The evolution of the concept of national identity in the Qajar era

Subject Areas : Journal of History (Tarikh)

Kianoosh Afshari ¹ , Hamed Ameri Golestani ² , Bahram Yousefi ³ , Shiva Jalalpoor ⁴

1 - Department of Political Sciences, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
2 - Department of Political Sciences, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
3 - Department of Political Sciences, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
4 - Department of Political Sciences, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran

Received: 2021-10-23 Accepted : 2022-03-06 Published : 2022-09-23

Keywords: homeland, Qajar Era, nation, National Identity, Archeology,

Abstract :

Iran, as one of the oldest countries in the world, has long had a kind of national identity and "nation" and this can be seen in the continuation of the name "Iran". The three building blocks of Iranian national identity are "being Iranian", "religion" and in the new era "modernity". The two ancient layers of Iranian national identity have long been more or less compatible with each other, and have and still have many overlapping elements. With the acquaintance of Iranians with the new world, it caused new awareness in this field and this awareness caused a change in this identity. Therefore, the main question of this research is how this change in the components of national identity was formed in the Qajar (pre-constitutional) era? This descriptive-analytical study has concluded that "archeology", "rewriting", "redefining the homeland" and "redefining the nation" and "shaping the idea of nationalism (in its modern sense)" are the most important components of the "new Iranian identity system".