Babak Rahimi
Biographic Data
| ID | 1380032 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Babak Rahimi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Babak |
| FAMILY NAME | Rahimi |
| SIGNATURE | RAHIMI B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California San Diego |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6642-2212 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 4 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Iran: The Long War on Iran: New Events, Old Questions
Keys to Paradise: Imāmate and the Utopian Longings of the Shiʿi Devotional Text of Mafātīḥ al-jinān
This article offers a utopian interpretation of Shiʿi doctrine of the Imāmate as manifested in devotional practices. Divided into three sections, the study follows Ernst Bloch’s notion of utopian consciousness, first by providing a broad account of his notion of religion, and, in the second section, offering a Blochian understanding of the doctrine of Imāmate as the utopian basis of devotional practices. The discussion identifies devotional perfo…
Mohammad Nakhshab's concept of dialectical Tawhid: Vitalism and the question of monotheism
This article examines the philosophical thoughts of Mohammad Nakhshab (1923-1970), the co-founder of the Movement of God-Worshipping Socialists ( Nazhat Khoda Parastan-e Sosialist) in Iran. It argues that Nakhshab articulates an innovative reconceptualization of Islam through the critical appropriation of socialism and its political and technoscientific implications for world progress. Divided into two sections, the paper first contextualizes Nak…
Taʿziyeh Close-Up: A Conversation with Moslem Nadalizadeh
Described by Peter J. Chelkowski as “the sole form of serious drama to have developed in the world of Islam,” taʿziyeh is a performance form comprising elegiac, devotional performances in commemoration of the martyrdom of Husain ibn ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (626–680 CE), the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and the third Imam of Shiʿi Muslims.1 The revered Imam confronted the much larger army of Caliph Yazid ibn Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan on the desert pl…
Deafening Modernism: Embodied Language and Visual Poetics in American Literature
Disability studies is a growing academic field. Since mid-2000s disability studies has increasingly challenged the perceived imperative of normality in terms of body and its relation with the social order of normalcy. Equally important to note is that the field itself has pushed against academic marginalization, even in critical discourse fields such as gender, queer, and race studies. Part of the challenge for disability studies has been to iden…
Theatre in the Middle East: Between Performance and Politics
Digital Technology and Pilgrimage: Shiʿi Rituals of Arbaʿin in Iraq
Since the collapse of the Baʿathist regime after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Shiʿi Muslim rituals, in particular the annual commemorations of Arbaʿin, have seen a revival in popularity. Based on two fieldwork studies conducted during Arbaʿin in 2016 and 2017, the present study attempts to examine the changing characteristics of the rituals. It does so by studying the increasing digitization of Arbaʿin as a commemorative pilgrimage to K…
Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World
The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam
Wiley-Blackwell History of Islam
Democracy in Iran: Why it Failed and How It Might Succeed
Vahid Online: Post-2009 Iran and the Politics of Citizen Media Convergence
An attempt is made to study the social network site, Vahid Online, pseudonym of a leading Iranian activist who has the largest social media followership online. Vahid Online is Iran's leading distributor of information about social and political news about Iran, a source of information used by citizens and journalists. Similar to Twitter, Vahid Online posts, shares, and communicates news in short messages with hyperlinks, hashtags, or internet sl…
The Exodus in Islam: Citationality and Redemption
Social Media in Iran: Politics and Society after 2009
Satirical cultures of media publics in Iran
The article discusses the relationship between political satire and changing media practices in the context of Iranian political history. It argues how such practices produce distinct forms of publics with mediated modes of expression of dissent. From print to the Internet, media technologies have enabled different forms of communication that, correspondingly, have led to the formation of different form of satirical publics of (sub)cultural varia…
Censorship and the Islamic Republic: Two Modes of Regulatory Measures for Media in Iran
This article focuses on censorship in Iran and offers an overall view on the control of information through complex regulatory and cultural practices that make media production possible under the Islamic Republic. In contrast to conventional views of censorship as simply restricting content, this article defines two types of regulatory measures: reactive and proactive . It is argued that the latter is distinctive since it generates an environment…
Rethinking Digital Technologies in the Middle East
In 2003, while a graduate student working on my dissertation, I wrote an article on the Internet in postrevolutionary Iran that looked at the politics of the emerging technology in a country undergoing major political changes. In the context of political rivalries between reformists and conservatives, the Internet, I argued, “as an advancing means of communication,” played a key role in the struggle for democracy by opening up a virtual space of …
Social media in Iran: Politics and Society After 2009
Internet Censorship in Rouhani's Iran: The “Wooden Sword
A Critical Introduction to Khomeini
As the architect of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini remains one of the most inspirational and enigmatic figures of the twentieth century. The revolution placed Iran at the forefront of Middle East politics and the Islamic revival. Twenty years after his death, Khomeini is revered as a spiritual and political figurehead in Iran and in large swathes of the Islamic world, while in the West he is remembered by many as a dictator an…
Performing the Iranian State: Visual Culture and Representations of Iranian Identity
Theater State and the Formation of Early Modern Public Sphere in Iran: Studies on Safavid Muharram Rituals, 1590-1641 CE
During the Safavid period, the Shi'i Muharram commemorative rites which had been publically practiced since the 7th century, became a manifestation of state power. Already during the reign of Shah 'Abbas I (1587-1629) the Muharram rituals had transformed into an extraordinary rich repertoire of ceremonies and ceremonial spaces that can be defined as 'theater state'. Under Shah Safi I (1629-1642) these ceremonies ultimately led to carnivalesque ce…
Iran's Declining Influence in Iraq
Democratic authority, public Islam, and Shi’i jurisprudence in Iran and Iraq: Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani
This article compares the democratic thought and practice of two influential Shi’i Muslim theologians in Iran and Iraq. It argues that a new conception of Shi’i traditional authority has been developed by senior clerics Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani offering a new model of clerical authority closely connected to the democratic values of popular sovereignty and accountability: ‘democratic Usulism.’ Such a new paradigm envisions a form of r…
I ran's R eformists and A ctivists: I nternet E xploiters
Censorship and the Islamic Republic: Two Modes of Regulatory Measures for Media in Iran
This article focuses on censorship in Iran and offers an overall view on the control of information through complex regulatory and cultural practices that make media production possible under the Islamic Republic. In contrast to conventional views of censorship as simply restricting content, this article defines two types of regulatory measures: reactive and proactive . It is argued that the latter is distinctive since it generates an environment…
The Rebound Theater State: The Politics of the Safavid Camel Sacrifice Rituals, 1598–1695 C.E
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Democratic authority, public Islam, and Shi’i jurisprudence in Iran and Iraq: Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani
This article compares the democratic thought and practice of two influential Shi’i Muslim theologians in Iran and Iraq. It argues that a new conception of Shi’i traditional authority has been developed by senior clerics Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani offering a new model of clerical authority closely connected to the democratic values of popular sovereignty and accountability: ‘democratic Usulism.’ Such a new paradigm envisions a form of r…
I ran's R eformists and A ctivists: I nternet E xploiters
Between Chieftaincy and Knighthood: A Comparative Study of Ottoman and Safavid Origins
Tracing the history of the Ottoman and Safavid empires back to the Middle Period of Islamic history, this article focuses on their origins in the chieftaincies and the hybrid cultural formations of the Anatolian regions. While considering the inter/intracivilizational historical context of their respective rise to power, it is argued that the structural makeup of the empires differed primarily in their disparate forms of Sufi-knightly cultures, i…
Satirical cultures of media publics in Iran
The article discusses the relationship between political satire and changing media practices in the context of Iranian political history. It argues how such practices produce distinct forms of publics with mediated modes of expression of dissent. From print to the Internet, media technologies have enabled different forms of communication that, correspondingly, have led to the formation of different form of satirical publics of (sub)cultural varia…
Iran's Declining Influence in Iraq
Mohammad Nakhshab's concept of dialectical Tawhid: Vitalism and the question of monotheism
This article examines the philosophical thoughts of Mohammad Nakhshab (1923-1970), the co-founder of the Movement of God-Worshipping Socialists ( Nazhat Khoda Parastan-e Sosialist) in Iran. It argues that Nakhshab articulates an innovative reconceptualization of Islam through the critical appropriation of socialism and its political and technoscientific implications for world progress. Divided into two sections, the paper first contextualizes Nak…
Vahid Online: Post-2009 Iran and the Politics of Citizen Media Convergence
An attempt is made to study the social network site, Vahid Online, pseudonym of a leading Iranian activist who has the largest social media followership online. Vahid Online is Iran's leading distributor of information about social and political news about Iran, a source of information used by citizens and journalists. Similar to Twitter, Vahid Online posts, shares, and communicates news in short messages with hyperlinks, hashtags, or internet sl…
Internet Censorship in Rouhani's Iran: The “Wooden Sword
The Rebound Theater State: The Politics of the Safavid Camel Sacrifice Rituals, 1598–1695 C.E
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Between Chieftaincy and Knighthood: A Comparative Study of Ottoman and Safavid Origins
Tracing the history of the Ottoman and Safavid empires back to the Middle Period of Islamic history, this article focuses on their origins in the chieftaincies and the hybrid cultural formations of the Anatolian regions. While considering the inter/intracivilizational historical context of their respective rise to power, it is argued that the structural makeup of the empires differed primarily in their disparate forms of Sufi-knightly cultures, i…
Sacrifice, Transcendence and the Soldier
Chapter 2. The Middle Period: Islamic Axiality in the Age of Afro-Eurasian Transcultural Hybridity
I ran's R eformists and A ctivists: I nternet E xploiters
Theater State and the Formation of Early Modern Public Sphere in Iran: Studies on Safavid Muharram Rituals, 1590-1641 CE
During the Safavid period, the Shi'i Muharram commemorative rites which had been publically practiced since the 7th century, became a manifestation of state power. Already during the reign of Shah 'Abbas I (1587-1629) the Muharram rituals had transformed into an extraordinary rich repertoire of ceremonies and ceremonial spaces that can be defined as 'theater state'. Under Shah Safi I (1629-1642) these ceremonies ultimately led to carnivalesque ce…
Iran's Declining Influence in Iraq
Democratic authority, public Islam, and Shi’i jurisprudence in Iran and Iraq: Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani
This article compares the democratic thought and practice of two influential Shi’i Muslim theologians in Iran and Iraq. It argues that a new conception of Shi’i traditional authority has been developed by senior clerics Hussain Ali Montazeri and Ali Sistani offering a new model of clerical authority closely connected to the democratic values of popular sovereignty and accountability: ‘democratic Usulism.’ Such a new paradigm envisions a form of r…
Performing the Iranian State: Visual Culture and Representations of Iranian Identity
A Critical Introduction to Khomeini
As the architect of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini remains one of the most inspirational and enigmatic figures of the twentieth century. The revolution placed Iran at the forefront of Middle East politics and the Islamic revival. Twenty years after his death, Khomeini is revered as a spiritual and political figurehead in Iran and in large swathes of the Islamic world, while in the West he is remembered by many as a dictator an…
The Exodus in Islam: Citationality and Redemption
Social Media in Iran: Politics and Society after 2009
Satirical cultures of media publics in Iran
The article discusses the relationship between political satire and changing media practices in the context of Iranian political history. It argues how such practices produce distinct forms of publics with mediated modes of expression of dissent. From print to the Internet, media technologies have enabled different forms of communication that, correspondingly, have led to the formation of different form of satirical publics of (sub)cultural varia…
Censorship and the Islamic Republic: Two Modes of Regulatory Measures for Media in Iran
This article focuses on censorship in Iran and offers an overall view on the control of information through complex regulatory and cultural practices that make media production possible under the Islamic Republic. In contrast to conventional views of censorship as simply restricting content, this article defines two types of regulatory measures: reactive and proactive . It is argued that the latter is distinctive since it generates an environment…
Rethinking Digital Technologies in the Middle East
In 2003, while a graduate student working on my dissertation, I wrote an article on the Internet in postrevolutionary Iran that looked at the politics of the emerging technology in a country undergoing major political changes. In the context of political rivalries between reformists and conservatives, the Internet, I argued, “as an advancing means of communication,” played a key role in the struggle for democracy by opening up a virtual space of …
Social media in Iran: Politics and Society After 2009
Internet Censorship in Rouhani's Iran: The “Wooden Sword
Vahid Online: Post-2009 Iran and the Politics of Citizen Media Convergence
An attempt is made to study the social network site, Vahid Online, pseudonym of a leading Iranian activist who has the largest social media followership online. Vahid Online is Iran's leading distributor of information about social and political news about Iran, a source of information used by citizens and journalists. Similar to Twitter, Vahid Online posts, shares, and communicates news in short messages with hyperlinks, hashtags, or internet sl…
The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam
Wiley-Blackwell History of Islam
Democracy in Iran: Why it Failed and How It Might Succeed
Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World
Theatre in the Middle East: Between Performance and Politics
Digital Technology and Pilgrimage: Shiʿi Rituals of Arbaʿin in Iraq
Since the collapse of the Baʿathist regime after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Shiʿi Muslim rituals, in particular the annual commemorations of Arbaʿin, have seen a revival in popularity. Based on two fieldwork studies conducted during Arbaʿin in 2016 and 2017, the present study attempts to examine the changing characteristics of the rituals. It does so by studying the increasing digitization of Arbaʿin as a commemorative pilgrimage to K…
Taʿziyeh Close-Up: A Conversation with Moslem Nadalizadeh
Described by Peter J. Chelkowski as “the sole form of serious drama to have developed in the world of Islam,” taʿziyeh is a performance form comprising elegiac, devotional performances in commemoration of the martyrdom of Husain ibn ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (626–680 CE), the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and the third Imam of Shiʿi Muslims.1 The revered Imam confronted the much larger army of Caliph Yazid ibn Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan on the desert pl…
Islamic Studies and History (18 works) · History (16 works) · Political science (16 works) · Law (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Islam (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Ancient history (10 works) · Archaeology (10 works)