Abstract:
As a primary objective of this research, I will analyze the formulation and
function of national consciousness among Iranians of the diaspora in practice. I aim to
achieve this by examining the character, function and role of Iranian national
consciousness historically and in the present. The Shahnameh, the Iranian national epic,
has played a large role in the transmission of both dynastic history and Zoroastrian myth,
as have archaeological discoveries dating to pre-Islamic times in more recent years. I find
that in seeking to associate themselves with the glories of Achaemenid Ancient Persia,
modern Iranians surprisingly and perhaps unknowingly inhabit the same ritual space as
their Sasanian ancient Persian predecessors who sought to do the same. I examine how
conceptions of “Iran” and “non-Iran” in texts dating to the Sasanian dynasty lend affect
the formation of a national consciousness that stretches from the third century AD to the
present, transmitted via the inheritance of the Shahnameh, and form part of the basis of
modern Iranian nationalism among the diaspora. In order to examine the effects of both on the national consciousness and personal identity on individuals in the Iranian diaspora,
I also developed a survey questionnaire, the results of which serve as one of the central
points of investigation in this thesis. In light of a highly culturally diverse and
increasingly important Middle East, in this thesis, I will illuminate the origins of
nationality, identity and conceptions of nationhood in idiosyncratic Iran, a nation
surrounded by others near in the most literal sense, but surprisingly distant in cultural
mindsets and historical experiences.
Iran has been oft-understood, discussed, dissected and generally-known, albeit
mostly through the scope of Greek-speaking antagonists, the de facto forebears of future
Western imperial powers. This study provides insight into Iranian identity and into the
currents of nationalism that have shaped and continue to shape the Iranian collective
memory and self-reflective cultural view, which distinguish Iran from its neighbors and
portrays it as a highly idiosyncratic nation that must be understood and dealt with on its
own terms.
