Discussion of the causes and effects of the Iranian Revolution.

Study Guide for the week of  March 8

1. Read De Fronzo, chapter 7. Then go to http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html for any segment that you do not understand. Answer the questions below in your own words.
2. In conjunction with the study of the Iranian Revolution, please view at least one of the following documentaries; and if you choose to review a documentary on the Iranian Revolution, write a review of one of them: Death in Tehran through our library’s Films on Demand database, about the 2009 election protests and the killing of Neda, a female protestor whose death was captured on a cell phone; or Women and Islam: Islam Unveiled, Part 1 on UTube. If you chose one of these as your second or third video,  then write a review following the instructions under Learning Activities and Course Requirements on the syllabus. Post review under “Course Assignments” in Blackboard by March 8th at midnight.

Estimated time: reading -5 hrs.,viewing documentary and writing review- 2 hrs., answering questions, reviewing other students’ postings, and posting comments-2.5 hrs. Total: (9.5 hrs.) Additional reading and writing time for MLA students:(5 hrs.)

De Fronzo:

1. Compare and contrast Shia and Sunni Muslim beliefs. To which sect do the majority of Muslims belong? To which sect do most Iranians belong?
2. Examine why the British decided to oust the Qajar Dynasty in the 1920s and replaced it with the Pahlavi Shah?
3. Analyze why the Reza Shah abdicated in 1941 in favor of his son, Muhammed Reza Shah Pahlavi.
4. Assess the effects of 1953 coup led by General Zahedi against the Mossadeq government.
5. Analyze the reasons for the 1963 opposition against the Shah. Who was the leader of the opposition?
6. Examine the social, economic, and political problems in Iran on the eve of the 1979 revolution.
7. Apply De Fronzo’s “five factors” to the Iranian Revolution.
8. Analyze how globalization was manifested in Iran and in the Iranian Revolution.
9. Assess the reasons on the part of Iraq and the US that De Fronzo gives for the Gulf War. Do you agree?
10. What were the effects of the Islamic revolution in Iran on the women of Iran? (This is not clear from De Fronzo. Look it up if you do not know it or incorporate information from the Women in Islam documentary, if you viewed that one).
11. Describe the 2009 Iranian election and the Green Revolution.
12. Examine Iranian international relations today. What issues exist between Iran and the United States and Europe? What is currently in the news about Iran?

MLA Students:

Please do the above reading, as well as read Shirin Ebadi’s Iran Awakening, if you chose to read this book. If this was the book you chose, write a one to one-and-a half page (250-350 word) summary and analysis of it. In one of the paragraphs, analyze how the revolution affected Ebadi and her family. Post this summary and analysis. Also post an answer to one of the study guide questions. You may choose from questions 6, 7, or 10.  If you chose the Ghonim book, finish reading it; and please answer two of the study guide questions.  (Your Ghonim review will be due on March 28th).