Intellectual Discourse and the Politics of Modernization
Subtitle: Negotiating Modernity in Iran (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: October 30, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 242
ISBN-13: 9780521659970
Subjects: Asian / Middle Eastern history: from c 1900 -; Modernism; Multicultural studies; Social Science; Sociology; Iran; Middle East; Islam - General; Middle East - Iran; Sociology - General; Iran--Politics and government--20th century; Social Science / Ethnic Studies; Ethnic Studies - General
First sentence: 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.
Description: "In this study, Ali Mirsepassi explores the concept of modernity, exposing the Eurocentric prejudices and hostility to non-Western culture that have characterized its development. Focussing on the Iranian experience of modernity, he charts its political and intellectual history and develops a new interpretation of Islamic Fundamentalism through the detailed analysis of the ideas of key Islamic intellectuals. The author 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, culture and historical experience. He concludes by assessing the future of secularism and democracy in the Middle East in general, and in Iran in particular.

This book will be essential reading for scholars and students of social theory and change, Middle Eastern Studies, Cultural Studies and many related areas."--Jacket.