Iranian nationalism and the question of race 1

This chapter argues that the narrative of Aryanism, as a racial construct of superiority, while undoubtedly popular in sections of society, was neither widely supported by the leading ideologues of Iranian nationalism, nor left unchallenged. The critique of Enlightenment 'rationality' accompanied the emergence of Enlightenment ideas to dominance in European intellectual culture through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fashion for the designation 'Aryan' reflected trends in linguistics that had emerged in Europe and that had subsequently shifted to denote a language group, peoples, common descent and ultimately race. The newspaper Iranshahr (1922-1927), the successor paper to the immensely influential Kaveh (1916-1922), has traditionally been viewed as among the most powerful advocates for a rigorous nationalism bordering on an assumption of racial superiority. Mahmoud Afshar, a leading intellectual and editor of the highly influential journal Ayandeh produced a particularly revealing essay in 1927, "The Problems of Nationhood and the National Unity of Iran".