A Critique of Eurocentric Theories in the Periodization of Iran's Economic History: Ideology, Anachronism, and Meta-narrative

Economic historiography in Iran is generally expressed in the form of two epistemological approaches: Marxist-Leninist and theory of Asian mode of production. In these two approaches, despite trying to show the economic role of social classes and government in the history of Iran, historical ideas and experiences of feudal and capitalist economics in Europe have been extended to the economic history of Iran. This has caused the economic history of Iran to be considered in a situation unrelated to the historical experiences of Iranian society. This article investigates the problems and analytical limitations of the prevailing theoretical approaches in economic historiography of Iran in terms of intellectual and epistemological foundations. This article benefits from critical analysis method. The results show that the analytical models governing the periodization of Iran's economic history have a Eurocentric aspect; and due to ideology, the imposition of Eurocentric Meta-narratives and Anachronism, they have analytical limitations to understand the economic history of Iran. What has prevailed in the historiography and periodization of Iran's economic history through the socialist and Asian approaches is not derived from the characteristics and facts of the historical economy of Iranian society, but from a linear and evolutionary understanding of Iran's economic history based on the concept of progress in the historical thinking and experiences of the modern West.Keywords: Iran's economic history, historical time, historical periodization, Marxist-Leninist historiography, theory of Asian mode of production.