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Navigating a Crisis Workshop: Iran

Navigating a Crisis Workshop: Iran. Levi Thompson. Goals. My goals are for YOU to leave this evening: Knowing a little about overall Iranian history Knowing a bit of the political context in Iran since the 1979 Revolution (The Islamic Revolution)

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Navigating a Crisis Workshop: Iran

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  1. Navigating a Crisis Workshop: Iran Levi Thompson

  2. Goals My goals are for YOU to leave this evening: Knowing a little about overall Iranian history Knowing a bit of the political context in Iran since the 1979 Revolution (The Islamic Revolution) Knowing the context (historical and political) surrounding last summer's presidential elections in Iran With some tips about finding/using teaching resources particular to Iran

  3. Before We Begin None of us are starting from scratch; what do you ALREADY know about Iran? People, Places, Events, etc? Let's make a list (here or on the blackboard)

  4. Iran: A Brief History Where do we encounter Iran from a Western perspective, for instance, in a Western Civ. course? Alexander the Great and Darius III

  5. Zoroastrianism Early monotheism—relationship to Christianity, Judaism, Islam

  6. A History of Empire Achaemenids (650-330 BCE) Seleucids-Alexander's Empire (312-63 BCE) Parthians (248 BCE-224 CE) Sassanians (224-651 CE) Islamic Conquests → The Caliphate, Regional Dynasties, Mongol Invasions, Timurids, Safavids, Qajars, Pahlavis, The Islamic Revolution

  7. Religion in Iran Currently, Iran is 98% Muslim Roughly 90% are Shi'i Muslims (8% Sunni) Religions minorities include Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, Bahais, and others What's the difference between a Sunni and a Shi'i? 90% of Muslims are Sunni Simply, the difference is over leadership of the Muslim community following the death of the Prophet Muḥammad (632 CE)

  8. The 1979 Revolution Internal turmoil and Western involvement throughout the early 20th century The Shah and the Ayatollah

  9. Starting Points for Teaching About the Revolution The Internet is FULL of sources Here are a few examples: “Crisis in Iran” Documentary Clip on YouTube 60 Minutes at the beginning of the Iranian Revolution Unnamed news clip showing '79 demonstrations Interview with Khomeini from “Crisis in Iran” and Anwar Sadat's (President of Egypt's) response to the Ayatollah from “Crisis in Iran” Other topics for getting student interest: Kermit Roosevelt, the United States' “James Bond” in Iran Cold War context—US and Russia and Iranian Oil Oil in general—Iran has massive oil reserves

  10. Post-Revolution Iran 1980-1988- Iran-Iraq War This is the true First Gulf War Saddam and the Ayatollah Iran-Contra Affair (US involvement in the war) Arms to Iran for hostages held by Hizbollah, proceeds for arms diverted to anti-Communist forces in Nicaragua 1989 Fatwa Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa (religious opinion) calling for author Salman Rushdie's death over his book The Satanic Verses

  11. The Khatami Presidency Muhammad Khatami (b. 1943) was the reformist president of Iran from 1997-2005 His platform was a “Dialogue of Civilizations”; opposed the Samuel Huntington's “Clash of Civilizations” theory (1996)

  12. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Born 1956 Engineer, Party: Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran Elected mayor of Tehran in 2003 Won ~60% of the popular vote in 2005 presidential election Outspoken and often controversial for his views on Israel, the US, Great Britain, and human rights

  13. The Summer 2009 Elections (June 12) • Candidates Ahmadinejad and Mir-Hussein Mousavi receive 62% and 34% of the popular vote, respectively • Public outcry came against wide-spread accusations of voting irregularities • Video Commentary • This link is one of a HUGE amount of material on this election available online. The elections were Tweeted, Facebooked, 24 hour news networked, commented, Wikied, Huffington Posted, and more! • A little online digging goes a long way.

  14. How Else Can We Talk About Iran in the Classroom? I've given a (very) brief overview of religion/politics/history in Iran, what else is out there (and INTERESTING TO STUDENTS) about Iran? Other historical personalities-empires, people, poets, story-tellers/stories Iranian geography Particular contemporary news stories- nuclear development in Iran, sanctions, Iran as a regional hegemon

  15. Engaging Your Students Read Iranian stories/poetry Rostam and Sohrab (Firdawsi'sShahnameh) MIT’s Internet Classics Archive: The Shahnameh Jalāl al-DīnRūmī One of the most widely read poets in English translation Introducing students to mystical Islam (Sūfism) Blog post: The Song of the Reedby Rūmī Kalila and Dimna- Animal Fables Originally Sanskrit, translated to Persian, Arabic, and now, English! One example, an article from Saudi Aramco World

  16. Talking About Iranian Geography Iran is a large country with a diverse geography Rich local histories: Tehran is a relatively new city, other population centers include Shiraz, Yazd, Tabriz, Mashhad, Qom, and the free trade zone resort island of Kish There are deserts, plains, and mountain ranges—Iran is certainly not a geographical monolith Challenge preconceptions! Here's a simple home-made video available online about Kish: RoozVideo

  17. Contemporary News Various national and online news covers Iran (sometimes in depth) I recommend using and comparing coverage from places such as CNN, BBC, The New York Times, national US media networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX) Iran gets a substantial amount of focus in our national news circuits these days!! Last Nowruz (Persian New Year, 2009) Barack Obama sent this video messageto the Iranian people

  18. Iranian Film Depending on your focus/available time, you might consider exploring Iranian film with your students Worldwide Popularity and Well-Known Iranian Directors: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Darius Mehrjui, Tahmineh Milani, many others... They're on NETFLIX! Read reviews, see what you can use, see what relates to your course material. Iranian films address all types of contemporary issues: Gender, Religion, Family, Modernity, more! Another internet example: Dariush Mehrjui discusses his film, The Cow

  19. Local Resources University of Pennsylvania Middle East Center http://www.sas.upenn.edu/mec/ University of Pennsylvania NELC Dept. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/nelc/ The Iranian Cultural Society of America http://www.shabahang.org/

  20. National/International Resources NYT Iran Page http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html BBC Iran Page http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/790877.stm CNN Iran Page http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/iran

  21. My Contact Information Levi Thompson thomas.levi.thompson@gmail.com

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