The Role of Travelogues in Representing Qajar Politics and Kingship to the West

Authors

    Mostafa Karimi * Department of International Relations, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran mostafa.karimi91@yahoo.com

Keywords:

Travelogue, Qajar monarchy, Representation, Orientalism, Colonial discourse, Western foreign policy, Discourse analysis

Abstract

This article examines the role of travelogues in representing the Qajar monarchy and constructing a specific image of politics and power in Iran as seen by the West. Travelogues, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries, served as primary sources for analyzing Iranian politics, culture, and social structure. These texts not only directly describe Iran and its power relations but also function as tools for producing and consolidating colonial and Orientalist discourses. This paper particularly focuses on the discursive analysis of travelogues that depict Iran as a country devoid of rationality, corrupt, and despotic. This derogatory image, especially in works such as those by Edward Browne, Lord Curzon, and Colonel Shiel, was repeatedly used to legitimize Western political and military interventions in Iran and other Eastern countries. The study explores the role of these travelogues in producing and reinforcing colonial discourses and their discursive consequences on Western foreign policy towards Iran. Additionally, the paper highlights the limitations of this research and the need for further studies in this field.

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References

Browne, E. G. (1908). A Year Amongst the Persians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Curzon, G. N. (1892). Persia and the Persian Question. London: Longmans, Green.

Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London: Longman.

Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977. New York: Pantheon Books.

Gregory, D. (2004). The colonial present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq. Oxford: Blackwell.

Lewis, B. (1996). Islam and the West. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Macfie, A. L. (2002). Orientalism: A reader. New York: New York University Press.

Morier, J. J. (1815). A Journey through Persia, Armenia and Asia Minor. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.

Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.

Sheil, J. (1856). Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia. London: John Murray.

Yapp, M. E. (1980). Strategies of British India: Britain, Iran, and Afghanistan, 1798–1850. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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Published

2024-03-20

Submitted

2024-01-07

Revised

2024-02-08

Accepted

2024-02-18

Issue

Section

مقالات

How to Cite

Karimi, M. (2024). The Role of Travelogues in Representing Qajar Politics and Kingship to the West. Iranian Political History Research Journal, 2(1), 57-72. https://iphrj.com/index.php/iphrj/article/view/32

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