Iran Explained

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In this episode, I speak with Amir Akhami, a psychiatrist and a historian of medicine, about the history of cholera in Iran. We talk about his multi-disciplinary career and how his various areas of knowledge converge in his work. We discuss what Cholera is, its history starting in the 19th century and its role in the history of Iran in particular, from a medical, social and political perspective. He takes us through a historical journey all the way from the Qajar era to today’s Iran and its current public health challenges. We touch a lot of different subjects such the role of global trade, imperialism, the role of religion, history of medicine and many other topics. 

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In this episode, I speak with Narges Bajoghli, an award-winning anthropologist, filmmaker, writer and an Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. We mostly talk about the topics in her upcoming book titled 'Iran Reframed,' which is about the state-controlled media in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We discuss what it means to be pro-regime in Iran and the debates around the future of the Islamic Republic taking place in that country. We also discuss the prospects of war between Iran and the US and many other topics.

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In this episode, I speak with Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, a historian and a Senior Lecturer at King's College London. We talk about what he calls 'dislocative nationalism', a sort of Iranian nationalism that was deliberately devised and disseminated, starting in the 19th century. He outlines the founding of dislocative nationalism and how it aimed to cast Iran’s pre-Islamic period as the nation’s golden age, interpreting Islam as an alien religion. He explains the otherization of Arabs in Iran and how the country was dislodged from its empirical reality and tied to Europe and the Aryan race by transforming and using European racial ideas of the time.
 

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I'm ending Season 1 of talk iran with this short update episode. Stay tuned for Season 2 starting in April!

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In this episode, I speak with Lior Sternfeld, a social historian of the modern Middle East with a particular interest in the histories of the Jewish populations of the region. Lior and I talk about the 2,700-year history of the Iranian Jewish population focusing mostly on the 20th century and the misperceptions of the lives of Jews in Iran. We further talk about how Iranian Jews became a prominent community within Iran during the course of the 20th century, whether Iranian Jews identify primarily as Jewish or Iranian, the difference between the Jewish communities of Iran and of other Middle Eastern countries, the status of Jews under the Islamic Republic, the Iranian Jewish community in Israel and the United States and other related topics.

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In this episode, I speak with Bahman Kalbasi, the New York and United Nations Correspondent for BBC Persian. He and I talk about the recent US sanctions against Iran and the reports of related shortages in food and medicine coming out of that country, how the tension between the US and Iran may unfold, the various Iranian opposition movements in exile and whether they have mobilizing potential, the Jamal Khashoggi murder and its implications on the geopolitics of the Middle East, the US midterm elections and how the Democrats’ newfound power affects US foreign and domestic policies, the various Persian-language channels based in the UK and their sources of funding, the recent high-profile departures at BBC Persian, his interviews with high-profile American politicians and other topics.

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In this episode, I speak with Florida State Representative Anna V. Eskamani, the first ever Iranian-American to be elected to the Florida legislature and one of only a handful of Iranian-Americans to ever be elected to public office in the US. She and I talk about her historic win, her family background and why she decided to run, why Iranian-Americans have shied away from running for public office in the US, national politics and President Trump, her platform and how she plans to achieve her objectives as a State Representative, her future plans and other topics.

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In this episode, I speak with Yara Elmjouie, an Iranian-American video producer and presenter at AJ+. He and I talk about his time in Iran as a freelance journalist, his background and how he became a video producer, the video making process, Iranian politics and the sanctions, the Iranian-American identity and whether to identify as Persian or Iranian and many other topics.

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In this episode, I speak with Armin Navabi, an Iranian-Canadian ex-Muslim atheist, secular activist, author and podcaster. Armin and I talk about his experience as a child growing up in Iran and becoming indoctrinated in the Shia Muslim faith, a fateful suicide attempt, how he left religion and started the Atheist Republic online community, the operations of Atheist Republic, atheism and anti-Islamic sentiment in Iran, the government of Iran, the various Iranian opposition groups, what would happen to Islamists in a democratic Iran, his book, the difference between his criticism of Islam and the right-wing xenophobic criticisms, the need for spirituality and a sense of community in people’s lives and other topics.

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In this episode, I speak with Dr. Eskandar Sadeghi, a political and intellectual historian of modern Iran and the Middle East. My conversation with him mostly revolves around Iran’s post-revolutionary reform movement. We further discuss the ascent of Ayatollah Khamenei to become Iran’s Supreme Leader after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, the obstacles to reform within the Iranian system, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the 2009 Green Movement, current events and Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy towards Iran, the various opposition groups in exile and other topics. 

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