Both Eastern and Western: An Intellectual History of Iranian Modernity

Both Eastern and Western

An Intellectual History of Iranian Modernity

Afshin Matin-Asgari, 

California State University, Los Angeles 

August 2018

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, many Western observers of Iran have seen the country caught between Eastern history and 'Western' modernity, between religion and secularity. As a result, analysis of political philosophy preceding the Revolution has become subsumed by this narrative. Here, Afshin Matin-Asgari proposes a revisionist work of intellectual history, challenging many of the dominant paradigms in Iranian and Middle Eastern historiography and offering a new narration. In charting the intellectual construction of Iranian modernity during the twentieth century, Matin-Asgari focuses on broad patterns of influential ideas and their relation to each other. These intellectual trends are studied in a global historical context, leading to the assertion that Iranian modernity has been sustained by at least a century of intense intellectual interaction with global ideologies. Turning many prevailing narratives on their heads, the author concludes that modern Iran can be seen as, culturally and intellectually, both Eastern and Western.

‘This unique book registers the many sources of influence, hitherto overlooked by the researchers in the field, that have shaped up modern Iran. Afshin Matin-asgari offers a meticulous and compelling account of the cosmopolitan character of modern Iranian intellectual, social, cultural, and political thought. A superb and authoritative reference for scholars and public alike.' Peyman Vahabzadeh, University of Victoria