Nationalism, Racialization, and the Politics of Inclusion: The Case of Turks in Iran (1828-1940)

Sevil Suleymani

Advisor: Manjusha Nair, PhD, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Committee Members: John Dale, Yasemin Ipek

Horizon Hall, #6325 and Zoom
April 07, 2025, 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Abstract:

This study critically examines the role of racialization in the formation of Iranian national identity from the late Qajar to the early Pahlavi period (1828–1940). It challenges the dominance of West-centric theories of nationalism, which often fail to account for non-colonized states like Iran, and instead adopts a historical sociology approach to understanding how Persian identity was constructed as the dominant national identity through the racialization of non-Persian groups.

Drawing on critical race theory and historical sociology, this study explores how European racial theories, particularly Aryanism, were appropriated by Iranian intellectuals to shape a Persian-centric nationalism that marginalized non-Persian communities, particularly Turks in Iran. The study traces the transmission of Persophilia from European Orientalists to Iranian nationalists, examining figures such as Fatali Akhundzade, Agha Khan Kermani, and Jalal al-Din Mirza Qajar and their role in integrating racial and nationalist ideologies into Iranian historiography and state policies. Through an interdisciplinary analysis of historical texts, intellectual discourse, and state-building policies, it demonstrates how racialization was embedded in Iran’s nationalist project, leading to the exclusion and erasure of non-Persian groups.

By focusing on the case of Turks in Iran, this research contributes to discussions on nation-state formation, race, and identity in non-Western contexts by exploring how racialization was central to the homogenization of Iranian national identity. Furthermore, this study advances decolonial and global race studies by demonstrating that racialized nation-building is not exclusive to the West. By examining how Aryanism was localized in Iran to justify Persian hegemony, it offers a comparative framework that situates Iran within global histories of race and nationalism. It provides a critical reassessment of how racialization—rather than language, religion, or culture alone—shaped the formation of the modern Iranian nation-state, revealing the limits of Western-centric theories in explaining non-Western experiences of nationalism and identity formation.

Join us in person or on Zoom: https://to.gmu.edu/SuleymaniDefense