The Tragedy of Humanities and Social Sciences in Iran

Similar to David Ricci’s description of “tragedy” in analyzing the status of political science in the American universities of the mid-1980s, Iranian humanities and social sciences have faced a tragedy in since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This tragedy stems from the continuous policy of Islamization in its two waves: first the Islamization of the universities in 1980s and second the Islamization of humanities and social sciences in late 2000s. This has given rise to contending school of thought on the policy of Islamization and knowledge production in humanities and social sciences. The ideological religious school of thought has failed in its policy of Islamization, having a more narrow nase and less popularity in the Iranian humanities and social sciences milieu. Conversely, the historical sociology school, which emphasizes on the idea of the University of Iran, is getting more attention in this regard.