Books in Progress
Photo by Casey Hugelfink, Isfahan, Iran 1982
The Anthology of the Iranian Perspective on the Iran-Iraq War
The seldom mentioned Iran-Iraq War that started on September 22, 1980 was the longest conventional conflict of the twentieth century lasting for eight years. Its affect on Iranian and Iraqi societies have never been fully studied. This edited volume aims to examine the affect of that conflict on Iranian society, culture, and politics. It would be quite difficult to understand the Islamic Republic and the way it has been conducting its politics domestically and internationally if one doesn’t have a good grasp of how it executed the war and how Iranians responded to it. From the war’s affect on Iranian street art, literature, film, music, and economy, to Iranian defense policy, foreign relations, and relationship with the West, the war’s hand print cannot be missed if one considers the war as the Islamic Republic’s first real challenge after the revolutionaries managed to topple the monarchy in 1979.
The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem in the 1930.
Origins of Political Zionism
Origins of Political Zionism traces the origins of the British imperial aspirations in the Middle East before the discussion of an Anglican Church in 1839 surfaced. More than twenty years before the birth of the father of modern Zionism Theodor Herzl in 1860, the British foreign office designed a plan to establish itself a strong foothold in the region by controlling Palestine.
By re-examining various early nineteenth century sources and the theory of Orientalism as introduced by Edward Said, this book introduces how political Zionism was the end result of an imperial scheme thought out by the British Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston (Henry John Temple Palmerston) and the support of the Seventh Early of Shaftesbury (Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper) in Parliament . Unbeknownst to the European Jewry, Palmerston suggested they should be used “as pawns” to populate Palestine so that they could protect the interests of the Crown while officials portrayed it as an act of charity to help them return to their “forefather’s land.”
Photographer unknown. The Three Girls Park, Ahvaz, early 1970s.
Born Among Kings and Poets
Born Among Kings and Poets is a personal account of Iranian history as it unfolded between 1973-1984. That’s when I turned seven and attended first grade to when I completed tenth grade and emigrated. To put another way, between the time Iran had become a prosperous petroleum giant in the Middle East with the largest army under the rule of the Shah through the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and when I left my homeland almost four years into the devastating Iran-Iraq war.
Most memoirs of those who have lived and experienced various aspects of living in Iran is written from a specific perspective or a Tehran-centric point of view. These memoirs are great learning tools about life from a pro-western, “modern”, and secular point of view which although holds true for many it is not the story of the majority of Iranians. What I have attempted in this book is to provide a provincial perspective of a boy raised in a middle class family with more conservative values but still open to experiencing the more modern side of life as it was offered to Iranians at the time. I discuss the Pahlavi period and the drastic changes that came with the Revolution. My experience in the war as a volunteer and how it made such an impression on me to change the course of my life are parts of the book that I think some might enjoy reading.
Iranian Women in Sports
Iranian Women in Sports is the working title of a co-authored book that two professors in Iran and I have been researching about since 2020 but then the pandemic followed by unrest in Iran have slowed us down but not entirely. This is the first academic study of how Iranian women of varied backgrounds began participating in modern sports at the turn of the twentieth century, and how their gender affected their contribution influenced by their cultural inhibitions or lack thereof. The story of Iranian women in sports turns differently after the 1979 revolution as they are pushed to the sidelines by the patriarchy but little anyone knew that their resolve would not keep them out too long before they return to steal the spotlight in domestic and international sports arenas.