Iranian Foreign Policy, 1921–1979

2013

Wandering between two worlds.. . With nowhere yet to rest my head Like these, on earth I wait forlorn. Matthew Arnold, 'Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse', 1855 This book is the story of English, the language of the 'enemies', the United States of America, a.k.a. 'the Great Satan', and its closest ally, the United Kingdom, in post-revolutionary Iran or what has become known as the 'Islamic Republic' of Iran (IRI) following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It is primarily based on the data I collected through a year of fieldwork (2007-2008) in Tehran. The preface intends to provide an account of the internal and external circumstances of the country at the time of my fieldwork as well as the fieldwork dilemmas I encountered while collecting data in the field. When I left New York City for Tehran in late August 2007 for the purpose of data collection, there was hardly any trace left anywhere in the country of the principles of 'freedom of expression', 'tolerance', 'respect for diversity' and having a 'dialogue among civilizations'-values that had been advocated, at least at the discourse level, by the previous reformist president, Mohammad Khatami and his administration, during the reform phase (1997-2005) of the IRI in the country. In fact, since August 2005, with the ascendancy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency, it seemed that such liberal values have faded away and been replaced by profoundly anti-Western and ideopolitical sentiments, and the aspiration for 'the revival of the early revolutionary values', which meant, among many things, combating the 'Western cultural invasion'. The intensity of antagonism towards the West-the United States, in particular-seemed to be like that of the early years of the 1979 Revolution. The country's politicians were constantly concerned about the invisible traces of a 'velvet/soft revolution' within the nation, which was said to be supported by 'external forces', having their Preface xv Preface xvii of this project from the very beginning, and Sarah Williams, Production Manager and her team for help with the editing and production of this book. And lastly, I owe a monumental debt to my family, to my parents, in particular, who were instrumental in my education and intellectual growth. I am equally thankful to my husband, Dr Habib Borjian, whose inspiration and constructive feedback were indispensable to the project from its very outset. His scholarly input can be seen throughout this manuscript.

Section: The British Councilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

English in Post-Revolutionary Iran

2013

“…Along with the inflow of American aid, a large body of American advisors, technical experts, employees of aid agencies and technical and commercial organizations, together with private investors, came to Iran to assist the country in its economic planning. This in turn led Iran to look to the United States as a source to emulate in the social, economic, cultural and educational arena during the long course of the Cold War (Saikal, 1991).…”

Section: English In Modern Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the war began, allied forces occupied Iran and forced the Shah to abdicate in September 1941. His son, Mohammad Reza Shah was enthroned, and the country was divided into two geographical spheres of occupation, under the Soviet Union in the north and Great Britain in the south (Ferrier, 1987;Hambly, 1991;Saikal, 1991).…”

Section: The British Councilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The situation was aggravated because Premier Musaddiq insisted on the nationalization of oil vis-à-vis the powerful consortium of international oil companies. The 1953 military coup against the premier finally brought the sociopolitical situation back to normal (Ferrier, 1987;Saikal, 1991). Fearing for the safety of its staff members, the Council closed down its representation in Tehran and the provinces in the second half of 1952.…”

Section: The British Councilmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

English in Post-Revolutionary Iran

2013

Two decades of research and development in language and literacy education have yielded a broad, multidisciplinary focus. Yet education systems face constant economic and technological change, with attendant issues of identity and power, community and culture. This series will feature critical and interpretive, disciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives on teaching and learning, language and literacy in new times.Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters,

The Rise and Fall of a Partnership: The British Council and the Islamic Republic of Iran (2001–09)

2011

Iranian Stud.

This paper examines a partnership between the British Council and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) that emerged in March 2001 as a result of their shared aspiration for collaboration in scientific, academic and cultural arena. The alliance came as a surprise because after twenty-three years of antagonism on the part of the government of the IRI, the hostile attitudes were put aside virtually overnight to reunite with an old adversary for a mutual collaboration. The present qualitative study examines the reasons behind the start of the partnership, the domains within which the British Council was permitted to operate in Iran, and the reasons behind the end of the partnership. The data were gathered from various sources, including field-notes, policy documents analysis, personal interviews, and various online sources. The findings reveal that the duration of the partnership was closely intertwined with the rise and fall of the reformist administration, under President Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005). The partnership began mainly due to efforts made by the reformist administration to take the IRI out of its international isolation and thus became inactive not long after the reformist administration, and eventually came to an end in January 2009, under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.