essay

Minority-state relations in contemporary Iran

state, religion, and ethinic politics : Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan[syracuse, N.y.]Published In 1986 • Pages: 167-197

By: Higgins, Patricia J..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Higgins examines the fate of minority groups under two regimes, the Pahlavi (1906-1978) and Islamic (1978-1979) Republics. She focusses on three main groups: Baha'is, Kurds, and Azerbaijanis. The constitutions of both regimes are similar in granting individual rights and equality of all citizens before the law. Both republics are highly centralized states. Only the Zoroastrian, Jewish, Armenian, and Assyrian Iranians were guaranteed religious freedeom and limited autonomy. The major difference between the regimes is how they constituted national unity and identity: Persian language and history vs. Shi'ism. Higgins discusses how fortunes of minority groups changed from one regime to the next and the response of minority groups to shift their ethnic markers in order to better position themselves in the new state.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Ethnic stratification
Citizenship
Form and rules of government
Political movements
Revolution
Religious denominations
Religious intolerance and martyrs
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Iran
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Middle East
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Middle East
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Social Scientist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard ; 2005
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
unknown
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1906-1979
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Iran
NotesAdditional notes
Patricia J. Higgins
Includes bibliographical references
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
86006048
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Iranians