The Collectivist and Cooperative Identity of Iranians As Viewed By Travel Writers

Egocentrism, unilateralism, and authoritarianism are among the concepts emphasized by the orientalist approach in describing Iranian national identity. The dominant reasoning of the proponents of the approach in exploring the roots of these identity problems holds the historical tyranny ruling over Iranians responsible for its formation, and this historical deviation has periodically secured and rebuilt the pillars of despotism in Iran. This paper builds its claim on the criticism of these orientalist views and emphasizes that while Iranian history and identity have not been immune to "despotism intoxication" and that it has left its marks on the very temperaments of Iranians, highlighting the identity problems should not obstruct the attention to the aspects of the collectivist and cooperative attitude as the pillars and virtues of the Iranian civil life. This research reviews those Iranian and non-Iranian travel literature from the Safavid to the pre-Islamic Revolution era that have a more anthropological approach. The study is a descriptive and analytical review and the document research method is used to collect the data.