Intellectual Discourse and the Politics of Modernization: Negotiating Modernity in Iran (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies) (Paperback)

by Ali Mirsepassi (Author) "As recent debates surrounding the phenomenon of "post-colonialism" have amply demonstrated, the European "other" played an important role in Western self-definition of its modernity..." (more)
Key Phrases: materialist narrative, authenticity discourse, constitutional movement, Al-e Ahmad, Tudeh Party, Middle East (more...)

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"...an excellent addition to the on-going debates in sociology and the Middle East." Contemporary Sociology

Product Description
In this thought-provoking book, Ali Mirsepassi explores the concept of modernity and exposes the Eurocentric prejudices underlying its development. He provides a new interpretation of Islamic Fundamentalism through a detailed analysis of the ideas of key Islamic intellectuals and argues that the Iranian Revolution was not a simple clash between modernity and tradition but an attempt to accommodate modernity within a sense of authentic Islamic identity and culture. He concludes by assessing the future of secularism and democracy in the Middle East in general, and in Iran in particular.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (August 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521659973
• ISBN-13: 978-0521659970
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #921,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Negotiating Modernity, December 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Intellectual Discourse and the Politics of Modernization: Negotiating Modernity in Iran (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies) (Hardcover)

In this manuscript Ali Mirsepassi, a professor of Sociology and Near Eastern Studies at Hampshire College, broaches a question of the first importance. Why and how did Iranian intellectuals manage to embrace modernity while at the same keeping a critical distance from it? By deconstructing the discourse of modernity in general and its apprehension among Iranian intellectuals in particular, the author manages to provide a rich account of how Iranians negotiated with the multifaceted challenge of modernity. In the course of doing so he criticizes (neo) Orientalist accounts of how the ascendancy of political Islam was made possible in Iran. This book offers an insightful account of how despite its vociferous rhetoric; the Iranian discourse of authenticity was itself impregnated with modernist sensibilities.

Intellectual Discourse and the Politics of Modernization is a major addition to the field of Iranian intellectual history and deserves to be read by all those interested in this topic.