Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
This paper incorporates a study of “re-ghettoization” among the Armenian Christians of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It focuses on how legal marginalization has led to the emergence of an entirely separate existence from the Muslim majority in Tehran among Armenians born after the revolution. By focusing on the spatial and social divisions of the hayashatner (Armenian neighborhoods) and the “social” ghetto of the Ararat Compound, this article addresses the question: what are the social implications for religious discrimination in the Muslim Middle East? This paper is based on three extensive blocks of fieldwork carried out in Iran from 2010 to 2015.
This research was made possible by a Future Fellowship grant from the Australian Research Council [FT120100032], and a Research Grant from the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, both of which the author gratefully acknowledges.