City of Knowledge in Twentieth Century Iran: Shiraz, History and Poetry

273 Pages·2012·2.425 MB·english

by  Setrag Manoukian

City of Knowledge in Twentieth
Century Iran
This book presents a cultural hist ory of modern Iran from the point of
view of Shiraz, a city famous for its poetry and its traditions of scholarship.
Exploring the relationship among hist ory, poetry and pol itics, the book
ana lyzes how Shiraz came to be defined as the coun try’s cultural capital,
and explains how Iranians have used the concept of culture as a way of
thinking about themselves, their past and their relationship with the rest
of the world.
Weaving together a theore t ical approach with extensive ethnographic
research, the book suggests a model to integrate broad concerns with a
nuanced ana lysis of Iran’s cultural traditions and practices. The author’s
interdisciplinary approach sheds light on how cont empor ary Iranians
relate to classical Persian poetry; on the relationship between expressive
forms and the polit ical imagination; and on the different ways teachers,
professors, cultural managers, poets and scholars think and work. He
de scribes how his tory and poetry are the two dominant modes to talk
about the past, present and future of the town and demo n strates that the
question of know ledge is crucial to an understanding of the polit ical and
existential dimensions of life in Iran today.
This book will be a major con tri bu tion to the current effort to move
away from nationalist views of Iranian hist ory and culture, and as such will
be of great inter est to scholars of cultural anthropology, his tory, Middle
Eastern studies and Iranian studies.
Setrag Manoukian is an Italian anthropologist and hist or ian of modern
Iran. He is an assistant professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies and the
Department of Anthropology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Iranian Studies
Edited by
Homa Katouzian
University of Oxford
and
Mohamad Tavakoli
University of Toronto
Since 1967 the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS) has been a
leading learned soci ety for the advancement of new approaches in the
study of Iranian soci ety, his tory, culture and litera t ure. The new ISIS
Iranian Studies series published by Routledge will provide a venue for the
pub lication of ori ginal and innov at ive schol arly works in all areas of
Iranian and Persianate Studies.
1 Journalism in Iran
From mission to profession
Hossein Shahidi
2 Sadeq Hedayat
His work and his wondrous world
Homa Katouzian
3 Iran in the 21st Century
Politics, economics and confrontation
Homa Katouzian and Hossein Shahidi
4 Media, Culture and Society in Iran
Living with globalization and the Islamic State
Mehdi Semati
5 Modern Persian Literature in Afghanistan
Anomalous visions of history and form
Wali Ahmadi
6 The Politics of Iranian Cinema
Film and society in the Islamic Republic
Saeed Zeydabadi- Nejad
7 Continuity in Iranian Identity
Resilience of a cultural heritage
Fereshteh Davaran
8 New Perspectives on Safavid Iran
Empire and society
Edited by Colin P. Mitchell
9 Islamic Tolerance
Amir Khusraw and pluralism
Alyssa Gabbay
10 City of Knowledge in Twentieth Century Iran
Shiraz, history and poetry
Setrag Manoukian
11 Domestic Violence in Iran
Women, marriage and Islam
Zahra Tizro

City of Knowledge in
Twentieth Century Iran
Shiraz, history and poetry
Setrag Manoukian
First published 2012
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Ave, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 Setrag Manoukian
The right of Setrag Manoukian to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Manoukian, Setrag.
City and knowledge in twentieth century Iran: Shiraz, history and
poetry/Setrag Manoukian.
p. cm. – (Iranian studies; v. 10)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Shiraz (Iran)–History–20th century. 2. Shiraz (Iran)–Social life
and customs–20th century. 3. Shiraz (Iran)–Intellectual life.
4. City and town life–Iran–Shiraz–History–20th century. 5. Persian
poetry–Iran–Shiraz. I. Title.
DS325.S52M36 2011
955'.72–dc22 2011014004
ISBN: 978-0-415-78328-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-80249-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Baskerville
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
List of figures viii
Acknowledgments x
A note on transliterations and permissions xii
Introduction: city of knowledge 1
1 The territory of Shiraz 11
2 Time, space and culture 42
3 Editing culture 62
4 Writing the history of Shiraz 107
5 Tensions in the city of knowledge 134
6 History and poetry 170
Conclusions 203
Notes 206
Bibliography 234
Index 252
Figures
1.1 Page from Fursat Shîrâzî (1896: 479) 17
1.2 Image 17 (Persepolis) in Fursat (1896: between 136 and
137) 18
1.3 Frontispiece of Kânûn-i Dânish (1954) 29
1.4 Photograph of Persepolis’ stairway in Bassîrî (1959: 2) 33
1.5 Calligraphy of ‘Alî in the shape of a ship, Noah’s ark. in
Bassîrî (1959: 4) 33
2.1 Iskilits, Shiraz, 2001 43
2.2 Restored pavilion of the University of Shiraz 43
3.1 Column in Valî ‘Asr Square, 1996 63
3.2 Column in Valî ‘Asr Square, 2001 63
3.3 Ten rial currency with Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s
face “edited” 66
3.4 Abandoned entrance to one of the buildings of the
University of Shiraz School of Medicine, Karîm Khân Zand
Boulevard, 1996 67
3.5 Ruins of the Central Post Office building, located behind the Arg
Karîm Khân, in the background the wall of one of the
administrative buildings from the time of Karîm Khan,
Shiraz, 2001 69
3.6 Underpass in Karîm Khân Zand Boulevard near Shahrdârî
Square, Shiraz, 2001 69
3.7 Demolition in the old neigh bor hoods; in the background,
the dome of Shâh Çirâgh, Shiraz, 1996 70
3.8 The Shah and the Queen at the inauguration of the
Mausoleum of the poet Sa‘dî, 1952 76
3.9 Inscription about the construction of the 1952 mausoleum
of the poet Sa‘dî, with upper portion missing, Shiraz 2001 77
3.10 Dedication page from the first edition of Afsar (1974) 86
3.11 Dedication page from the second edition of the same book
(Afsar 1995) 86
3.12 ‘Alî Asghar Hikmat “edited” into a photo graph of a group
gathered at the tomb of the poet Hâfiz (Imâmî 1990: 195) 89
Figures ix
3.13 Building of the Office of the Ministry of Culture, Shiraz,
2001 94
4.1 Map of the area of Shiraz discussed with the teacher 110
4.2 Cycling club, Shiraz, 1950s 143
4.3 Celebration for the Barâdarân party, Vakil Mosque, Shiraz,
1950s 145
4.4 Diagram for a proposed Islamic Teachers’ Association,
Shiraz, 1980 149