Turban or Hat, Seminarian or Soldier: State Building and Clergy Building in Reza Shah’s Iran
Author(s)
Keshavarzian, Arang
Abstract
Analyzes the era of state building under the Reza Shah Pahlavi, 1925-41. The creation of the nation-state reestablished boundaries that profoundly affected the position of Shiite clergy in society. Two laws in particular, the Conscription Law of 1925 and the Uniform Dress Code of 1928, sought to unify Iran and centralize authority but exempted the ulama, thereby setting Shiite clergy apart as a separate class in the society’s power structure. The analysis of anthropologist Clifford Geertz and his incorporation of symbols into political analysis helps explain the function of such symbols as the turban and aids a discussion of how the Shiite clergy had to find its place in the new order created in the process of Iranian state building.
