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Cultural Expertise in Iran: From the Pahlavi Dynasty to Contemporary Diasporas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2019

Soudabeh Marin
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Abstract

This paper suggests the use of cultural expertise as encompassing concept that can account for the natural cultural competence developed in Iran. In earlier times, Zoroastrian law was first based on religious norms and the primary theological division between sins and offenses. Iranians had to adapt to different legal systems: customary law, religious law and secular law. Priests, jurists, judges, officials and translators were the main cultural “experts” and mediators between the people and the normative institutions. The introduction of imami legal theories and jurisprudence in the 16th century together with the reinforcement of the secular political power engaged Iran in a stabilized judicial context ruled by shiʿi scholars, qāzis and mujtahids. In 1919, as a consequence of the new French inspired Constitution, the Ministry of Justice, in order to train a new generation of judges, magistrates and justice personnel, set up a law school. Professors, who can be considered as cultural experts, contributed to the acculturation process initiated in the judicial system. Examples of his continuous struggle are recounted in Ostad Elahi's (1895-1974) memoirs, relating the difficulty Iranians had to accept the change, both cultural and psychological, initiated by the modernization and westernization program put into operation (1911-1935).

Type
Forum: Cultural Expertise
Information
Law and History Review , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 75 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © the American Society for Legal History, Inc. 2019

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Footnotes

This article was presented for the first time at the workshop titled Cultural Expertise in Ancient and Modern History, which was convened on July 3–4 2018 by EURO-EXPERT, a project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under H2020-EU Consolidator Grant (ERC grant agreement no. 681814). The author wishes to express her gratitude and special thanks to Livia Holden Principal Investigator at EURO-EXPERT for her ongoing interest and support.

References

1. The Achaemenid Empire (650–330 BC), followed by the Seleucids (312 BC–248 BC), the Parthians (248 BC–224 AD) and the Sasanian (224–651 AD).

2. Zurvanism, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism.

3. Perikhanian, Anahit, “Introduction,” in Farraxvmart ī Vahrāmān, The Book of a Thousand Judgements [Hazār dādestān] (New York: Mazda Publishers, 1997), 13Google Scholar.

4. Maria Macuch, “Judicial and Legal Systems iii. Sasanian Legal System,” Encyclopædia Iranica Vol. XV, Fasc. 2, 181–96; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/judicial-and-legal-systems-iii-sasanian-legal-system (May 15, 2018).

5. Ibid.

6. Mainly Jews, Christians, and Sabians, but Zoroastrians were also integrated in this category.

7. The Mongol invasion (conquest and rule, 1219–1370) by Genghis Khan in 1219 followed by Timur (of Mongol or Turkic origin) and the Timurid dynasty (1370–1501).

8. Willem Floor, “Judicial and Legal Systems iv. Judicial System from the Advent of Islam through the 19th Century,” in Encyclopædia Iranica, an updated version of which is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/judicial-and-legal-systems-iv-judicial-system-from-the-advent-of-islam-through-the-19th-century (May 15, 2018).

9. Ibid.

10. Marin, Soudabeh, “Anciens et Modernes? Idéal de justice et révolution constitutionnelle (1905–1911),” in Droit et Cultures (Paris : L'Harmattan, 2006, volume 2), 139–67Google Scholar.

11. Marin, Soudabeh, “La reception mitigée des codifications napoléoniennes en Iran (1911–1935),” Droit et Cultures (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004, volume 2), 107–31Google Scholar.

12. The French language was also taught to Iranian students.

13. Demorgny, Gustave, Essai sur l'administration de la Perse. Leçons faites à la Classe Impériale et à l'École des Sciences Politiques de Téhéran 1912–1913 (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1913)Google Scholar. See also Les Institutions de La Police en Perse. Leçons faites au cours d'administration pratique et comparée professé à L'Institut Polytechnique de Téhéran (1913–1914, Premier Semestre) (London: Forgotten Books, 2018)Google Scholar and La question persane et la guerre : la rivalité anglo-russe en Perse, l'effort allemand, la politique persane, l'influence française (Paris: Hachette Livre BNF, 2013)Google Scholar.

14. Demorgny, Essai sur l'administration de la Perse, XX (Préface).

15. Ibid. (author's translation from French).

16. Elahi, Bahram, Âsâr al-Haqq, vol. II (Tehran: Enteshârât-e Jeyhûn, 1991), 350–51Google Scholar (author's translation from Persian). The oral teachings and memoirs of Ostad Elahi were re-transcribed and compiled in the two volumes of Âsâr al-Haqq by Bahram Elahi (Ostad Elahi's son).

17. The Official Site of Ostad Elahi, 2019. http://ostadelahi.com/life/judiciary/judicial-career/ (May 15, 2018).

18. Ibid.

19. Ostad Elahi was of Kurdish origin (born in Jeyhunābād, near the town of Kermānshāh, in the province of Kermānshāh). For a biography of Ostad Elahi, see Marin, Soudabeh, Ostad Elahi et la tradition (Bruxelles: Safran, 2012)Google Scholar. For information particularly on Elahi's career as a magistrate (1934–1957) and on Iranian legal history, see Marin, Soudabeh, Ostad Elahi et la modernité (Bruxelles: Safran, 2012)Google Scholar.

20. Elahi, Âsâr al-Haqq, vol. II, 392 (author's translation from Persian).

21. Author's translation from Persian.

22. Author's translation from Persian.

23. Author's translation from Persian.

24. Author's translation from Persian. Mortazavi's patients fell into three types: “I have mainly three categories of patients:

  • •

    • young educated people (25–35) who are no different than French people of their age, they have the same mentality, way of living and standards, for example, they have no taboo subjects like sexuality (they feel no shame nor are they too prudish as was the case with Iranians before the Revolution);

  • •

    • adults who came later, even if they are open-minded they still experience some cultural and mental blockages;

  • •

    • older people, parents of young adults, who had kept their ‘Ancien Régime’ mentality while living in France and haven't updated their beliefs.”

25. BBC Travel, The Persian Art of Etiquette, 2016. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20161104-the-persian-art-of-etiquette (April 10, 2018).