LEARNING TARGETS: The objective of the course is to provide students with the basic tools to know the history of Iran of 19th and 20th centuries. In that period the major transformation that have taken place in that country, somehow suspended between tradition and innovation, have led to the construction of a new identity. For this purpose, emphasis will be put on issues concerning the origin of the modernization process in the Qajar period (with particular reference to the reign of Nasiroddin Shah and his cultural politics), the European imperialism, the Constitutional Revolution; the modernization process during the Pahlavi dynasty; the 1953 coup d’état and the Islamic Revolution, with the shaping of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its consolidation at the beginning of 21st c. A Particular attention will be given to the genesis of the Iranian nationalist movement and its different ideological components; among these, the exaltation of the pre-Islamic past, the reconstruction of which racist theories of European origin have also contributed.
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of the course students will acquire a prior knowledge of the main historical events and political and social issues of Iran of 19th and 20th centuries, that will ensure them a vision of that country more critical with respect to the commonly diffused, eurocentristic one, and flexibility of judgement and choice; they will be able to use the acquired knowledge in the historical field to better understand, analyse and describe the contemporary political processes in the investigated geo-political area; they will be able to take a critical approach in reading texts concerning Iran and other Middle Eastern countries; they will acquire ability to compare and evaluate.