Ethnicity, identity, and the development of nationalism in Iran

This dissertation investigates the ways in which Iranian nationalism affected the lives of Armenian minorities in Iran during the twentieth century and illustrates how Armenian-Iranians participated in its evolution. Making use of oral historical and social biographical methodologies to investigate the lives of a selected group of heretofore unstudied Armenian-Iranians---a truck driver, a student, an army officer, a parliamentary representative and community organizer, and a scout leader---the study explores how Armenian minorities in Iran encountered and used nationalism over the course of their lives, and the personal conflicts and paradoxes attendant upon their layered allegiances and compound identities. Based on the stories and memories of research subjects gathered in oral interviews in addition to archival documents, newspapers, personal memorabilia and photos, the four social biographies detail the various roles and projects of elites and non-elites in the development of Iranian nationalism and exhibit the different loci of power in this process. Additionally, these portraits are conjoined with theories of nationalism and national identity in an analysis that answers pivotal recurring questions about how nationalism evolves, why it is appealing, what broad forces and daily activities shape and sustain it, and the role of ethnicity in its development. It argues that social biographical research is the key to elucidating the participation and collaboration of elites and non-elites in development of Iranian nationalism and to refining our understanding of the dialogic activity through which national identity is acquired and maintained. The study concludes with an epilogue to the four social biographies and a brief assessment of changes in Iranian nationalism and in the lives of Armenian-Iranians since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.