One Identity, Two Graves An Examination of Origins, Evolution, and Politicization of the terms Iran and Persia in the Iranian Cultural Discourse

The present paper's primary focus is to study Iran's inclusive identity, which has been associated with different terms during its long history, like Persia, Persian, Parsi, Farsi, Iranian, Irani, and Aaryan. And to dispute the monopolistic claims of some particular ethnical, racial, religious, and linguistic groups in which they consider themselves as the true heir of thousand years of culture and history of a widespread land, only because they have inherent an Iranian language or religion. Indeed, original Iran, or the so-called “Greater Iran”, has formed new countries after centuries of invasion and has created the homeland of millions of Iranians and later Arab/Turk invaders. However, in this widespread cultural zone, Iranian languages are spoken, Iranian ethnicity is living, and Iranian cultural elements like the Nowruz festival are celebrated. Therefore, the use of Iran and Iranian culture or ethnicity is not limited to the political borders of today’s Iran but a more extensive cultural zone

کلیدواژه ها:

Iran ، Persia ، Parsi ، Farsi ، Aryan ، Zoroastrianism ، Mazdayasna ، identity