Foucault and Iran: An interdisciplinary study

This dissertation aims to study a case of contradiction between Foucault's social practice in his articles on the Iranian revolution and his theories of the "subject", of the "pluralism of centers of power of resistance," and of the notion of "the author". The disparity between the analysis of this revolution by Foucault and the testimonies of those present on the scene provokes serious questions, the study of which results in surprising results. The first chapter presents a survey on the Foucaldien theories of the subject, of the revolution, and of the notion and the role of intellectuals and reveals the similarity between the Foucaldien notion of the "specific intellectual" and the Gramscien notion of the "organic intellectual" as well as the similarity between Foucault's and Kant's analysis of the revolution. The second chapter analyses a transcript of Foucault's lecture at the College de France on the concept of spirituality and throws light on the importance that he gives to the role of spirituality in his study of the subject and social changes. The third chapter presents a summary of Foucault's dispatches on the Iranian revolution. The fourth chapter explores the Foucaldien strategy by examining his new definition of the engaged intellectual. The study of the Foucaldien tactics to attain the Foucaldien strategy is the subject of the following chapter. The reception of his dispatches is presented in chapter VII, followed by an analysis of the Iranian revolution of 1979 as I witnessed and understood it. Foucault's strategic support for Khomeini, as well as his infatuation with the movement, is studied in the context of a new orientalism that tints Foucault's dispatches on the Iranian revolution. Two appendices follow the conclusion. The first aims to complete the revolution's chronology as presented by Foucault in Dits et Ecrits, (III,663), and the second one, discuses the contradictions in the development of contemporary Iranian culture by presenting Sadegh Hedayat's text: The Blind Owel, (1927) as the forerunner of post modernism in Iran.