IRAN/PERSIA
Socio-Cultural Competence SS08
Presented by Daniel Snider Sye Macey Katharina Stöttinger
OVERVIEW
Facts
& Figures History Islam in Iran Values Intercultural Dimensions
ACTIVITY 1
Can you find out which Persian inventions these symbols stand for?
THANK YOU PERSIA
Goats Bricks Wine Tar (lute) Peaches Backgammon Zororastrianism
Taxes Courier Post Spinach Ice Cream Algebra Trigonometry Polo
Green = Islam
Script : „God is Great“
White = Peace
4crescents + 1 word + 1 shaddah = 5 pillars of Islam
Red = Bravery
$ GDP Per capita
USA 13.5 trillion 43,444
Austria Mexico Greece 297.5 1.149 412.5 billion trillion billion 36,000 12,775 34,814
ACTIVITY 2
How high would you estimate the Iranian GDP? How high would you estimate the income per capita?
FACTS & FIGURES
Capital: Tehran Official Language: Persian Population: 71.208.000 GDP: $853.6 billion Per Capita: $12.300
FACTS & FIGURES
3 1
ACTIVITY 3
Can you match the following religions to the corresponding portion of the pie chart? • Shi‘a Muslim • Sunni Muslim • Other (Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian)
FACTS & FIGURES
*Other = •Jewish •Christian •Zoroastrian
ISLAM IN IRAN
Only official Shi‘ite state of all Muslim countries Shi‘a Islam vs Sunny Islam: Dispute: Who should become Mohammed‘s successor?
Shia Muslims: followed Mohammed‘s daughter Fatimah Zara and his son-in-law Ali Sunni Muslims: followed Caliph Abu Bakr
IRANIANS/PERSIANS/MUSLIMS/ARA BS?
Bernard Lewis: "Iran was indeed Islamized, but it was not Arabized. Persians remained Persians. […] In a sense, Iranian Islam is a second advent of Islam itself, a new Islam sometimes referred to as Islam-i Ajam. It was this Persian Islam, rather than the original Arab Islam, that was brought to new areas and new peoples: to the Turks, first in Central Asia and then in the Middle East in the country which came to be called Turkey, and of course to India. The Ottoman Turks brought a form of Iranian civilization to the walls of Vienna...[1]"
HISTORY
1500 BC
•Persian king Cyrus – Ahaemenid Empire
331-330 BC
•Alexander the Great
•Sasanian dynasty
224- 640
HISTORY
• Arab Muslim rule • Islamic conquest
641
1501-1722
•Safavid dynasty •Shiite Islam •Qajar dynasty •Russians vs the British
1794-1925
ACTIVITY 4
What important event took place in 1979? Can you name the current president of Iran? Can you name the current supreme leader of Iran?
HISTORY
IRANIAN VALUES
Family values
Family as the basis of all social structures Priority of Family before business Importance of Privacy Nepotism
Public vs Private Identity
„zaher“ vs „batin“ Inner circle includes family and friends and can be extended to business partners
Taarof – Politeness
Protest compliments Always first decline offers before you finally accept
120 100
80
Austria 60 40 20 0 Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Individuality USA Mexico Greece
ACTIVITY 5
Where would you place Iran on the scales of the following intercultural dimensions?
Power Distancy
Individuality Uncertainty avoidance
INTERCULTURAL DIMENSIONS