Gharbzadegi, colonial capitalism and the racial state in Iran

Abstract

This article argues that the political thought of one of twentiethcentury Iran's foremost intellectuals, Jalal Ale Ahmad (1923-1969) and his seminal work Gharbzadegi (1962), often translated as 'Weststruck-ness' or 'Westoxication', can and should be understood through the critical study of race and racialisation. In contrast to the paradigms of 'nativism', 'Islamic atavism' and the demand for a return to 'cultural authenticity' that have traditionally framed the significance and reception of his thought, this article contends that Ale Ahmad's notion of gharbzadegi provides crucial insights into how predatory forms of colonial capitalism stratify the economic world order in accordance with what W.E.B. Du Bois famously called the 'colour line'. The article submits that Ale Ahmad's political thought sheds light upon the conditions of Eurocentric and racialised forms of knowledge production and immanent material practices, and how they structure the lived experiences of colonial and semi-colonial subjects, as well as providing a remarkable perspective on how 'race thinking' and the 'racial state' were conceived and institutionalised in twentieth-century Iran.

Towards a post-imperial and Global IR?: Revisiting Khatami’s Dialogue among Civilisations

“…62 In political theory, anti-colonial political thinkers such as Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Shariati, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini have been revisited in light of developments in post-colonial theory. 63 Such scholarship is due in part to the 'global turn' in the humanities and social sciences, which builds on the growing critiques regarding Eurocentrism of the early 2000s. Indeed, Global IR has enhanced visibility of critical theories, 'including decolonial and postcolonial theories, and the sociology of knowledge' , allowing for 'fuller representations of the "global"' .…”

Al‐e Ahmad, guardianship, and the critique of colonial sovereignty

“…This comes through in several instance in his writings such as Gharbzadegī (Westoxication [1962]) and Dar khedmat va khīyānat‐e rowshanfekrān (On the Service and Treason of the Intellectuals [1969]). Gharbzadegī , for example, has been read as a critique of how the formation of the modern nation‐state and colonial capitalism naturalized racial difference for the purposes of exploitation and extraction (Sadeghi‐Boroujerdi, 2020). In the posthumously published, Dar khedmat va khīyānat‐e rowshanfekrān , Al‐e Ahmad critiques Iran's own highly militarized, coercive, and violent process of state formation (Āl‐e Ahmad, 1357 [1979]‐b, p. 15), and the brutal imposition of “national unity” (Āl‐e Ahmad, 1357 [1979]‐b, p. 104).…”

Paradox as Decolonization: Ali Shariati’s Islamic Lawgiver

“…91 Shariati's identification of an "ethical sub-structure" follows in Fanon's footsteps, broadening self-determination to include the embodied, normative, and psychic dimensions of domination. 92 A political community cannot claim autonomy if the people within that community remain burdened by colonial mores. In this vein, Shariati deplores the inconsistent signs ('alāmat), or arrows (filāsh), contemporary intellectuals leave behind to guide readers when they propose secular utopias.…”