“Seeing Like a State”: An Essay on the Historiography of Modern Iran

Abstract

This essay is an attempt to reflect on the past and on possible futures of the historiography of Pahlavi Iran. At its root stands the observation that with the rise of the autocratic Pahlavi dynasty, the state began to cast a long shadow over the way journalists, intellectuals, and scholars saw modern Iran. Key actors—Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1921–41) and his bureaucratic elite, and Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941–79) and his technocratic elite—produced an image of the state as a unit completely detached from society and omnipotent enough to be the ultimate reference point for all developments be they social, cultural, or economic.

The Modern Woman Vis-À-Vis The Modern House: The Hallmarks Of Modern Nationhood Through The 1920s-1940s Iran

“…This program has been widely studied by scholars such as Yılmaz (2013), Zubaida (2011) and Schayegh (2010), who have tried to clarify the fundamental changes applied by the state with the aim of improving civic life and modernizing the country. Mentioned changes included the modification of civil administration, the judiciary, the national economy, the educational system, the army, public health, and also transitions in religious atmosphere and intellectual climate (Banani, 1961).…”