Lifelong Learning
Getting Beyond the Fear to Understand Iran
Adventures in Ideas seminar looks at political, cultural context of current issues
In 2002, in his State of the Union sition to the shah and his
address, then-President George W. Bush U.S.-backed regime. From
named Iran as one of four countries that exile in Iraq, Kuwait and
formed an “axis of evil.” Today, Iran is Paris, Khomeini led what
characterized by an unpredictable govern- has been called his
ment speaking with a confusing mix of “Xeroxcracy.” By sending
secular and religious language. photocopies and cassettes
PHOTOS BY SUSAN SIMONE
That kind of attention doubtless helped of his talks to Iran, he
spur attendance at the sold-out Adventures inspired a mass movement.
in Ideas seminar “Contemporary Iran in This culminated in a gen-Context” in December, with an audience eral strike across a society
eager to get a handle on the situation in of 35 million people and
this region affecting international relations the overthrow of the shah.
in so many ways. Together, the program’s It was after, not before, the
speakers offered grounds for lessening the revolution that
fear and increasing understanding between frustration set in as
Iran and the U.S. conservative forces
Omid Safi, professor of Islamic studies at took over, elimi-
UNC, set the tone by introducing the nating openings
Iranian people through their passion for for reform that
poetry. “Iranians,” Safi said, “are obsessed had motivated
with beauty.” In Iran, poetry is everywhere. many of the revo-
Buildings are decorated inside and out with lution’s supporters.
The speakers at the seminar on contemporary Iran
were, at top from left, Omid Safi, professor of Islamic
the tombs of poets to guarantee an auspicious Kurzman’s point studies at UNC; Negar Mottahedeh, assistant profes-
sor of literature at Duke; and Charles Kurzman, pro-
written verse. Newlywed couples travel to Safi reinforced
marriage. The Rose Garden of Sa’di, Persian by introducing the
fessor of sociology at UNC. Above, Kurzman reviews
verse written 750 years ago, is studied as lead reformers the impact of the 1979 revolution. At right, Safi
describes Persian verse carved into a Muslim shrine.
early as second grade. Iranians of all ages mix now working for
poetry into their speech. It is, Safi suggested, a progressive Iran. Abd al-Karim Soroush is the “modesty system” have affected the
as if Americans were comfortable quoting who Safi calls the “political face” of the portrayal of women in Iranian cinema. For
Shakespearean sonnets to express feelings. reform movement, a public speaker and example, Mottahedeh said, films use long
The words of the mystical poet Rumi intellectual who emphasizes ijtihad, inde- shots and off-camera voices to avoid taboos
set the context for the more complicated pendent reasoning and the need to distin- against looking directly at women who are
topics of revolution, reform and the inter- guish between religious knowledge and not related to the viewer. In one film clip,
weaving of political, philosophical and reli- religion as such. Mohsen Kadivar is a Shi’a women wore headscarves in their bedroom
gious thought in Iran. Charles Kurzman, cleric who speaks about “a critical encounter and in bed because it would be immodest
professor of sociology at UNC, walked the with modernity.” He argues that Islam can for the film editors to see them uncovered.
group through the events that culminated in be understood in the context of modernity It is a tribute to Iranian filmmakers that
the revolution of 1979. He charted the without being absorbed by it. Mohammad they still manage to harvest cinema’s
response of Iranian progressives to the tight- Shabastari links faith and freedom, arguing strength, dramatizing private interactions,
ening of society in the ensuing 30 years. The that each generation of Muslims is free to while abiding by such taboos, he said.
message was clear: Do not underestimate make its own interpretation of the Qur’an. In the cinema, in daily life, in blogs on
the complexity and sophistication of this Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel the Internet, in the classroom and at home
society. Do not write it off because of the Peace Prize, works for judicial reform by across the dinner table, the speakers agreed,
rhetoric that has been sensationalized. Listen turning her Nobel fame into a protective Iranians are struggling to reconcile old ideas
to the progressives and the humanists and shield for the One Million Signatures and a modern world. ■
understand why their voices are hard to hear. Campaign, a petition that calls for a com- — Susan Simone
Kurzman asked, “What were the Iranian plete review of laws pertaining to women
people expecting when they supported the and human rights.
return of the Ayatollah?” He talked about Negar Mottahedeh, assistant professor of
the emergence of Ayatollah Khomeini’s literature at Duke University, closed the day
voice in the 1960s, the broad base of oppo- with a discussion of how the constraints of
ONLINE: Adventures in Ideas seminars are
presented by the UNC Program in the Humanities
and Human Values and the GAA. For a schedule of
programs, visit
alumni.unc.edu/CCLL.
