Jennifer Jenkins, University of Toronto

Lecture Abstract: The economic and political relationships which linked Germany and Iran between 1873 and 1979 have been largely forgotten. This talk analyzes imperial German mappings of Iran as space of economic investment in the period between 1906 and the First World War, placing them in dialogue with Iranian nationalist depictions of the country's development in the wake of the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1906-1911). The connections forged between German and Iranian nationalist politicians in this period played forward into the First World War. The book project, from which this talk is a part, attempts both to 'de-center' German history from the perspective of its Persian frontier, and to place Iranian history into a global frame.

Presented in conjunction with the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies.