National Identity in the Course of History
Author
Assistant Professor, Tehran University, Department of Political Science
Abstract
The objective of the present article is to specify the status of national identity in the course of history. The author tries to find an answer to the following questions: Did Iran, as a geographical, historical entity - that is, an entity with territorial borders and specific historical heritage, with its government and culture - find a significative atmosphere and came to the fore as a political discourse?
Is Iran, as an entity with territorial and historical continuity, a result of continuation of modern nationalist discourses, as some thinkers advocate in their nationalist studies and their research about national identity, particularly in their postmodern and ethnic approaches? Or, contrary to these
approaches, the Iranian national identity - that is, an approach based on historical, cultural and territorial continuity - is not limited to the modern era, rather it enjoys historical roots. Is emphasis on the historical backgrounds of pre-Islamic era of Iran and Iranians a modern atavist political discourse which has been created by the atavist Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century? Is the concept of national identity, nationality, and nation a social structure or an essential, natural old concept? Should the Iranian national identity, Iranian nationality and the Iranian nation be considered as an ancient, essential phenomenon or a kind of discursive, social organizational concept?
Is Iran, as an entity with territorial and historical continuity, a result of continuation of modern nationalist discourses, as some thinkers advocate in their nationalist studies and their research about national identity, particularly in their postmodern and ethnic approaches? Or, contrary to these
approaches, the Iranian national identity - that is, an approach based on historical, cultural and territorial continuity - is not limited to the modern era, rather it enjoys historical roots. Is emphasis on the historical backgrounds of pre-Islamic era of Iran and Iranians a modern atavist political discourse which has been created by the atavist Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century? Is the concept of national identity, nationality, and nation a social structure or an essential, natural old concept? Should the Iranian national identity, Iranian nationality and the Iranian nation be considered as an ancient, essential phenomenon or a kind of discursive, social organizational concept?
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