Document Type : Research

Authors

• Mansour Tabiee ¹
• Ali Mozafari ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Political Sociology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

² PhD Student, Political Sociology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

Discussing the national identity of Iranians, drawing its image, and criticizing its foundations have been among the controversial academic topics in recent decades. This controversial dialogue, especially in the shadow of the emergence of the theories called postmodernism, has opened new points of view in historiography and has prompted some people to critically look at the conventional narratives of Iranian history through the lens of these new perspectives and reveal their weaknesses. In this article, we have chosen one of the most referenced works of this kind of research; That is, “Vernacular Modernity and the Rethinking of History” written by Mohammad Tavakoli Targhi. We have shown that this compilation, despite relying on first-hand sources and their innovative reading, has theoretical and methodological flaws. To describe the shortcomings in independent chapters, we have criticized the form, theoretical foundations, and methodology of the work and tried to show to what extent these weaknesses affect the acceptance of the research results. Based on this study, it seems that the main shortcoming in the theoretical plan of the book is that it has not given a clear definition of tradition. Such ambiguity in the definition of tradition has influenced various aspects and has made it difficult to accept its arguments.

Keywords

• National Identity
• Historical Rethinking
• Modernity
• Iranian History
• Vernacular Modernity

Main Subjects

• Sociology