Nationalism, Modernity, and the Issue of Linguistic Diversity in Iran

Abstract

Reminiscent of the Persian Empire-one of the world's oldest civilizations and superpowers with three millennia of written history and rich cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity-contemporary Iran could be viewed as a "paradise" for sociolinguistic research. This book aims to open the gates to this paradise, at least ajar, by addressing some relevant and important socio-linguistic questions. What characterizes this book is its focus on sociolinguis-tic phenomena as situated in over a century-long history of the politicization of language and ethnicity and the more recent phenomena of globalization, immigration, and mobility. This volume aligns the research of scholars from a range of specialties who focus on the cutting-edge topics of language policy, ethnic and heritage language maintenance, and ethnic, national, and trans-national identities. These under-researched issues are relevant and important in the context of Iran due to their interconnection with governmental policies, public discourses, and pedagogical practices, on the one hand, and