CMENA invites you to a special talk with Dr. Arash Davari, “Iran is Not a Signifier: Reflections on Imperialism and Revolution in the 21st Century,” co-hosted by the Asian American/Pacific Islander (AA/PIRC) Resource Center. This lecture addresses representations of Iran, adopting a phrase from René Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images.” The aim is not to reveal the ‘real’ Iran once and for all, but to diagnose assumptions that obscure our sense of reality concerning global politics.

The talk will focus on Iran’s encounter with Western colonial and imperial powers in the 19th and 20th centuries, when it ranked among a handful of “semi-colonial” or “unconquered” states. Is it possible to open seemingly intractable points of debate—many of which involve accusations of treachery—with reference to specific histories of Iran’s encounters with Western colonial and imperial powers?

Much like Vietnam when it repelled an American war, today the Islamic Republic of Iran has become a signifier for anti-colonial defiance to Western imperial powers in some quarters of the Left. This lecture addresses representations of Iran, adopting a phrase from René Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images.” Our aim is not to reveal the ‘real’ Iran once and for all, but to diagnose assumptions that obscure our sense of reality concerning global politics. These assumptions fuel polemics among people who otherwise share commitments to opposing US imperial ambitions in the Middle East. We will focus on Iran’s encounter with Western colonial and imperial powers in the 19th and 20th centuries, when it ranked among a handful of “semi-colonial” or “unconquered” states (Chehabi and Motadel, 2024). Does this uncommon experience shed light on the “unthinkable” mass mobilization that resulted in Iran’s 1979 revolution (Kurzman 2005, Ghamari-Tabrizi 2016)? Did it animate the Islamic Republic’s political and military strategies during the twelve-day (2025) and Ramadan (2026) wars? Conversely, does it inform recent social movements in Iran, some of which present themselves as revolutionary initiatives against the state? It is possible, I will suggest, to open seemingly intractable points of debate—many of which involve accusations of treachery—with reference to specific histories of Iran’s encounters with Western colonial and imperial powers.

Arash Davari is assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is the author of Insurgent Witness: Archetypes of Action in Revolutionary Iran (Cambridge University Press) as well as a number of writings at the intersection of political theory and Middle East history. He is a co-editor of the Iran page at Jadaliyya. He is also co-editing a volume of English-language translations of writings by Ali Shariati (under contract with the University of Minnesota Press).

Presented by the Center for the Middle East and North Africa and co-sponsored by the Asian American/Pacific Islander (AA/PIRC) Resource Center.