فهرست مطالب علی اکبر مسگر

The dominant narrative of the founding of the Sassanid Shahriari by the sword of Ardeshir Babakan and the subsequent conquest of the provinces of Iranshahr needs serious revision. Due to the continued existence of influential social dynasties that existed in the administration of Iranshahr centuries before the establishment of the Sassanid Shahriari, naturally, the Sassanid Empire could not have been achieved without their attention, participation, and powerful assistance. Contrary to new theories that try to consider the nature of government in Iran as a purely political entity separate from society; It must be acknowledged that the state while being the focal point of political cohesion, is also the center of the union of social forces. The main purpose of the research is not to provide a democratic review of politics in the Sassanid period, but main purpose will be to represent the social aspect of the Sassanid government and to outline the role of social forces in its establishment, consolidation, and continuity. The concept of the state in this view is not seen as an inflexible mechanical structure that is constantly in a cycle of tyranny and then collapse; Rather, the government is seen as a field in which all forces can play a role. This study intends to use the historical sociological approach, in addition to criticizing the theories of the government, to analyze the establishment of the government in this period based on the alliance, coalition, and rationality between the political structure and social forces of the time.

This research is based on Stuart Hall's theory of representation. By adopting this method, it intends to express the relationship between understanding the apocalypse and understanding the historical end with the conquest of Iran by Muslim Arabs according to the contents of Dēnkard's text. Thus, there is no meaningful proposition or belief outside the discourse of the Zoroastrian religion for the followers of that religion; And the causes of events are understood and interpreted in the context of the discourse rather than in the light of contemporary reality This discourse narrates the defeat of the Iranians and the conquest of Iranshahr with the hopeful elements of the end of the millennium, and the promised emergence and end of history.

From the early modern period and with the beginning of the political domination of the West in different parts of the world, including the East, the traditional interactions of East and West turned to new issues, and the need to know about new places was considered by Europeans for various reasons. From the seventeenth century onwards, there has been a close connection between Orientalism, as a profession and occupation, and the expansion of European trade, and eventually between imperialism and colonialism. With this approach, their view of other civilizations, especially the Orientals, changed with a sense of superiority and the need to dominate them. Eastern thinkers came up with different ways of dealing with the West. Although the critique of Orientalism began methodically after World War II, the grounds for this critique date back to before World War I and the emergence of national movements in the East. The purpose of these movements was to challenge the political and cultural hegemony of the West. Kasravi’s thoughts were formed at such a time; he was the first researcher in Iran and the East to deal with the issue of Orientalism, although not in a methodical and coherent way. Kasravi’s method of struggle in both areas was somewhat different from the others. It was during this literary struggle that he realized the nature of the research of some Orientalists on the issue of colonialism. The present study seeks to determine what approach Kasravi took in relation to Orientalist studies. The findings of the research show that Kasravi criticized Oriental studies and Orientalists in two respects. First, pointed out the fundamental flaws in the achievements of the West in order to free Iranians of the feeling of shame. Second, he expounded on the relation between Orientalism and colonialism, claiming these scholars to be keeping the Iranians in the past to preserve the domination of the colonial governments.

Recent archaeological discoveries in the Halilrud valley (Kerman province, Iran), especially at the Site of Varamin and Konar Sandal of Jiroft,  brought to light a hitherto unknown culture, the so-called “Jiroft civilization,” which generally dates back to the third millennium BC. Jiroft became famous between 2002/2003 when thousands of confiscated burial goods, especially elaborated carved chlorite vessels, from a dozen looted necropolises of Halil Rud impacted the media. Consequently, many scholars paid attention to Jiroft; some stated that Jiroft could be the “the lost civilization” between Mesopotamia and Indus valley. Some referred to it as the core of the production and probability distribution of the already known chlorite artifacts, the so-called “intercultural style.” Moreover, some pinpointed the toponym of MarhaŠi to Jiroft. In this paper, we will attempt to examine the Jiroft or Marhashi Civilization from a historical perspective based on the Mesopotamian cuneiform texts and the archaeological evidence. Importantly, our research indicated that Jiroft and Southern Mesopotamia were closely linked before the first appearance of Marhashi in the cuneiform texts (during the time of the Akkadian Sargon).

Established in 1925, the Pahlavi dynasty should be considered the foundation stone ofIranian modern absolute monarchy. This new type of government was the result ofconditions which called for modernization of Iran. Social modernization was a part ofReza’s modernization campaign which was somehow intertwined with identity-buildingand nation-building. In fact, identity-building gave birth to a new type of social identity inReza Shah era. The Majlis proposed and passed bills changing traditional structure of theIranian society and radically redefined Iranian identity in order to cement themodernizing government’s social programs. This paper studies the measures taken by theMajlis in this direction, including the passage of Personal Status Registration Act,Citizenship Act, Academy of Persian Language and Literature Charter, Organization forthe Cultivation of Ideas (Sazman-e Parvaresh-e Afkar) Charter, Persian Culture andLanguage Charter, and Iranian National Anthem.