This book provides a novel perspective on the relationship between institutions, the position of individual historians in relation to the state, and the contours of specific interpretations of the past in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Iran. It advances debates about Iranian nationalist historiography beyond a consideration of a few “great men” by discussing the complex sets of interactions among a wide cross section of Iranian society—scholars, schoolteachers, students, intellectuals, feminists, government, and poets—who were crucial in defining Iranian nationalism. In order to ... More

This book provides a novel perspective on the relationship between institutions, the position of individual historians in relation to the state, and the contours of specific interpretations of the past in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Iran. It advances debates about Iranian nationalist historiography beyond a consideration of a few “great men” by discussing the complex sets of interactions among a wide cross section of Iranian society—scholars, schoolteachers, students, intellectuals, feminists, government, and poets—who were crucial in defining Iranian nationalism. In order to show these interactions, the book draws on a rich array of primary sources including published histories, textbooks, newspaper and magazines, yearbooks, memoirs, school curricula, pedagogical manuals, and unpublished letters. Using critical social theories on the public sphere and institutions, it argues that the relative autonomy of historians, educational institutions, and voluntary associations had a direct bearing on the degree to which history upheld the status quo or became an instrument for radical change.