Course Syllabus

Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Spring 2012

Graduate Seminar:
Islamic Revolution of Iran

Instructor: Kamran Scot Aghaie

Course Numbers: MES 381, HIS 388K, and R S 383
Unique Numbers: 41795, 39733, & 43830
Class Time: Wed. 12:00-3:00 PM
Class Location: PAR 210
Office Hours: M& F 12:00-1:30 PM
Office Location: WMB 6.102
Email: kamranaghaie@austin.utexas.edu

Description:
This course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the Islamic
Revolution that took place in Iran in 1978-79. Students will learn the many theories
regarding how and why this revolution (and revolutions in general) happened, what
factors contributed to its development, and how Iranian society, culture, politics, and
religious beliefs and practices were affected by the revolution, in the following decades.
In addition to weekly reading assignments, students will discuss these texts and present
their research in class. In addition to class participation, students will write a graduate
level research paper, as well as a detailed proposal for this paper. This paper must be
based on research using primary sources or some similarly appropriate primary evidence.

Requirements:
Weekly reading assignments, substantial classroom presentations and discussion, and a graduate
level research paper. By week ten, students will also submit a detailed proposal (5-15 pages)
outlining their research project.

Prerequisite:
Graduate student standing.

Texts:
Course packet (Available for purchase at Speedway Copies in Dobie Mall)
Nikki Keddie Roots and Results of Revolution
Jason Brownlee Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization

Grading:
Class participation 25%
Analytical paper on one week’s readings 10%
Short paper (due in week nine) 25%
Research paper (due on last class day) 40%
 Course Syllabus

Short List of Weekly Topics

Week 1 (Jan. 18) Introduction to the Course

Week 2 (Jan. 25) Nikki Keddie’s Roots & Results of Revolution

Week 3 (Feb. 1) Jason Brownlee’s Authoritarianism in an Age of

Democratization

Week 4 (Feb.8) Theoretical Perspectives on the Iranian Revolution

Week 5 (Feb. 15) Theoretical Perspectives on the Iranian Revolution (Cont.)

Week 6 (Feb. 22) Comparative Perspectives and International Dimensions

Week 7 (Feb. 29) Comparative Perspectives & International Dimensions (Cont.)

Week 8 (March 7) Khomeinism: Shi‘i Symbolism and Revolutionary Mobilization

Spring Break (March 14)

Week 9 (March 21) Aspects of Social & Cultural Transformation after the Rev.
Proposal is due at the beginning of class

Week 10 (March 28) Historiography

Week 11 (April 4) Economic Issues and Policies

Week 12 (April 11) The Study Women and Gender

Week 13 (April 18) Factional Politics in the Islamic Republic

Week 14 (April 25) Intellectuals and Reformists of the Islamic Republic

Week 15 (May 2) Recent Political and Intellectual Trends

Final paper is due at the beginning of class
 Course Syllabus

Detailed List of Reading Assignments

Week 1 Introduction to the Course (No Readings)

Week 2 Nikki Keddie’s Roots & Results of Revolution

Week 3 Jason Brownlee’s Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization

Week 4. Theoretical Perspectives on the Iranian Revolution

Shaul Bakhash “Iran” [Scholarship about the Islamic Revolution] in The American
Historical Review, 96: 5 (1991).
Jack Goldstone “Revolutions in history and the History of Revolutions” (Prepared for
special issue of Revue Francaise de sociologie).
Theda Skocpol “Rentier State and Shi‘ah Islam in the Iranian Revolution” in Theory
and Society, 11:3 (May 1982).
Nikki Keddie “Comments on Skocpol” in Theory and Society, Vol. 11, NO. 3 (1982).
Nikki Keddie “Why Has Iran Been Revolutionary?” (Parts I and II), in Iran and the
Muslim World; Resistance and Revolution, ed. Nikki Keddie.
Mansoor Moaddel “Ideology and Episodic Discourse: The Case of the Iranian
Revolution” in American Sociological Review, Vo. 57, No. 3 (1992).

Week 5. Theoretical Perspectives on the Iranian Revolution (Continued)

Matthew Soberg Shugart “Patterns of Revolution”
John Foran “Introduction: On the Study of Social Movements in Iran” in A Century of
Revolution: Social Movements in Iran. Ed. John Foran (Minneapolis:
Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1994).
Misagh Parsa “Theories of Collective Action and the Iranian Revolution” in
Sociological Forum, 3:1 (1988).
John Foran “The Iranian Revolution of 1977-79: A Challenge for Social Theory” in A
Century of Revolution: Social Movements in Iran. Ed. John Foran.
Charles Kurzman “Structural Opportunity and Perceived Opportunity in Social-
Movement Theory: The Iranian Revolution of 1979” in American
Sociological Review, 61:1 (1996)
Mansoor Moaddel “Introduction” in Class, Politics & Ideology in the Iranian Rev.
Gene Burns “Ideology, Culture, and Ambiguity: The Revolutionary Process in Iran”
in Theory and Society, Vol. 25, Issue 3 (1996).
 Course Syllabus

Week 6. Comparative Perspectives and International Dimensions

Nikki Keddie “The Revolt of Islam, 1700 to 1993: Comparative Considerations and
Relations to Imperialism” in Comparative Studies in Society and History,
Vol 36, NO. 3, (1994).
Theda Skocpol “State and Revolution: Old Regimes and Revolutionary Crises in
France, Russia, and China” in Theory and Society, Vol. 7, No. 1/2, Special
Double Issue on State and Revolution (1979).
Nikki Keddie “Iranian Revolutions in Comparative Perspective” in The American
Historical Review, 88:3 (1983).
Edmund Burke III and Paul Lubeck “Explaining Social Movements in Two Oil-
Exporting State: Divergent Outcomes in Nigeria and Iran” in Comparative
Studies in Society and History75, 29:4 (1987).
Michael Tien-Lung Liu “States and Urban Revolutions: Explaining the Revolutionary
Outcomes in Iran and Poland” in Theory and Society, 17:2 (1988)
John Foran “A Theory of Third World Social Revolutions: Iran, Nicaragua and El
Salvador Compared”
John Foran “A Century of Revolution: Comparative, Historical, and Theoretical
Perspectives on Social Movements in Iran” in A Century of Revolution:
Social Movements in Iran. Ed. John Foran.

Week 7. Comparative Perspectives and International Dimensions (Cont.)

Said Amir Arjomand “Iran’s Islamic Revolution in Comparative Perspective” in
World Politics, Vol. 38, Issue 3 (1986, 4), 383-414.
Asef Bayat and Bahman Bakhtiari “Revolutionary Iran and Egypt: Exporting
Inspirations and Anxieties” in Iran and the Surrounding World, ed. Nikki
R. Keddie and Rudi Matthee.
Vali Nasr “The Iranian Revolution and Changes in Islamism in Pakistan, India, and
Afghanistan” in Iran and the Surrounding World, ed. Nikki R. Keddie and
Rudi Matthee.
Emmanuel Sivan “Sunni Radicalism in the Middle East and the Iranian Revolution”
in International Journal of Middle East Studies, 21:1 (1989).
Gary Sick “Iran’s Foreign Policy: A Revolution in Transition” in Iran and the
Surrounding World, ed. Nikki R. Keddie and Rudi Matthee.
Odd Arne Westad “Rethinking Revolutions: The Cold War in the Third World”
Nikki Keddie “Reflections on the Iranian Revolution and its Influence in the Muslim
World” in Iran and the Muslim World: Resistance and Revolution.
(London: Macmillan, 1995).
Valaentine Moghadam “Gender and Revolutionary Transformation: Iran 1979 and
East Central Europe 1989” Gender and Society, Vol. 9, No. 3 (1995).
 Course Syllabus

Week 8. Khomeinism: Shi‘i Symbolism and Revolutionary Mobilization

Mansur Moaddel “The Rise of Revolutionary Islam” in Class, Politics, and Ideology
in the Iranian Revolution.
Kamran Scot Aghaie “The Karbala Narrative in Shi‘i Political Discourse in Modern
Iran in the 1960's-1970's.” in The Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies 12:2
(2001).
Hamid Dabashi “Ayatollah Khomeini: The Theologian of Discontent” in Hamid
Dabashi, Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundation of the
Islamic Revolution of Iran (New York: New York University Press, 1993).
Ervand Abrahamian “Introduction” in Ervand Ebrahamian. Khomeinism: Essays on
the Islamic Republic.
Ervand Abrahamian “Fundamentalism or Populism?” in Ervand Ebrahamian.
Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic.
Haggay Ram “The Political Significance of the Khutbah in Revolutionary Iran” in
Myth and Mobilization in Revolutionary Iran.
Valentine M. Moghadam “Islamic Populism, Class, and Gender in Postrevolutionary
Iran” in A Century of Revolution: Social Movements in Iran (Minnesota,
University of Minnesota Press, 1994).

Week 9. Aspects of Social & Cultural Transformation after the Islamic Revolution
Fariba Adelkhah “Looking out for Number One: A Competitive Society” in Being
Modern in Iran.
Houchang Chehabi “A Political History of Football in Iran” (Iranian Studies 35:4).
Philippe Rochard “The Identities of the Iranian Zurkhanah” (Iranian Studies 35:4).
Mansoor Moaddel “Class Struggle in Post-Revolutionary Iran” (IJMES 23:3)
Sussan Siavoshi “Cultural Policies and the Islamic Republic: Cinema and Book
Publication” (IJMES 29:4)
Hossein Shahidi “From Mission to Profession: Journalism in Iran, 1979-2004”
(Iranian Studies 39:1).
Farhad Khosrokhavar and M. Amin Ghaneirad “Iran’s New Scientific Community”
(Iranian Studies 39:2).
Said Amir Arjomand “Chapter 6: Social and Political Consequences of the Integrative
Revolution” and “Appendix: Two Models of Revolution” in After
Khomeini: Iran Under His Successors
 Course Syllabus

Week 10. Historiography and the Islamic Revolution

Abbas Amanat “The Study of History in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Nostalgia, Illusion,
or Historical Awareness” in Iranian Studies 22:4.
Charles Kurzman “Historiography of The Iranian Revolutionary Movement, 1977-
79” in Iranian Studies 28: 1-2.
Golnar Mehran “The Presentations of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in Postrevolutionary
Iranian School Textbooks” in Iran and the Surrounding World, ed. Nikki
R. Keddie and Rudi Matthee.
Kamran Scot Aghaie “Islamist Historiography in Post-Revolutionary Iran” in
Historiography and Political Culture in Twentieth Century Iran, Ed.
Touraj Atabaki
Haggay Ram “The Immemorial Iranian Nation? School textbooks and historical
memory in post-revolutionary Iran” in Nations & Nationalism 6:1 (2000).
Ervand Abrahamian “History Used and Abused” in Khomeinism: Essays on the
Islamic Republic (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).
Farhang Rajaee “Islam, Nationalism and Musaddiq’s era: post-revolutionary
historiography in Iran” in Musaddiq, Iranian Nationalism, and Oil
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988).

Week 11. Economic Issues and Policies after the Islamic Revolution
M. H. Pesaran “The System of Dependent Capitalism in Pre-and Post-Revolutionary
Iran”
M. R. Ghasimi “The Iranian Economy After the Revolution: An Economic Appraisal
of the Five-Year Plan” (IJMES 24:4)
Sohrab Behdad “Islamization of Economics in Iranian Universities” (IJMES 27:2)
M. Hashem Pesaran “The Iranian Foreign Exchange Policy and the Black Market for
Dollars” (IJMES 24:1)
Sohrab Behdad & Farhad Nomani “Workers, Peasants, & Peddlers: A Study of Labor
Stratification in Post-Revolutionary Iran” (IJMES 34:4)
Valentine Moghadam “Women’s Employment Issues in Contemporary Iran:
Problems and Prospects in the 1990’s” in Iranian Studies, 28:3-4 (1995).
Fatemeh Etemad Moghadam “Undercounting Women’s Work in Iran” (Iranian
Studies 42:1).
Arang Keshavarzian “Regime Loyalty and Bazari Representation Under the Islamic
Republic of Iran: Dilemmas of the Society of Islamic Coalitions” (IJMES
41:2).
 Course Syllabus

Week 12. Women, Gender, and the Islamic Revolution

Afsaneh Najmabadi “Hazards of Modernity and Morality: Women, State and
Ideology in Contemporary Iran”
Valentine Moghadam “Women, Work & Ideology in the Islamic Republic” (IJMES
20:2)
Ahmad Mahdavi-Damghani “The Marriage Contract in Iranian Civil Law” (Harvard
MEIR 6:2000-2001)
Azam Torab “Piety and Gendered Agency: A Study of Jalaseh Ritual Discourse in an
Urban Neighborhood in Iran” in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute, 2:2 (1996).
Janet Afary “The Sexual Economy of the Islamic Republic” (Iranian Studies 42:1).
Mary Elaine Heglund “Educating Young Women: Culture, Conflict, and New
Identities in an Iranian Village” (Iranian Studies 42:1).
Erika Friedl “New Friends: Gender Relations within the Family” (Iranian Studies
42:1).
Firoozeh Papan-Matin “The Case of Mohammad Khordadian, an Iranian Male
Dancer” (Iranian Studies 42:1).

Week 13. Factional Politics in the Islamic Republic

Mehdi Moslem “Factional Politics in Khomeini’s Era, 1981-89” in Factional Politics
in Post-Khomeini Iran.
Sussan Siavoshi “Factionalism & Iranian Politics: The Post-Khomeini Experience”
Wilfried Buchta “Iranian Opposition” in Who Rules Iran: The Structure of Power in
the Islamic Republic.
Wilfried Buchta “The Internal Political Power Struggle, 1997-2000” in Who Rules
Iran: The Structure of Power in the Islamic Republic.
Mehdi Moslem “Factions in Post-Khomeini Iran” in Factional Politics in Post-
Khomeini Iran.
Mehdi Moslem “The Ascension of Rafsanjani, the Alliance of the Two Rights, and
the Demise of the Left, 1989-1992” in Factional Politics in Post-
Khomeini Iran.
Mehdi Moslem “The Split of the Two Rights and the Alliance of the Left with the
Modern Right” in Factional Politics in Post-Khomeini Iran.
 Course Syllabus

Week 14. Intellectuals and Reformists of the Islamic Republic

Mahmoud Sadri “Sacral Defense of Secularism: Dissident Political Theology in Iran”
in Intellectual Trends in Twentieth-Century Iran: A Critical Survey, ed.
Negin Nabavi.
Mehdi Moslem “Factional Politics Under Khatami: Civil Society Versus
Guardianship Society” in Factional Politics in Post-Khomeini Iran.
Farzin Vahdat “Post-Revolutionary Islamic Discourses on Modernity in Iran:
Expansion & Contraction of Human Subjectivity” (IJMES 35:4)
Said Amir Arjomand “The Reform Movement and the Debate on Modernity and
Tradition in Contemporary Iran” (IJMES 34:4)
Farideh Farhi “Improvising in Public: Transgressive Politics of the Reformist Press in
Postrevolutionary Iran” in Intellectual Trends in Twentieth-Century Iran:
A Critical Survey, ed. Negin Nabavi.
Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi “Chapter 8: Islam, Democracy, and Religious Pluralism”
and “Conclusion” in Islam and Dissent in Postrevolutionary Iran:
Abdolkarim Soroush, Religious Politics and Democratic Reform
Elizabeth M. Bucar and Roja Fazaeli “Free Speech in Weblogistan? The Offline
Consequences of Online Communication” (IJMES 40:3).

Week 15. Recent Political and Intellectual Trends

Ali M. Ansari “Iran and the US in the Shadow of 9/11: Persia and the Persian
Question Revisited” (Iranian Studies 39:2).
Kaveh-Cyrus Sanandaji “The Eighth Majles Elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran:
A Division in Conservative Ranks and the Politics of Moderation”
(Iranian Studies 42:4).
Abbas Amanat “Chapter 10: Messianic Aspirations in Contemporary Iran” in
Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi’ism
Gunes Murat Tezcur “Chapter 6: A Moment of Enthusiasm in the Islamic Republic”
in Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey: The Paradox of Moderation
Gunes Murat Tezcur “Chapter 5: The Guardians and Elections in Iran and Turkey” in
Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey: The Paradox of Moderation
Asef Bayat “Chapter 4: Post-Islamism in Power: Dilemmas of the Reform Project,
1997-2004” in Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the
Post-Islamist Turn
Ali Gheissari and Vali Nasr “Chapter 5: State and Limits to Democracy, 1997-2005”
and “Chapter 6: Epilogue” in Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest
for Liberty
Said Amir Arjomand “Chapter 8: Iran’s New Political Class and the Ahmadinejad
Presidency (2005-2009)” in After Khomeini: Iran Under His Successors
 Course Syllabus

Students Should Answer the Following Questions for all Articles

1) What issues/questions/debates does the author address?

2) What is the author’s main thesis? What other significant points does he/she argue?

3) How is the book structured/organized? What alternative structural/organizational

methods could they have used?

4) What sources are used? How are they used? Are they appropriate to the study at hand?

5) What methodology is used? Is it appropriate for the topic at hand? What other
methodologies could they have used?

6) What is the author’s disciplinary approach/perspective? How does this affect his/her
approach?

7) How does this study relate to debates in the field? How does it compare to other
research on this topic?

8) Does the author successfully prove his/her thesis and main arguments?

9) What sorts of biases can you detect? How do these biases affect his/her main
arguments?

10) What are the strengths and weaknesses of this book?