{"id":103,"date":"2025-08-14T08:44:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talkframework.com\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2025-09-23T10:48:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T10:48:55","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.talkframework.com\/?page_id=103","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Home<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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History<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History builds an origin story that is used to define a culture, and this mythology can offer levers for cultural change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most European languages, the word for \u201chistory\u201d and \u201cstory\u201d is the same:\u00a0histoire<\/em>\u00a0in French,\u00a0Geschichte<\/em>\u00a0in German,\u00a0\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u044f<\/em>in Russian. History often claims a definite article \u2013 the history of the French Revolution is \u201cthe\u201d, not \u201ca\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s a more definitive story. We expect history to draw from factual events, even if it is inevitably selective in doing so. But the shared etymology tells us something about the power of storytelling in creating a national myth. There are many different stories we can tell about the past, each of which will cast its own light on who we were and who we are today. The ones we congregate around were chosen for a reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If history can be shaped by context and opinion, it is also prone to being edited. Stalin’s regime frequently revised history books, purging the existence of rivals such as Trotsky and doctoring photos as needed. In India, successive Hindu nationalist governments have ensured that school textbooks highlight ancient Hindu achievements and downplay the importance of Muslim rulers, while left-leaning governments have taken the opposite approach. Following the handover of Hong Kong to China, history curricula in schools were revised to promote Chinese national identity and the narratives that built it, and to take a more critical stance on British rule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incoming governments reshape how history is taught in schools because it has enormous power in shaping a nation\u2019s sense of self, values and political priorities. It is at the core of any shared culture. It can also be easily manipulated, because it lies in the fact-vs-fiction sweet spot of being rooted in factual events while being selectively interpreted. You can therefore argue, simultaneously, that two very different accounts of the same time are true, providing an apparently factual basis for both of these ideological claims: Britain was an aggressive colonial power that grew rich on trans-Atlantic slavery; Britain was the first country to outlaw slavery and created better, fairer governance systems in countries across the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at a quick vignette about Iran\/Persia as a broad example of how a range of levers can be extracted through differing interpretations of history:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Persia\u2019s rich pre-Islamic history is often invoked by Iranian nationalists as a reminder of Iran\u2019s distinctive culture and character. This can be set against the perception of interference from other powers, whether Western or Sunni middle-eastern rivals. Persia carries the legacy of Cyrus the Great\u2019s declaration of human rights on the Cyrus Cylinder, and wants to be seen to be committed to global justice, and they also wish to highlight what they see as hollow claims of US imperialists who claim to be tolerant liberals but bully other states into doing their bidding. Iran\u2019s Shia heritage is also used: the Safavid Dynasty, which established Shia Islam as Iran\u2019s state religion, can be drawn on to reinforce Iran’s position as the leader of the Shia community, and also underpins its ideological and geopolitical rivalry with Sunni-majority powers like Saudi Arabia. The 20th-century struggle against British and Russian domination, as well as the 1979 Revolution overthrowing the Western-based Pahlavi monarchy, is a further cornerstone of Iranian identity. This allows Iranian messaging to frame resistance to American sanctions or military posturing in the Gulf as part of a long history of defiance against imperialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s current Shia regime is highly competent at leveraging elements of Persian exceptionalism that existed before Islam to support its theocratic ends. But these were used by the secular Pahlavi regime that preceded it too, drawing on ancient Persia as the foundation for Iranian national identity to build a sense of secular pride distinct from the Islamic past. The aim was to reduce the role of Islam in public life and replace it with secular nationalist narratives instead. Pre-Islamic symbols, such as the Faravahar<\/em>, the Zoroastrian guardian angel, were used in state propaganda. The history curriculum was reshaped to focus on pre-Islamic achievements while minimising Islamic history. 
The Persian origin story is therefore rich with levers which can be adapted for different ends, depending on whether the aim is to situate Iran as a proud uninvaded holdout against imperialist enemies or to revive Persian glory as a proud holdout against the Arab tendency to politicise Islam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n