Farhang Rajaee
Civilization, Modernity and Globalization; Morality and International Relations; Political Thought in Islam (History and Contemporary); The Human Condition and Identity
| Degrees: | BA (Tehran) MA (Oklahoma) PhD (Virginia) |
| Email: | farhang.rajaee@carleton.ca |
Professor
Professor of Political Science and Humanities, specializing in political theory and non-Western traditions, particularly Modern Political Thought in Islam. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Tehran (1975), an MA in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma (1977), and a PhD in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia (1983). Professor Rajaee’s past experiences include:
- Teaching and research at Faculty of International Relations, the University of Tehran, Research Professor at the Iranian Academy of Philosophy, and Associate Professor at Beheshti (National) University (1986-1996);
- Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford (1990-1991);
- Research fellow at Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (1996); and
- Visiting Professor at Shawnee State University, Ohio (summer 2001).
In his research, Professor Rajaee concentrates on identity and the human condition through an understanding of the political, in both Western and non-Western traditions. In his works Globalization on Trial (2000) and Kenneth W. Thompson, The Prophet of Norms; International Thought and Practice (2013), he has addressed these concerns as they manifest in the West and assessed the modern globalized condition of one civilization containing many cultures. In addition, Professor Rajaee conducts specialized research of various specific regions. Works such as Bazigary dar Baq-e Hoviyat-e Irani; Sarnemooni Hafez (Being a Player in the Garden of Iranian Identity; Hafez as a Paradigm, 2017), Moshkeleye Hoviyat-e Iranian Emruz (The Problemarique of the Contemporary Iranian Identity, 2018), Ma’rekeye Jahanbiniha (The Battle of Worldviews, 1995 and 1997) and Islamism and Modernism: the Metamorphosis of the Islamic Discourse in Iran (2007) address politics and identity among Iranian Muslims; Andisheye Siyassi Mo’asser dar Jahan Arab (Contemporary Political Thought in the Arab World, 2002) concentrates on the political thought of contemporary Arab Muslims; and his book Tahavol Andisheye Siyasi dar Sharqe Bastan (The Development of Political Ideas in the Ancient East, 1993 and 2011) considers political and international thought of ancient Mesopotamia, Persia, India, and China. Along with books, Professor Rajaee has published a number of articles in leading journals on the role of intellectuals in politics, cultural issues in globalization, and Iranian politics.
After being the Director of the College of the Humanities for ten years, and a professor in the Department of Political Science, he currently dedicates his time to teaching in both units. Along with co-teaching the fourth year core course of the Humanities Program, he teaches courses in political science and in his area of Muslim political thought, both past and present.
He follows his research agenda by concentrating on two research projects, both authored books. The first, tentatively titled “Performing Human; Civility and Civilization,” offers a philosophical journey into the art of performing human. The second (in Persian) tentatively titled “Civilizational Governmentality or Sustainable Development; Ideas and Thinkers” presents an account of the “idea of the political” as well the views of such luminaries, as Hannah Arendt, Fernand Braudel, Hamid Enayat, Ibn Khaldun, Darioush Shayegan, Chalres Taylor and others whom, in Rajaee’s account best help the understanding of the political.
He continues with his translation of great texts from English into Persian of which he just submitted for publication the following: Fernand Braudel. Civilization and Capitalism 15th– 18th Century, Volume 1; the Structure of Everyday Life. Translated and annotated from English into Persian (Tehran: Elmi-Farhangi Publishing Co., forthcoming).
Selected Publications
Moshkeleye Hoviyat-e Iranian Emruz. (The Problematique of the Contemporary Iranian Identity). Tehran: Nashr-e Ney, New edition 1397/ 2018, (This is the eight printing of the book)
Bazigary dar Baq-e Hoviyat-e Irani; Sarnemooni Hafez (Being a Player in the Garden of Iranian Identity; Hafez as a Paradigm). Tehran: Nashr-e Ney, 1396 /2017
Kenneth W. Thompson, the Prophet of Norms; International Thought and Practice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Islamism and Modernism; the Changing Discourse in Iran. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007, translated into Arabic as Al-Islamoviya Val-hadathata: al-Khataba al-Motaghayer fi Iran (United Arab Republic: The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 2010)
Globalization on Trial: the Human Condition and the Information Civilization. (Ottawa: IDRC and West Hartford Ct: Kumerian, February 2000), translated into French as La Mondialisation au banc des accusés;La condition humaine et la civilisation de l’information (2001), and into Persian as Padideye Jahanishodan; Vazeiyate Bashari va Tamadone Etela’ati. (Tehran: Agah, 2001 and 2004).