PRS/MENA/ANTH 532 - Iranian Culture and Society

This course considers Iranian society and culture from the point of view of the social sciences, supplemented by insights provided through fiction and film. Course content focuses on twentieth-century and contemporary Iran. Topics will include tribal society, rural society, urban life, and their interactions; social structure; Iranian identity; gender; minority groups, language; religious beliefs and rituals; and political movements. The class will pay particular attention to how Iranian society and culture have been studied, by whom, and how these have changed over time. The course will emphasize the subject of diversity in Iran, and have a particular focus on the large body of social science research conducted in and around Fars province and the city of Shiraz.