Foucault in Iran

Last updated

Foucault in Iran: Islamic Revolution After the Enlightenment
Foucault in Iran.jpg
Author Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi
TranslatorSara Zamani (into Persian)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesMuslim International [1]
Subject Michel Foucault's opinions on the Iranian revolution
Genre Political science, History
Publisher University of Minnesota Press
Pages272
ISBN 978-0-8166-9949-0
Website upress.umn.edu

Foucault in Iran: Islamic Revolution After the Enlightenment is a book by Iranian-born American historian, sociologist, and professor Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi as a groundbreaking reassessment of Michel Foucault's writings specially on the Iranian revolution. [2] [3]

Contents

Content

Michel Foucault, on the eve of the victory of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, traveled to Iran twice and in the eight reports he wrote for the Corriere della Sera newspaper, he showed deep sympathy with the revolutionary people of Iran and praised their Islamic revolution. Later, many French intellectuals reprimanded him for being deceived by the Iranian revolution. Foucault did not give an explicit answer to these criticisms, and it was even thought that he implicitly reversed his position in his previous writings about Iran. Little by little, these arguments were forgotten until after September 11 attacks, the previous disputes erupted again and new attacks began against Foucault and his association with the Iranian revolution. Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi rereads these debates in his acclaimed book Foucault in Iran and shows that not only Foucault did not give up his position, [4] but the experience of the Iranian revolution played an important role in his intellectual evolution. [5]

In the preface of the work, the author wrote about the reason for compiling the book: "While writing the book, many of my colleagues and critics asked: Why should what Foucault said about the Iranian revolution be important to us? Isn't he another one of those French la-di-da speaking intellectuals who have this colonial habit of prying into other nation's issues? I think these are valid questions. I have not considered this book as a commentary on Foucault's works, rather I found his articles on the Islamic revolution of Iranian to be a wonderful window through which one can look at the revolutionary events of Iran, outside of the discourse frameworks that explain the revolutions." [6] [7]

Reception

The book Foucault in Iran has been the subject of several reviews, [8] [9] [10] including review meeting on October 12, 2020, at the National Library of Iran. [11] Introductions have also been written on this work and the author has been interviewed. [12] [13] Ebrahim Towfigh (Iranian author and sociologist) [14] said at the review meeting of the book Foucault in Iran: "The book shows that Foucault studied Islam after being involved in the Iranian revolution, and he got an image of Islam influenced by reading the works of Massignon and Corbin, and in a sense especially the works of Shariati, it means a mystical reading of Islam." [15] So far, many reviews have been written by the Iranian media on the book Foucault in Iran. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Front of Prudence and Development</span> Political party

Front of Prudence and Development of Islamic Iran is the alliance of five Iranian minor political groups that issued electoral list for the 2016 legislative elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behrouz Servatian</span>

Behrouz Servatian (1937–2012), was an Iranian literary scholar, professor, and authority on the great Iranian lyric poet, Nizami Ganjavi.

Mohammad Doroudian is an Iranian writer, historian, researcher and theorist.

Abdolmohammad Ayati was an Iranian author, translator and researcher in the field of philosophy, history and Persian and Arabic literature. He was born on 5 May 1926 in Borujerd, Borujerd County, Lorestan Province, Iran and died on 11 September 2013 in Tehran, Iran. He was selected at the second Iran's Book of the Year Awards for Arabic to Persian translation of the book History of Arabic Language Literature.

Mohammad Ali Ibn Mohammad Taher Ibn Nader Ibn Mohammad Taher Tabrizi or Mohammad Ali Modarres Khiabani or Mohammad Ali Modarres Tabrizi was an Iranian author, mojtahed and scholar. He was born in 1878 in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran and died on 5 April 1954 in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran and buried in Sheikhan cemetery, Qom, Iran.

The Comprehensive History of Iran is a twenty-volume book series about various aspects of Iran's political, social and cultural history from pre-Islamic times to the extinction of the Qajar dynasty. The research, compilation and writing of this multi-volume book has lasted for 14 years. The first five volumes of this series narrate the period of ancient Iran and the other 15 volumes narrate the history of Iran in the Islamic period, political, social, cultural, scientific, literary and artistic history. One hundred and seventy foreign and domestic authors have been used to write this multi-volume book.

Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi is an Iranian-born American historian, sociologist, and professor. He is known for his works on the Iranian revolution and its aftermath. Ghamari-Tabrizi serves as the Professor of Near Eastern Studies, and as the Director of the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University.

Alireza Feyz was an Iranian author, researcher of Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic philosophy, professor at the University of Tehran and jurist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fathollah Mojtabaei</span> Iranian author and historian

Fathollah Mojtabaei is an Iranian author and historian. He is a permanent member of Academy of Persian Language and Literature and a member of the faculty of the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia.

History of Islamic Iran is a four-volume book collection written by Rasul Jafarian in Persian language. In this collection, Jafarian writes the history of Iran from the advent of Islam to the decline of the Safavid Empire. This book has been introduced as one of the master's degree resources in the field of history and Persian literature in Iran.

The intellectual and political life of Shia Imams is the name of a book by Rasul Jafarian that has been written with the aim of investigating the political and intellectual aspects of the life of the Shiite twelve Imams. The content of this book was first published as a series of articles in Noor-e Elm magazine and then became an independent book. The book has also been translated into Arabic and Urdu. In 2011, the book was published again with many corrections. Excerpt and summary of this book in 400 pages has been selected by the Research deputy of Islamic Maaref University as a textbook in universities of Iran for history of Imamate course.

The Religio-political currents and organizations in Iran is a Persian book by the Iranian author, Rasul Jafarian. The book describes the cultural and political events of Iran from the time of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the victory of the Islamic Revolution. More than 65 explanatory and critical notes have been written on this book. In the third edition of this book Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, wrote a note on the book's chapter that had written about Ali Shariati. The book has been reprinted over twenty times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morteza Motahhari bibliography</span>

This is a bibliography of the works of Morteza Motahhari.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poopak NikTalab</span> Iranian author and literary researcher

Poopak Niktalab is an Iranian education theorist, author, and literary researcher, especially of children's literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The policy of exporting the Islamic Revolution</span> One of the foreign policy strategies in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The policy of exporting the Islamic Revolution is a strategy in Iran's foreign policy that believes in exporting the teachings of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 to achieve similar examples in Islamic and even non-Islamic countries. This policy has been explicitly and at various times announced by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. One of the basic slogans of the Islamic Revolution of Iran is the export of the revolution. Accordingly, the purpose is exporting the revolution as a culture, ideology and an intellectual and epistemological method.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmoud Mar'ashi Najafi</span> Iranian librarian and manuscript scholar

Mahmoud Mar'ashi Najafi or Seyyed Mahmoud Mar'ashi Najafi is an Iranian librarian, Bibliographer and manuscript expert. He is the director of Mar'ashi Najafi Library, which he says is one of the largest libraries in Iran and the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zahabiya</span> Iranian Sufi mystic order in Shia Islam

Zahabiya Sufism is a Shiite order. The history of dervishes from this order dates to the third century AH and Ma'ruf al-Karkhi. Some believe that the order originated during the ninth century AH in Iran; it first became popular in Khorasan and then in Shiraz during the early Safavid period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States cultural diplomacy in Iran</span> U.S. soft power confrontation with Iran

The United States Cultural Diplomacy in Iran refers to the use of soft power of cultural diplomacy by the US government towards Iran in order to achieve its own interests.

<i>Iran Between Two Revolutions</i> A book about the analysis of social and political events in Iran

Iran Between Two Revolutions is a book by Ervand Abrahamian that was published in 1982 by Princeton University Press in New Jersey, United States. This book has been translated into Persian and published many times in Iran. The book has eleven chapters.

<i>Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present</i> A book in a comprehensive overview of the Islamic philosophical tradition

Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy is a book by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, including a comprehensive overview of Islamic philosophy from the 9th century to the present day.

References

  1. "Muslim International — University of Minnesota Press" . Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  2. "ویدئو نشست نقد و بررسی کتاب «فوکو در ایران»" [Video of the review meeting of the book "Foucault in Iran"]. YouTube (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  3. "گزارش نشست نقد فوکو و ایران – مجله عصر فرهنگ" [Report of the Foucault and Iran criticism meeting – Asr Farhang magazine] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  4. "مروری بر کتاب فوکو در ایران؛ آیا فوکو از موضع خود در قبال انقلاب اسلامی ایران دست کشید؟ – دین آنلاین" [A review of the book "Foucault in Iran"; Did Foucault give up his stance on Iran's Islamic Revolution? – Din online] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  5. "کتاب فوکو در ایران اثر بهروز قمری تبریزی – ایران کتاب" [The book Foucault in Iran by Behrouz Qamari Tabrizi – Iran Ketab] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  6. "فوکو تا آخر عمرش مدافع انقلاب اسلامی ماند – خبرگزاری مهر" [Foucault remained a defender of the Islamic Revolution until the end of his life – Mehr News Agency] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  7. "فوکو تا آخر عمر مدافع انقلاب اسلامی باقی ماند؟ – خبرآنلاین" [Did Foucault remain a defender of the Islamic Revolution until the end of his life? – Khabar Online] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  8. "Review: Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Foucault in Iran: Islamic Revolution after the Enlightenment – Elaheh Mohammadi, 2018". doi:10.1177/0268580918757117a. S2CID   149349266 . Retrieved August 4, 2022.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. "Jadaliyya – Revisiting 'Foucault in Iran': A Response" . Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  10. "Foucault in Iran: Against History, Writing a History of the Present" (PDF). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  11. "«فوکو در ایران» با حضور افشین جهاندیده نقد می‌شود – خبرگزاری مهر" ["Foucault in Iran" is criticized with the presence of Afshin Jahandideh – Mehr news agency] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  12. "روزنامه اعتماد: فوكو از موضع خود برنگشت" [Etamed newspaper: Foucault did not back down from his position] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  13. "فوكو و انقلاب اسلامی در گفتگو با بهروز قمری تبریزی – مرکز دائرةالمعارف بزرگ اسلامی" [Foucault and the Islamic Revolution in a conversation with Behrouz Qamari Tabrizi – Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  14. "ابراهیم توفیق نویسنده – ایران کتاب" [Ebrahim Towfigh, the author – Iran Ketab] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  15. "ملغا کردن تاریخ – روزنامه اعتماد" [Abolition of history – Etemad newspaper] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  16. "فیلسوفی که سر موضع ماند – وینش" [The philosopher who stayed on the position – Vinesh] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  17. "ملغا كردن تاريخ – میدان" [Abolition of history – Meidaan] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  18. "کتاب «فوکو در ایران» نقد می‌شود – پژوهشگاه فرهنگ هنر و ارتباطات" [The book "Foucault in Iran" is criticized – Research Center for Culture, Art and Communication] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  19. "ایران انقلابی عصیان لحظه‌ها: اجمالی در معرفی کتاب «فوکو در ایران» – مجله کتاب فردا" [Revolutionary Iran, the rebellion of moments: Glimpses in the introduction of the book "Foucault in Iran" – Ketab Farda magazine] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  20. "کتاب «فوکو در ایران» نقد شد – مرکز دائرةالمعارف بزرگ اسلامی" [The book "Foucault in Iran" was criticized – The Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia] (in Persian). Retrieved August 4, 2022.