Roots of modern Shicite Sufism in Iran

Theories of cultural stagnation and decline or of modernization's devastation in the realm of Sufism have not only figured in orientalist or social science repertoires. Conversing with contemporary Iranian Sufis, one comes across a remarkable consensus: the Safawid rise to state power coincided with the eclipse of Sufism's radiant sun in Iran, and it has never since regained its former brilliance. Whether such views hold true in the history of ideas or at the strictly literary level remains for specialists to decide. However, various social and political transformations that have conditioned Iranian Sufism as it is presently known, contradict the idea of Sufism's stagnant and therefore negligible religiosity

Anthropological Exploration o f Modern Self

The anthropological research about to undertaken in this project centres around modern Shicite Sufi identity in Iran, which will be dealt with by exploring the construction of modern self in the Soltanca lishahi order. This and possibly other Iranian orders will be compared. Also compared will be two instances of modernity: the coming into being of the nation-state in early 20th-century Iran (particularly 1905-1911 and 1921-1941), and the re-emergence of a civil society since the last decade of the 20th century (especially since 1997). It is presumed that the former periods evidenced state-oriented identity formations, while the latter period witnessed more anti-statist ones. These are two variations of a modern Sufi orientation towards the Iranian nation