Chapter 1 focuses on framing research with strong grounding in theory and previous scholarship. This chapter introduces the book’s methodology and sources, as well as providing an overview of the book’s chapters and main arguments. This work claims two central arguments: first, the modern nation-state of Iran was established in 1979 with the revolution that instilled an indigenous and independent nationalism and eradicated all vestiges of foreign power, including the shah; second, the national identity created by the people during the decades preceding the revolution was the most resonant and inclusive because it infused the Shiite symbols ignored by the Pahlavi dynasty, and overused by the Islamic Republic, into populist elements of Iranian society. Despite the political turmoil of the Islamic Republic, that fusion and plurality endure. While the various chapters explore their own specific themes, these ideas run as threads throughout the work to tie the pieces together.

Chapter 3 shifts focus to the postrevolutionary era and how the revolutionary ideology and the national identity it inspired were used and misused by the new Islamic Republic. It also looks at how the Iranian people continued to appropriate and challenge the state’s ideology and representation. The chapter discusses the significance of the Iran–Iraq war (1980-88) in the early years after the revolution and how the war shaped contemporary Iran. While the Pahlavi’s maintained a discourse of monarchical ancient Iran and Persian supremacy, the new Islamic Republic made use of the Karbala paradigm and the martyrdom of Imam Hossein, which played especially well into the context of war and attack from an external force. Though the history and state remained the same, the opposing narratives offered by the old and new rulers speak to the nature of constructed national identities. In both cases, nationalism and Islamism have been crucial to their resistance movements. The Islamic Republic was brought to power by a revolution, whose opposition to the shah was embedded in anti-imperialist and Islamist rhetoric. Echoing Hamid Dabashi’s claim that Shiites must be perpetually engaged in resistance to oppression, the state depicts itself as continuously revolutionary and supports regional movements with analogous rhetoric.

Chapter 6 outlines the conclusions of this investigation and highlights the lasting impacts of modern nationalist discourse on Iran. In addition, the concluding chapter looks at the most recent examples of resistance, through the agency of Iranian citizens. It also looks at contemporary politics inside Iran, and political events related to US–Iran relations with events as recent as the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. In the case of modern Iran, the state and community have been imagined and contested, legitimized and challenged, through the interaction of the state and the people within the global context of colonialism and modernity. By appreciating the complexity of this interaction, we can hope to ascertain a better understanding of national identity in modern Iran. Thus, the book moves beyond the essentialist representation of bipolar Iranian identity, emphasizing Islam versus pre-Islamic civilization, and the more recent proclivity in scholarship to reject both identities as inauthentic.

Chapter 2 provides historical background of Pahlavi monarchy and its nation-state project. To be a modern nation-state required a cohesive national identity and complimenting narrative. The significance of that account was not lost on the shah, who tried to formulate an uninterrupted history of Iranian dominion. Chapter 2 relies heavily on a close reading of the words of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to shed light on the shah’s rationale for upholding this narrative. The shah understood that Iran could not forge its independence and image as a modern nation-state without freedom from foreign control. According to the shah, it was his father who "created" the modern Iranian state and saved Iran from the ineptness of its previous dynasty. This chapter also challenges the shah’s account and explores how his subjects saw him as foreign and as a symbol of Iran’s capitulation to external powers. The shah’s failed nationalism left space for his opposition to produce an alternative narrative that captured the imagination of the masses of Iranian people. Chapter 2 lays the foundation for the sections that follow by presenting not only the newly constructed image of Iranian nationalism, but also why it was needed in order to advance the cause of independence.

Through this chapter light is shed on the different aspects of the Iranian Kurdish movement during the turbulence of the period from 1979 to the 1980s. The Islamic regime’s hostile attitude towards the non-Persian and non-Shiite people and communities’ claim of autonomy and decentralisation of power in Iran is dealt with as an explanation for violent clashes between regime forces and forces of nationalist groups in Iran’s peripheral regions. It is highlighted that the changing regimes in Tehran have, throughout the modern history of the country, failed to provide the non-Persian national communities with their political and cultural rights. In addition, the chapter concentrates on the relations in the twentieth century between Iran’s changing regimes and the non-Persian communities, showing that this relation contains several examples of the regime’s brutal attacks on the country’s Azeris, Kurds, Baluchis, Turkemens and Arabs. In this chapter I argue that a mutually mistrusting relationship between the sovereign and these mentioned non-Persian national groups has shaped Iran’s modern history of citizenship.

This chapter provides an introduction, chapter outline and theoretical/conceptual framework for the book. Through this introductory chapter the reader will be introduced to the scope and significance, and the two main elements of the book with relevance to the Iranian Kurdish movement: firstly, the formation and politicisation of Kurdish national sentiment, and the reasons for the emergence and continuation of the Kurdish question in Iran; and secondly, the crossborder dimension of the interactions between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish political parties, and the impact of this interaction on the capability and direction of the Iranian Kurdish movement. In addition, this chapter reflects on the early twentieth-century nation-state policy in Iran, and its impact on the emergence of the national liberation movement of the Kurds in Iranian and reasons for the intensification and continuation of the Kurdish question.

This chapter provides an introduction, chapter outline and theoretical/conceptual framework for the book. Through this introductory chapter the reader will be introduced to the scope and significance, and the two main elements of the book with relevance to the Iranian Kurdish movement: firstly, the formation and politicisation of Kurdish national sentiment, and the reasons for the emergence and continuation of the Kurdish question in Iran; and secondly, the crossborder dimension of the interactions between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish political parties, and the impact of this interaction on the capability and direction of the Iranian Kurdish movement. In addition, this chapter reflects on the early twentieth-century nation-state policy in Iran, and its impact on the emergence of the national liberation movement of the Kurds in Iranian and reasons for the intensification and continuation of the Kurdish question.

Through this chapter light is shed on the different aspects of the Iranian Kurdish movement during the turbulence of the period from 1979 to the 1980s. The Islamic regime’s hostile attitude towards the non-Persian and non-Shiite people and communities’ claim of autonomy and decentralisation of power in Iran is dealt with as an explanation for violent clashes between regime forces and forces of nationalist groups in Iran’s peripheral regions. It is highlighted that the changing regimes in Tehran have, throughout the modern history of the country, failed to provide the non-Persian national communities with their political and cultural rights. In addition, the chapter concentrates on the relations in the twentieth century between Iran’s changing regimes and the non-Persian communities, showing that this relation contains several examples of the regime’s brutal attacks on the country’s Azeris, Kurds, Baluchis, Turkemens and Arabs. In this chapter I argue that a mutually mistrusting relationship between the sovereign and these mentioned non-Persian national groups has shaped Iran’s modern history of citizenship.

This concluding chapter compares and contrasts the Green Uprising with the Arab Spring revolts, underscoring connections between these historic events, and their strengths and weaknesses. Importantly, it also considers claims of the finality of the government’s defeat of the uprising on Revolution Day. For many, the uprising endures in one way or another. Long-term impacts on the government include shattered political taboos, issues of ideological legitimacy, and the subsequent conduct of the state. Despite claims of its failure by the state and more widely, the Green Movement continues to show signs of life. Once again, this uprising is situated in Iran’s genealogy of revolutionary upheaval—empowered by the past while also informing future protests. The book concludes, as it began, with a critique of the state’s preferred slogan that encapsulates its purposeful, one-dimensional understanding of the Iranian Revolution: “Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic.”

This chapter outlines the history of the 30 years between the Iranian Revolution of 1978‒1979 and the Green Uprisings of 2009, and contextualizes specific days of action that took place in 2009. For example, a brief history of the 1979 US embassy seizure is given to explain the political importance of the Green activists’ day of protest in 2009, when the 30th anniversary of the embassy seizure was used to denounce the Islamic government and its foreign backers. Other subjects covered in the chapter include the post-revolutionary power struggle, the Iran‒Iraq War and its conclusion, the export of the Iranian Revolution, the baby boom, the educational reforms that were designed to create the new Islamist citizen, gender politics, and the reconstruction years when Iran embarked on a period of privatization and development. The chapter explains how the radicals who were ousted from power later returned as reformists in the late 1990s, which prompted a conservative backlash in the form of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, followed in turn by a backlash against the conservatives in 2009 with the candidacy of Mir Hussein Mousavi.

This chapter continues the bottom-up approach to history with a focus on a specific day of crowd action, Quds Day. History infuses this day of protest with immense meaning and importance. In the 1970s all revolutionary factions in Iran championed throughout the region were championing Palestinian liberation, and the Islamists institutionalized the emancipation of Palestine as an integral part of the state’s ideology after consolidating power. Freeing Palestine became part of the nation’s visual culture, and the discourse of Palestinian liberation was taught to a generation of Iranian youth raised under the banner of the Islamic Republic. The state even designated the last Friday of Ramadan as Quds Day (Jerusalem Day). Thirty years later, Iranian youth used the occasion of Jerusalem Day to circumvent the security crackdown, re-emerging to protest the election results and the state that had ratified them. They used specific Palestine-centered imagery and slogans to either negate the state, or to legitimate their own uprising and portray the state as the usurper of power akin to Israel. The protest was continued online with specific digital displays of subversion.

Chapter 1 provides a theoretical introduction to the Green Uprisings of 2009, situating the Green Movement in a genealogy of Iranian history that is informed by the country’s past, and especially by the Iranian Revolution of 1978‒1979. Since the Iranian Revolution draws on specific moments of Islamic history, including the Battle of Karbala, this history is summarized for introductory purposes. Through this history and historiography, the reader can assess the lesser-known victories that have long-term implications for the future of Iran’s experiment with Islamic government—the “post-Islamist turn.” The chapter also makes the case for the research methodology of the book, and includes an outline of the five subsequent chapters. It ends with an important disclaimer in terms of who can speak for such a multi-faceted history so recent that it is still connected emotionally to countless people.