...understand social change, it is crucial to examine the central structures and organizations within a given society. Through examining family structure, the state, and religion, geared with a specific focus on gender, a basic set of followed societal governing rules and values become apparent. Each of these societal structures are interrelated, working together to permit as well as restrict the agency of women in revolutionary Iranian society. For the development of successful social change to take place, it must arise through gender conflict, class conflict, and political action. Each social structure such as, family structure, state relations, and religion, is located within the larger context of a national structure, meaning the examples previously mentioned are subject to larger regional and global influences and changes. Due to this reasoning, it is important to examine evolving economic development and political change to understand women’s status within Iranian revolutionary societies and furthermore, their changing roles within the traditional family structure, Islam, education, and the work force. Through an analysis of class location, policy restructuring, and changing gender roles, the progressive development of women’s mobility and female status within the public sphere will arise. As a result of the revolution,women’s transition and integration into the public sphere, gender relations and norms that had been legitimized through societal rules and legal laws became threatened...
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...The Iranian Revolution and its contribution to Islamic Political Revival Sisy M. Orobitg INR3274: International Relations of the Middle East Professor Alla Mirzoyan December 8, 2008 The Iranian Revolution and its contribution to Islamic Political Revival The Pahlavi Dynasty was for many Iranians a constitutional monarchy turned corrupt that plagued them with economic frustrations, rising unemployment and an overwhelming feeling of anxiety that began during 1975s oil crisis. Lack of government accountability and increasing political unrest among the middle class exacerbated the crisis and allowed the religious clergy to take advantage. Thus, this disillusionment with the governing monarchy paved the way to a revolution that has proven to be unprecedented. The advent of a new Islamic revival proved successful upon the birth of the Iranian Revolution and with the overwhelming consent of its people came the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as its ruler. With a new political mind-frame, came an authoritarian regime, which volubly conceded to no one, and consolidated itself through each governing tenet. The resilience of this regime brought about terror.( Mehran Kamrava; A Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War (2005)) The author of this new political revival which has impregnated into other areas of the Arab World is The Iranian Republic. All Western world influences that attempted...
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...Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the shah of Iran for about from 1941 to his overthrown by the Iranian revolution on February 11, 1979. He took the title of the shah from his father who was the last shaw. Iran was a poor and uncivilized country and when Russia wanted to move forward the completely control of the country the Unites States helped to gave him back the throne and power of his country. Pahlavi wanted to Westernize his country and transformed his country in a modern Iran. The shaw had suffered a lot of criticism because many believed that the Westernization did not follow the Islam religion. Also the lower class were discontented by the unfair conditions of how the corrupted government was working toward them. Another aspect that...
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...state of society. The term "secularism" was first used by the British writer Holyoake in 1851 to describe his views of promoting a social order separate from religion. The English word ‘secular’ comes from the Latin ‘saeculum’, which means ‘an age’ or ‘the spirit of an age’ and has the same meaning as the Greek ‘aeon’. In general terms, secularism means “belonging to this age, or worldly” along with a denial of other worldly realities (i.e. religious). The Bible introduces the idea of divine creation in the book of Genesis. God speaks directly to Man in Genesis: “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it”. As Peter Berger, a social theorist notes that in this the idea of a secular world is sown as a God who stands outside of the Cosmos which is his creation. This opens the way for self making activity which Berger calls ‘historization’. Caesar was the emperor of Rome. In a famous passage Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's". Some have thought that Jesus' statement established two separate realms, Caesar's and God's, and that people should render to each what they ask for in their respective realms. Later, during the rule of Roman Emperor Constantine 1 the two worlds were sought to be brought together. Christianity became a dominant religion of the Roman...
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...the Revolution” by Dan Shadur recounts the lives of multiple Israelis who worked at the Israeli embassy in Iran before the 1979 revolution. Before the Revolution, the movie states, Israel and Iran had good ties, a sort of “enemy of my enemy is my friend” attitude. In this essay I will compare the experiences of Israelis who immigrated to Iran with the experiences of Jews native to Iran. I will show that while there was a tremendous Iranian Jewish population, the influx of Israelis who immigrated to Iran mostly in search of economic and intelligence work furthered current resentment in the native populations. In Iran at the time of the Shah there was a large minority Jewish population who were proud to call themselves...
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...Persepolis Essay Pesepolis is an autobiographical graphic novel depicting the life of Marjane Satrapi during the Iranian Revolution. In the early pages, Marjane illustrates that she saw herself as a prophet. She wanted to change the world, and with the help of God, she thought that she could. During Satrapi’s early childhood, the traditions and history of Iran had been going through drastic changes. The Iranian Revolution was when Iran’s monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the revolution. ii Persepolis is framed during 1979 and after the Iranian Revolution. The Shah of Persia was overthrown and eventually replaced by an Islamist government during this time. Satrapi narrates her experience of the Revolution, which includes bombings, violent deaths of family and friends, and inequality. Women of Iran had many restrictions, and the leaders of Iran had disrespected them in many ways and belittled them as citizens. I The Islam religion forces women to wear veils for many reasons. Satrapi shows us how men saw themselves superior to woman and how most women did not enjoy the attitudes of men and also following certain obligations like wearing the veil. Following the Revolution, intense social changes took place in what had previously been a liberal country, became a religious republic. Her family lived through many events. She discusses how her mother told her that the regime burned...
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...genders is especially evident in populations of the Middle Eastern nations. These countries are dominated by the religion of Islam, which has been widely interpreted by many of its devout followers with a distinct discrimination against women as the inferior gender. In the twentieth century, Middle Eastern countries, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, began experiencing a substantial amount of influence from European and other Western cultures. Subsequently, the female populace was possessed with a wave of feminist ideals and a movement for equality that became apparent throughout the political...
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...The very notion that Khomeini was at times connected to the Mahdi is representative of how influential and powerful he quickly became following his persuasive speech on Ashura in 1963. Indeed, he used this symbolic day as an opportunity to appeal to the emotions of Iranians through Karbala references: “If the Bani Umayyad and the regime of Yazid ibn Mu’awiya were at war with Husayn, then why did they commit such savage and inhuman crimes against defenseless women and innocent children on the day of Ashura? What were the women and infants guilt of?” By reminding Iranians of their own struggles under the Shah through deeply symbolic language, especially during the month of Muharram, Khomeini strategically connected with the people on a personal level. He was not a distant ruler like the Shah or foreign governments; he was...
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...In the direct aftermath of the 1979 revolution, that sought to dethrone the Shah, the political climate that was left by the Pahlavi regime was chaotic and disorganised. Prior to the American hostage crisis, it was not clear to what extent the formation of a clerical and purely Shi’a Islamic regime could take place. Arguably, the hostage crisis played an important role in the consolidation of the clerical regime: it allowed for one single cause to rally behind; shaped and characterised the religious and clerical nature of the regime; and provided a means of catalysing subsequent events that would be crucial in the development of the Islamic Republic. The consolidation of the clerical regime can be attributed to three national catastrophes...
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...Aryan civilizations East Asia (China) * Explain the role of climate and geography on the emergence of civilization in East Asia * Identify and describe the key features of Shang and Zhou civilization The Americas * Explain the role of climate and geography in the development of civilization in the Americas * Focus on the Olmecs in Mesoamerica and Chavin de Huantar in the Andes Comparing the Four Great Revolutions * Identify and understand the main points of comparison and contrast between Chinese, Indian, Near Eastern, and Mediterranean philosophy and religion Philosophy in China * Identify and understand the key features and messages of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism and recognize their shared origins and heritage Religion in India * Identify and understand the key features and messages of the Vedic texts, the Upanishadic sages, the Brahmanic tradition, and the Buddhist worldview, and recognize their shared origins and heritage The Religion of the Israelites * Explain the significance of the monotheistic revolution in world history...
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...The Iranian Revolution “In Iran's future Islamic system everyone can express their opinion, and the Islamic government will respond to logic with logic.” (Khomeini) Furthermore, Ruhollah Khomeini was the islamic fundamentalists that was the leader of the Iranian Revolution. However, the revolution did not just come out of the blue, but it had a lot of factors that led up to it. Life before the revolution highly differed from life in the midst of the revolution. Moreover, the Iranian Revolution began in 1978 and ended in 1979. The country fell into chaos and many were forced to flee and migrate to other countries. In particular, my father and his family had to flee Iran at the onset of the revolution. Life in Iran before the revolution was...
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...Europe’s relationship with Iran for much of the century leading up to 1950.”[2] In understanding Iran’s flux of identities throughout the 20th century, several notions must be clarified. Firstly, Iran is not an Arab nation nor have they adopted Arabic language or culture. Secondly, the Shi’a minority in Iran, and their lingering divergence in beliefs compared to that of the Sunnis and the West has always been an issue with respect to their distinctiveness as a nation. That being said, Iran’s inability to sustain a lasting individuality is directly related to the differing identities proposed by Iranian leaders throughout the 20th century. In the following article, I will distinguish between the secularization and modernization proposed by Reza Shah Pahlavi; the period of ambiguity in political identity and subsequent authoritarianism adopted by his son; and the role of the Islamic revolution in revitalizing religious unity. Iran was fortunate enough to...
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...Marjane Satrapi, the story follows the life of a young girl growing up in Iran during the Iranian Revelation, and later during the Iran-Iraq war. Throughout the story Satrapi focuses on the major cultural difference between her and her family and the other people, and how it changes as the story progresses, with different forms of government controlling Iran. "Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iraqi leadership sought to exploit Iran's military and political chaos in order to resolve border disputes, gain control of Iran's oil-rich western province, and achieve hegemony in the Persian Gulf" (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia) Since many of the Iranian air force pilots where in jail for being members of the revelation the Iraq air force was able to attack Iran with little resistance. This was mentioned in Persepolis when Marjane and her parents are talking and they hear the national anthem of Iran, and the news caster announces that the Iranian pilots have been released and have attacked Iraq. During the war Iran stores had a lack of quantity and people where fighting over the things that the stores had. Like in the scene in Persepolis when Marjane and her mother went shopping and they witnessed two woman fighting over something. Marjane's mother tried to separate them, but they turned on her, so Marjane suggested they leave. Iraq continued to bomb cities in Iran kill many Iranian civilians, and people didn't know if their family and friends were killed in any of the bombings...
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...1979 Iranian Revolution Revolution is the culmination of popular discontent brewing for a certain amount of time. People may grow dissatisfied with sharp social contrasts, inequality, segregation, discrimination, and other blatant violations of their rights. Even conservative authoritarian Arabic societies like that of Iran can experience the rise of general discontent and indignation. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 is the revolt rationalized by a wide range of motives from corruption to excessive westernization adopted by Shah Mohammad Pahlavi. The unpreparedness of the ruling elite and its foreign patrons along with repressions sealed the fate of the Iranian leader signifying the historic shift of power and foreign vector. The point is that the Iranian Revolution of 1979 was the product of Shah Pahlavi’s repressive regime largely facilitated by regime’s weakness and unpreparedness, which culminated in crucial achievement and the establishment of a theocratic regime ruled by Ayatollah Khomeini over the following decade. Popular Sentiments, Ideological Groups, the Unique Nature of the Iranian Revolution, Rationales behind the Revolt, the Factors of Success Philosophy Doctor Homa Katouzian (n.d.) noted that the revolution of 1979 was the rebellion of the Iranian society against the political regime reigning supreme at the time of the event. Based on its underlying features, what happened in the country in the late 1970s did not match the norms of Western revolutions for...
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...Persepolis is a memoir written by Marjane Satrapi. Marjane writes a story that describes her life in Iran during the Islamic revolution. Persepolis represents a unique life of a child in Tehran, Iran and the actions she took in order to survive the political upheaval her country was facing. Iran having the Islamic Revolution in 1979 was the end of the old and start of the new. Many changes that took place in Iran during this time period such as mandatory laws stating that women wear veils and how all games, alcohol, and parties were banned. Life in Iran had dramatically changed in just a few years during this time period. The Islamic Revolution and the war that followed the revolution are important in history because they show the causes and effects of war and how it can destroy a country and provoke tyranny and injustice. During the time of revolution there is the loss of government, creating a hostile environment in a society. The events described in Persepolis also inform others of the chaos Iran has gone through to get to its current state. In January 1979, the Shah left Iran; he died abroad several years after. On February 1, 1979, exiled religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from France to lead a revolution resulting in a new, theocratic republic guided by Islamic principles. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini back in Iran after 15 years in exile in Turkey, Iraq, and France, became Iran's national religious leader. After Khomeini's death on June 3, 1989,...
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