In Frontier Fictions, Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet looks at the efforts of Iranians to defend, if not expand, their borders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and explores how their conceptions of national geography influenced cultural and political change. The ""frontier fictions,"" or the ways in which the Iranians viewed their often fluctuating borders and the conflicts surrounding them, played a dominant role in defining the nation. On these borderlands, new ideas of citizenship and nationality were unleashed, refining older ideas of ethnicity. Kashani-Sabet maintains that land-based conceptions of countries existed before the advent of the modern nation-state. Her focus on geography enables her to explore and document fully a wide range of aspects of modern citizenship in Iran, including love of homeland, the hegemony of the Persian language, and widespread interest in archaeology, travel, and map-making. While many historians have focused on the concept of the ""imagined community"" in their explanations of the rise of nationalism, Kashani-Sabet is able to complement this perspective with a very tangible explanation of what connects people to a specific place.
Her approach is intended to enrich our understanding not only of Iranian nationalism, but also of nationalism everywhere.
By:
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 235mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 17mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780691151137
ISBN 10: 069115113X
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 17 April 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsChronology of Major EventsGlossaryIntroduction. Frontier Fictions31A Manifest Destiny Diverted, 1804-1896152Limning the Landscape: Geographical Depictions of the Homeland, 1850s-1896473From Riches to Ruins: The Political Economy of Frontiers, 1897-1906754Political Parables: Iran's Frontier Crucible, 1906-19141015Coercing Camaraderie: The War, the Military, and the Myth of Riza Khan, 1914-19261446Parenting Little Patriots: Domesticating the Homeland, 1921-1926180Conclusion. What's in a Name? From Persia to Iran, 1926-1946216Notes227Bibliography285Index301
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet was born in Tehran, Iran. She completed her Ph.D. in history at Yale University.
Reviews for Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946
Thoroughly researched, eloquently written, and objectively presented, Frontier Fictions is a valuable addition to contemporary Iranian historiography. -- Choice
