Religion, Culture, and Politics in Iran

The Islamic revolution of 1979, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, propelled Iran to the position of the arch-nemesis of the United States in the region. As a result of hostile media coverage, there are many misconceptions that pervade our understanding of post-revolutionary Iranian society. In this course we will try to offer a more nuanced understanding by looking deeper into the history of Iran beginning from the era of the early Islamic conquests. A focus of the course will be examining the intersection of religion, culture, and politics in the early modern, modern, and finally, contemporary Iranian society.