Book Forum - The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, & Identity in Iran

While the Iranian nation-state has long captivated the attention of our media and politics, THE STATE OF RESISTANCE (Cambridge University Press) examines a country that is often misunderstood and explores forgotten aspects of the debate. Using innovative multi-disciplinary methods, it investigates the formation of an Iranian national identity over the last century and, significantly, the role of Iranian people in defining the contours of that identity. By employing popular culture as an archive of study, Assal Rad aims to rediscover the ordinary Iranian in studies of contemporary Iran, demonstrating how identity was shaped by music, literature, and film. Both accessible in style and meticulously researched, Rad's work cultivates a more holistic picture of Iranian politics, policy, and society, showing how the Iran of the past is intimately connected to that of the present.

ASSAL RAD graduated with a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018 with a focus on national identity formation and identity in post-revolutionary Iran. Raad works at the National Iranian American Council with the policy team on Iran policy issues and U.S.-Iran relations. Her writing can be seen in Newsweek, Independent, the National Interest, and Responsible Statecraft, and she has appeared as a commentator on the BBC, Al Jazeera, BBC Persian and NPR.

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