Cultural Revolution in Three Episodes: From Emergence to Institutionalization

Cultural revolution in Iran has been usually represented as an inescapable consequence of 1979 revolution, which imposed by government’s will to suppress the opponents and stabilize new order. Such descriptions lack the conditions and disputes out of which the event emerged. In this article, we contend that making sense of cultural revolution requires a more effective illustration through understanding the historical conditions, its relation with society and a thick description of the events. Moreover, based on conjunctural analysis, we argue that the whole procedure of the event can be analyzed in three episodes: the emergence, institutionalization, and re-opening of the universities. It seems that a series of events had an active hand in the processes including the rise of Islamists, the state’s weakness, the hostage crisis, the border unrests, the widespread clearings, the election of the first parliament, and the bombing of the offices of Islamic Republic Party and the prime minister. Furthermore, several critical issues initiate the event, including its scope and extension, the feature of post- revolutionary university, and the responsive authorities. In addition, the problem of academic order contributed in the period of institutionalization and establishing the Bureau of the Cultural Revolution. The last but not the least problem formed around reopening of humanities in universities. We argued the articulation of events and problems led to problematization of cultural revolution. Also this articulation illustrates the beginnings of ideological cultural politics in post-revolutionary Iran.