In the midst of the unprecedented military tension between Israel and Iran, the Iranian academic and thinker Hamid Dabbashi participated in an open statement he signed with a number of opposition Iranian thinkers, in which they stressed that the difference with the authority does not justify silence in the face of a “bloody external aggression”. They called for solidarity and rationality, and they warned against the transformation of the crisis into a catastrophe to rupture the country’s unity and double the internal collapse.
Hamid Dabbashi, a professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature at Columbia University in New York, who was born on June 15, 1951 for a family of working class in the city of Al -Ahwaz in southwestern Iran, in Khuzestan Governorate, received his early education in his hometown and university education in Tehran, before moving to the United States, where he obtained a double doctorate degree in sociology of culture and Islamic studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984, It was followed by a post -PhD fellowship at Harvard University.
Dabbashi is a global cultural critic and a prize -winning author, and his books and articles have been translated into many languages; Where 20 books on topics ranging from Iranian studies, Islam in the Middle Ages, modern, comparative literature, global cinema and the philosophy of art, this momentum in academic giving calls on us to wonder about his perception and philosophy on Iran, so we will present through this presentation the 4 most important books presented by Hamid Dabashi, which intensifies his multi -compound vision of Iran, in which he challenges the prevailing perceptions, and focuses on its composite and independent identity on Western and colonial narratives.
Iran: People of Sections.
The book “Iran: A People: A People Interrupted”, issued in 2007, by Hamid Dabashi, is an analytical, emotional and controversial work at the same time; Dabashi provides in this book a brief narration of Iranian history from the early 19th century to Iran today; Dabbashi has invested his insightful analytical skills to put a strong argument against the prevailing views of Iran in the West.
In the essence of his argument, Dabbashi believes that the western approaches to Iran have always been signed with besieged assumptions between a retroactive “tradition” and “modernity”, but he argues that the Iranian reality is completely different from that; And Iran, according to Dabbashi, in his book “Iran: People of Sections” has its distinctive ideology, which contradicts many Western ideals. To prove his point of view, Dabbashi relies on his long experience in literary criticism to analyze the relationship between the intellectual and political elites in Iran for two centuries. Accordingly, Dabbashi presented the basic evidence supporting his region, and Dabbashi has repeatedly found effects of an Iranian concept of modernity that completely contradicts his Western counterpart.
The book “Iran: People of Sections” is classified as two broad academic fields; The field of post -colonial studies and Iranian studies, and through this work, Dabbashi aims to challenge Iran’s stereotype as a habitual state between “a warrior imitation and strange modernity”, and calls for the adoption of a more historical, multi -faceted reading, and materially established for Iran. He believes that this stereotypes serves Western interests and offends the history and culture of the region, not just Iran.
The book shows how “anti -colonial modernity” has evolved naturally through generations through what Iranian thinkers produced, as well as how to absorb these ideas for the ideals that arose from the era of enlightenment, such as “civil disobedience”, to confront the repression from home and abroad, and Dabbashi considers that “the main goal of Iranian modernity over the past 200 years is the continuous struggle against colonial domination and imperialism To our destiny. “
The importance of the book “Iran: People of Sequets” is highlighted in being one of the first works that were dominated by the development of ideas according to a critical approach against colonialism and documenting the intellectual development of Iran in the English language, and it was published in 2007, at a time when Iran was topped by international titles because of its nuclear program in the era of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
This book provides valuable evidence for scientists, politicians, and diplomats seeking a deeper understanding of the Iranian mentality; It reveals a rich intellectual history based on resisting internal and external repression, and emphasizes the deep sense of the national pride of the Iranians, so “Iran: people of clips” remain an authentic and valuable contribution in the study of Iran, and helps in interpreting many of Iran’s actions today by revealing its rich intellectual history resistant to internal and external repression.
“Iran: re -birth of a nation”
Hamid Dabbashi’s book “Iran: the Rebirt of a Nation) issued in 2016, a deep analysis of Iran, not only as a national state, but as a” nation “with a rooted identity that exceeds the borders of countries and successive ideologies; Dabbashi believes that the concept of the Iranian “nation” is different from the ruling “state”, and that this historical contrast does not weaken either of them, but rather gives them mutual power in a harmonious way.
Dabbashi argues that Iran as a nation has its “private anti -colonial modernity”, which naturally developed through two centuries of interaction between Iranian intellectuals; This modernity, according to Dabbashi, is not just a cloning of Western concepts. Rather, it is an authentic vision of modern life that is formed according to Iran’s private conditions. The book is based on the idea that Iranian national awareness has expanded and exceeded the fake limits imposed by the post -colonial state.
Dabbashi sheds light on the fact that the Iranian “public space” throughout its history was a scene to express the national will and resist the ruling regimes, whether royal or religious, and confirms that this area goes beyond the borders of the geographical state and is affected by global cultural dialogues, which gives the Iranian nation strength and flexibility in the face of internal and external challenges.
Dabbashi presents the concept of “aesthetic intuition of transcendence” as a driving force that enables the nation to re -invent itself and transcend the restrictions of the “post -colonial mind” and “colonial modernity”; This intuition is manifested in Iranian arts and literature, which in the eyes of Dabbashi is an expression of the true spirit of the nation, in isolation from political ideologies.
Dabbashi believes that Iranian poetry and cinema are basic tools for understanding the development of Iranian thought and its resistance to repression and expressing the national identity in the face of attempts to dominate, whether internal or external, and he also sees that this complex relationship between the nation and the state embodies an important key to understanding Iran today, and its strength in the regional and global scene.
“Iran without borders”
Hamid Dabashi’s book “Iran Without Borders: Towards the criticism of the post -colonial nation” with 2016, on the idea that “Iran” as an artificial in its post -colonial border, and the goal of the book to dismantle the wrong diodes, such as “Islamic/fundamentalist” opposite “secular”, “heritage” in exchange for “modernity”, or “Iran” opposite the West, which distorted Iranian society historically and restricted its moral imagination. Instead, the book suggests that the “global cosmic”, which Dabbashi sees the true feature of Iranian culture, which is rooted in its imperial past and its transnational interactions.
The other main idea is that the Iranian “national identity” has always been a transitory process for national and post -patriotic borders, and has been formed through the interaction and the common influence with different parts of the world, including India, Central Asia, the Arab and Ottoman worlds and Europe. This was evident in the exchange of ideas and publications, and the travel of Iranian intellectuals, artists and politicians who often worked outside the material borders of Iran.
Dabbashi confirms his book that the Iranian culture is characterized by the inherent “global cosmic” and an internal dynamic that continues to constantly beyond the narrow nationalities. This is evident through examples such as the influence of international poets (Neruda, Mayakovsky, Mahmoud Darwish, Hughes) on Iranian poetry, the global success of Iranian cinema and art, and the historical interdependence of Iranian political movements with global struggles against colonialism.
The book also highlighted the importance of workers ’migration in shaping the cosmic nature of Iranian cities such as Al -Ahwaz, transcending the concepts of the“ indigenous ”population, stressing that artificial ethnic identities ignore the centrality of work in urban formation. It also emphasizes how labor movements that show a transient solidarity of the national borders between workers from different backgrounds, which are often against colonial exploitation and tyranny.
The book provides criticism of the studies of traditional “diaspora”, which it believes that it often exaggerates the glorification of the concept of “homeland” and “exile”, and argues that such approaches tend to give a local character and isolate creativity in the artificial national borders.
Revolution in a post -democratic world
The book of Hamid Dabashi is studying “Iran in a revolution: revolutionary aspirations in the post-democratic world: Revolutionary aspirations in a post-democratic world issued in 2025, the recent uprisings in Iran, especially the” Gina Intifada “(or an amino-sided uprising) in 2022, wondering about the nature of Revolutions in the world of today, which he describes as “post -democratic”; Dabbashi believes that the concept of “democracy” has become a colonialism, and just a trick for global capitalism.
Dabbashi argues that these uprisings, led by Iranian women of all classes and social and economic backgrounds, are not just periodic protests, but rather as manifestations of a deeper revolution that gradually occurs in people’s mindset, in their lifestyle, and social relationships.
This revolution, which Dabbashi calls “Khisash” (an uprising in the Persian language), does not necessarily aim to drop a system of government and replace it with another, but rather to dismantle the concept of the state itself, and to enhance a self -rule at local and popular levels.
Dabbashi criticizes the prevailing perceptions of the West and adopted by some Iranian opposition circles abroad, which are trying to link these uprisings with external agendas or depicting them as a longing for the return of the monarchy; It confirms that such attempts do not understand the true nature of the movement, which is broader and more complicated than just changing a system of government.
Dabbashi also argues in the book that the post -colonial nation -state has lost its legitimacy and has become merely a tool for repression rather than a mechanism for social welfare. This failure explains the “raw anger” that causes contemporary uprisings.
The “Gina Intifada”, according to Dabbashi, also showed the pivotal role of Iranian women who lead the protests against the veil of the veil and demanding economic opportunities, social freedom and political participation. Dabbashi believes that the struggle of women is against the masculinity and the parents of the modern state.
Dabbashi also emphasized in the study on the ethnic, cultural and linguistic pluralism in Iran, and announced his rejection of the narrow ethnic nationalities that seek to divide the country and strongly criticize “famous activists” in the cyberspace, where he sees that they contribute to falsifying reality and turning the real struggle into a commodity. It also warns of “capital monitoring” that exploits the data to direct the protests.
The book also proposes the emergence of what he called the “new theology”, which exceeds the traditional duets between “Islam” and “secular” or “East” and “the West” and which is inherent in the collective awareness of the Iranians, and reflects a rejection of political Islam in its extremist form and seeks more global and human faith, and concludes with his firm rejection of any return to the rule of the Shah’s dynasty, and he sees that this movement is supported Some Iranian diaspora abroad is a “frank fascism” and another copy of the repressive systems.