A reading of the cultural modernization of Iran and Afghanistan during the reigns of Reza Shah and Amanullah Khan

Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under (CC BY-NC 4.0) license

Author

Associate Professor of History, Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to examine and analyze the process of cultural modernization in Iran and Afghanistan. The study of cultural modernization is important and worthy of research because, in the twentieth century, the two countries of Iran and Afghanistan, under the influence of domestic and international developments after World War I, underwent fundamental changes and new developments in the field of modernism and culture. Iran was going through difficult post-constitutional conditions, while Afghanistan had just gained independence and been freed from civil wars. The main issue of the research is to analyze the foundations and mechanisms of cultural modernization by Reza Shah and Amanullah. The present article attempts to answer the question of what the process of cultural modernization was like in Iran and Afghanistan and what results it brought? The findings of the article, using the method of historical analysis and based on historical documents, sources and evidence, show that the cultural modernization by Reza Shah in Iran and Amanullah Khan in Afghanistan created changes in traditional elements and followed the Western style. Both, in order to achieve their goal and program of modernization, used different and new tools to implement and implement the cultural modernization program. Based on the analytical comparison, modernization in Iran and Afghanistan was after World War I and was influenced by Western culture and civilization, and in some cases and elements of the implementation of cultural modernization in the two countries, different results were achieved, examples of which are mentioned and reviewed in the text.

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Main Subjects

Publisher: University of Tabriz       Copyright © The Authors   

   

 

This is an open access article distributed under the following Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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Iranian History of Culture
Volume 2, Issue 1
Spring & Summer
March 2025
Pages 105-120

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History

  • Receive Date: 08 February 2025
  • Revise Date: 09 March 2025
  • Accept Date: 10 March 2025
  • Publish Date: 21 March 2025

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