Three experts sketch a realistic image of the politics in Iran in the form of short lectures and answer questions from the audience. This lecture is part of the "Iran: Past and Present" program organized by the Persian Students Association at Stanford University.
Is Iran a mortal threat, a fanatical theocratic member of the 'axis of evil', or a post-Islamist society in search of security and finding a difficult path toward democracy? Iran's political history after the 1979 revolution has been confusing to many. This talk will attempt to shed some light on this period and discuss the complex development of Iran's political identity.
Kaveh Ehsnai is a Research Scholar at the University of Illinois Chicago, as well as being on the editorial board of Goftogu quarterly journal (Iran) and Middle East Report. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Human Geography at Johns Hopkins University. Ehsani has conducted research and published articles on urban politics, the reformist movement in Iran, and regional development in such journals as Middle East Report. In addition, he has been a consultant to such institutes as the Social Science Research Center and the UNDP
Abstract not available.
Abbas Milani is a research fellow and co-director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution. In addition, he is a visiting professor in the department of political science at Stanford University. His expertise is in Iranian cultural, political, and security issues. He was a professor of history and political science and chair of the department at Notre Dame de Namur University and a research fellow at the Institute of International Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Milani was an assistant professor in the faculty of law and political science at Tehran University and a member of the board of directors of Tehran University's Center for International Studies from 1977 to 1987. He was a research fellow at the Iranian Center for Social Research from 1977 to 1978 and an assistant professor at the National University of Iran from 1975 to 1977.
First, a general overview on the status and rights of religious minorities will be presented by emphasizing the perils of both secular ultranationalist homogenization and religious (Shii Islamist) segmentation in contemporary Iran. Then the present contradictory status of Iranian women will be discussed from a historical and comparative perspective. It will be argued that despite being treated as a minority, and despite the repressive and discriminatory policies and many legal and cultural constraints, women have made considerable social achievements presenting themselves as significant agents of change and democratization in Iran.
Nayereh Tohidi is an Associate Professor of Women's Studies at California State University, Northridge. She is also a Research Associate at the Center for Near Eastern Studies of UCLA. She earned her Ph.D. and MA degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and holds a BS degree (with Honor) in Sociology and Educational Psychology from Tehran University. She is the recipient of several grants and research awards including a year of Fulbright lectureship and research at the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan (1991-92); post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard University; the Hoover Institute of Stanford University; and the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Before joining CSUN, Tohidi taught at a number of universities, including Iowa, Minnesota, Harvard, USC and UCLA.