ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how Iranian Azeris have used cultural dimensions of globalization to assist in their social mobilization and collective action against the regime, both locally and globally, since the late 1990s and early 2000s. Iranian Studies have witnessed growing research that integrates more of an ethnic minority lens into the study of Iranian nationalism, thus challenging some of the traditional Persian nationalistic perspectives on Iranian identity. The fusion of technoscapes with mediascapes has helped to strengthen the groupness and identification, or ethnoscapes, of many Azeris separated by the Araxes River. Following the 2009 presidential elections and rise of the Green Movement, Iranian Azerbaijan was relatively calm. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the prominent presidential candidate who supported the reformist Green Movement, originates from Khameneh in East Azerbaijan Province. Lifting the sanctions will greatly aid in easing the economic burden of the past several decades and will hopefully assist Tehran in focusing on its vulnerable northwestern provinces.
