity, Judaism, Islam

A History of Empire

Achaemenids (650-330 BCE) Seleucids-Alexander's Empire (312-63 BCE) Parthians (248 BCE-224 CE) Sassanians (224-651 CE) Islamic Conquests → The Caliphate, Regional

Dynasties, Mongol Invasions, Timurids, Safavids, Qajars, Pahlavis, The Islamic Revolution

Religion in Iran

Currently, Iran is 98% Muslim Roughly 90% are Shi'i Muslims (8% Sunni) Religions minorities include Zoroastrians, Jews,

Christians, Bahais, and others

What's the difference between a Sunni and a Shi'i?

90% of Muslims are Sunni Simply, the difference is over leadership of the Muslim

community following the death of the Prophet Muḥammad (632 CE)

The 1979 Revolution

Internal turmoil and Western involvement throughout the early 20th century

The Shah and the Ayatollah

Starting Points for Teaching About the Revolution

The Internet is FULL of sources Here are a few examples:

“Crisis in Iran” Documentary Clip on YouTube 60 Minutes at the beginning of the Iranian Revolution Unnamed news clip showing '79 demonstrations Interview with Khomeini from “Crisis in Iran” and Anwar Sadat's

(President of Egypt's) response to the Ayatollah from “Crisis in Iran”

Other topics for getting student interest: Kermit Roosevelt, the United States' “James Bond” in

Iran Cold War context—US and Russia and Iranian Oil Oil in general—Iran has massive oil reserves

Post-Revolution Iran

1980-1988- Iran-Iraq War This is the true First Gulf War

Saddam and the Ayatollah Iran-Contra Affair (US involvement in the war)

Arms to Iran for hostages held by Hizbollah, proceeds for arms diverted to anti-Communist forces in Nicaragua

1989 Fatwa Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa (religious

opinion) calling for author Salman Rushdie's death over his book The Satanic Verses

The Khatami Presidency

Muhammad Khatami (b. 1943) was the reformist president of Iran from 1997-2005

His platform was a “Dialogue of Civilizations”; opposed the Samuel Huntington's “Clash of Civilizations” theory (1996)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Born 1956 Engineer, Party: Alliance of Builders of Islamic

Iran Elected mayor of Tehran in 2003 Won ~60% of the popular vote in 2005

presidential election Outspoken and often controversial for his views

on Israel, the US, Great Britain, and human rights

The Summer 2009 Elections (June 12)

Candidates Ahmadinejad and Mir-Hussein Mousavi receive 62% and 34% of the popular vote, respectively

Public outcry came against wide-spread accusations of voting irregularities

Video Commentary

– This link is one of a HUGE amount of material on this election available online. The elections were Tweeted, Facebooked, 24 hour news networked, commented, Wikied, Huffington Posted, and more!

– A little online digging goes a long way.

How Else Can We Talk About Iran in the Classroom?

I've given a (very) brief overview of religion/politics/history in Iran, what else is out there (and INTERESTING TO STUDENTS) about Iran?

Other historical personalities-empires, people, poets, story-tellers/stories

Iranian geography Particular contemporary news stories- nuclear

development in Iran, sanctions, Iran as a regional hegemon

Engaging Your Students

Read Iranian stories/poetry Rostam and Sohrab (Firdawsi's Shahnameh)

MIT’s Internet Classics Archive: The Shahnameh Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī

One of the most widely read poets in English translation Introducing students to mystical Islam (Sūfism) Blog post: The Song of the Reed by Rūmī

Kalila and Dimna- Animal Fables Originally Sanskrit, translated to Persian, Arabic, and now,

English! One example, an article from Saudi Aramco World

Talking About Iranian Geography

Iran is a large country with a diverse geography Rich local histories:

Tehran is a relatively new city, other population centers include Shiraz, Yazd, Tabriz, Mashhad, Qom, and the free trade zone resort island of Kish

There are deserts, plains, and mountain ranges—Iran is certainly not a geographical monolith

Challenge preconceptions! Here's a simple home-made video available online about Kish: RoozVideo

Contemporary News

Various national and online news covers Iran (sometimes in depth) I recommend using and comparing coverage from

places such as CNN, BBC, The New York Times, national US media networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX)

Iran gets a substantial amount of focus in our national news circuits these days!!

Last Nowruz (Persian New Year, 2009) Barack Obama sent this video message to the Iranian people

Iranian Film

Depending on your focus/available time, you might consider exploring Iranian film with your students

Worldwide Popularity and Well-Known Iranian Directors:

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Darius Mehrjui, Tahmineh Milani, many others...

They're on NETFLIX! Read reviews, see what you can use, see what relates to your course material. Iranian films address all types of contemporary issues: Gender, Religion, Family, Modernity, more!

Another internet example: Dariush Mehrjui discusses his film, The Cow

Local Resources

University of Pennsylvania Middle East Center http://www.sas.upenn.edu/mec/

University of Pennsylvania NELC Dept. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/nelc/

The Iranian Cultural Society of America http://www.shabahang.org/

National/International Resources

NYT Iran Page http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/

countriesandterritories/iran/index.html

BBC Iran Page http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/

790877.stm

CNN Iran Page http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/iran

My Contact Information

Levi Thompson thomas.levi.thompson@gmail.com