Türkiye, Iran, and the Politics of Comparison

About this episode

The episode explores the political roots of comparativism in American discussions of Middle East politics, focusing on Turkey and Iran's historical relations and the influence of gender and race.

with Perin Gürel hosted by Chris Gratien | Comparisons are everywhere in American discussions of Middle East politics. As our guest, Perin Gürel, argues in a new book, this cultural impulse has political roots in the Cold War period. In this episode, we explore the origins of comparitivism through the lens of America's evolving relationship with Turkey and Iran over the course of the 20th century, focusing on how gender and race shaped the terms of the assymetrical relations between the US and other countries in the region. We discuss the "daddy issues" reflected in comparisons between the founding figures of the Republic of Turkey and Iran's monarchy, the changing image of Iran's empress on the global stage, and the ambivalent claims to whiteness and anti-imperialism that took shape in both countries. Throughout the conversation, we return to a critique of comparison as a placeholder for knowledge and a political instrument wielded with varying degrees of success to further American foreign policy goals, and we reflect on how this American project has shaped how all of us conceptualize the region's major social and political questions today. « Click for More »

People in this episode

Host: Chris Gratien

Guest: Perin Gürel

Topics covered

• Middle East politics
• comparativism
• gender and race
• American foreign policy
• Turkey and Iran relations
• cultural comparisons
• historical analysis

Keywords

• comparativism
• Middle East
• Turkey
• Iran
• gender
• race
• American foreign policy
• Cold War
• politics
• historical relations

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: United States, Republic of Turkey, Iran, Iran's monarchy, Cold War

More episodes of Women, Gender, and Sex in the Ottoman World

• Gender, Capitalism, and Democracy in Modern Arab Thought · September 30, 2024
• Paraskevi Kyrias, Albania, and the US at the Paris Peace Conference · January 21, 2021
• Freedom and Desire in Late Ottoman Erotica · February 7, 2020
• Osmanlı İstanbul'unda Evlilik ve Boşanma · November 29, 2019
• Population and Reproduction in the Late Ottoman Empire · August 7, 2019
• The Story Has It · July 18, 2019