Islamism and Iran’s Islamic Period Museum

International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2013 Vol. 19, No. 3, 259–269, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2011.652145 Islamism and Iran’s Islamic Period Museum Ali Mozaffari* Centre for Muslim States and Societies (CMSS), Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia; Australia Asia Pacific Institute (AAPI), Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Perth, Australia (Received 25 October 2011; final version received 19 December 2011) bl is he d The Islamic Period Museum of Iran was established, almost 16 years after the Islamic Revolution, as an addition to the previous National Museum building – the Iran Bastan, or Ancient Iran Museum – in 1996. By examining the components of state Islamism, the space of the museum and key exhibits, this paper reveals the analogous relationship between the museum and state ideology. That relationship suggests that the museum embodies fundamental ambiguities and inconsistencies inherent in Iranian state Islamism. Those ambiguities and inconsistencies are only concealed, in the museum as in the ideology, by employing traditionalist rhetoric with regard to religion and identity. s pu Keywords: Islamism; Islamic Period Museum; Iran; national identity fin al dr af ta This paper examines the relationship between the state ideology of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its representation in the Islamic Period Museum (IPM) The IPM is part of the National Museum of Iran and was established in 1996 through the refurbishment of the former Ethnographic Museum.1 The architectural style of the building belongs to Europe’s monumental period in the 1930s, the interior, however, was refurbished and transformed to suit a curatorial narrative specifically developed for exhibiting artefacts of the Islamic period of Iran (672 CE to present). Ostensibly, the IPM represents the nation’s Islamic identity through the arrangement of artefacts, the curatorial narrative. However, its official rendition of that identity, this paper demonstrates, reproduces the internal tensions of Iranian state Islamism. Behind the appearance of a coherent place, the museum conceals inconsistencies and ambiguities inherent in Islamism as well as its mode of mass inculcation, being the invocation of the familiar sense of everyday religious experience. This paper begins with an examination of the state ideology and its components. This is important for understanding the subtle and complex relationship between that ideology and aspects of the spatial design and curatorial narrative of the museum that can address and engage the cultural experiences of museum goers. It will then introduce the IPM; and focus on the most pertinent elements of the curatorial narrative, an exhibition of Koranic manuscripts at the heart of the museum in particular. Through this examination, the paper demonstrates not only that the museum authenticates Islamism and emphasises the primacy of Islamic identity in *Email: a.mozaffari@curtin.edu.au Ó 2013 Taylor & Francis 260 A. Mozaffari Iran, but that it does so by invoking traditional ritual and religious practices familiar to Muslims. Incidentally, it is the traditional veneer of these invocations that conceal the ideological intent of the museum. fin al dr af ta s pu bl is he d Islamism definition and its roots Islamism is not a monolithic ideology. Nevertheless, in Iran and as a general concept, it encompasses different ideological tendencies based on interpretations of religion that dominated the 1979 Revolution of Iran, and has since become the state ideology of the Islamic Republic. The origins of Islamism may be traced back to local reactions to global developments in the late-nineteenth century; reactions to events such as colonial rivalries in the region, dominance of Iranian economy by foreign powers, specifically Russia and territorial excisions throughout the century. Such events had ultimately resulted in Iran – then known as Persia – existing in a state of dependency.2 Responses to this traumatic era transformed the old Empire of Persia into a modern nation-state, a process that was driven from the top and by the ruling and intellectual elite.3 A noteworthy section of those intellectuals were Islamic modernists – those asserting the compatibility between an ‘authentic’ Islam and modernity. They attempted to reconcile their Islamic identity with European Enlightenment, a move that could have resulted in a version of Islamic nationalism.4 However, their ideals were not realised as a secular nationalism dominated the political discourse and, by early twentieth century, a nationalist state – the Pahlavi monarchy (1925–1979) – with a Westernising and secularising agenda was in power. For a while, in the 1930s, the state suppressed public expressions of religious rituals and creeds. This, however, did not stop the private religious and ritual practices espoused by the majority Muslim-Shiite population.5 Towards the later part of the century, the Westernising trends of the state caused growing unease among some Western educated elite and the more conservative sectors of society. Those trends, they thought, would result in the loss of authentic Iranian identity. Islamism was one of the responses fashioned to the state ideology of nationalism. It drew on tenets of Shiism and was deceptively familiar to the public in its appropriation of religious mythology, jargon and rituals. Drawing on such emotional and cultural connections proponents of Islamism enlisted mass support for Revolution and the leadership of the clergy. Reacting to the ideology and cultural policies of previous establishments, the Islamic Republic promoted an official Islamic identity as the authentic identity of Iranians. The IPM of Iran reproduces and represents in its curatorial narrative and spatial arrangement, that Islamist state. The Iranian version of Islamism may be defined as comprising the following three tendencies: Pan-Islamism (also known as Islamic unity), Islamic Authenticity and Traditionalism. The first two are responses to the Enlightenment as a result of East–West encounters, and invoke interpretations of Shiite (Islamic) identity and practices (Burke 1998). Traditionalism, on the other hand, was expressed through a resurgence of the mystical outlook exemplified in Sufism, which is an umbrella term for the ascetic movements within Islam. Pan-Islamism Pan-Islamism is a modern invention that followed the formation of nation-states, when identification with, and loyalties to, the nation were beginning to transcend International Journal of Heritage Studies 261 dr af ta s pu bl is he d denominational limits (Enayat 2005, p. 41). It was a consequence of local encounters with Western Imperial conquests, modernism and the application of the Enlightenment ideal of a universal reason. Pan-Islamist thought is characterised by the incorporation of Western thought into Islamic outlook, thus a certain measure of Islamic revivalism to suit modern conditions, and political militancy against foreign domination (Keddie 1994, pp. 485–486). Pan-Islamists attempt to transcend or even mend confessional divides and consider Muslims as a united nation based in Islamic lands, a territory where Western encroachments have taken place (Keddie 1972, pp. 63–64, 130–131). This political persuasion was an attempt to secure an identity and respond to the challenge levelled at the people’s outlook by the Enlightenment and its world of nation-states. While its initial formulations were, in nineteenth century Iran, addressed to the elite (Enayat 2005, pp. 93–95), in the post-World War II period and particularly from the 1960s, a popularised notion of active and militant PanIslamism came to the fore. This group saw the current condition of the Iranian society and its politics as inauthentic. Similar to their brethren elsewhere, twentieth century Iranian Pan-Islamists drew upon and radicalised anti-imperialist and revivalist tendencies of the previous century. They sought to cultivate a transnational reaction borne partly as a result of popular disillusionment with Westernised governments of countries with a Muslim population. Its proponents, the militant clergy, some lay preachers and Islamic scholars and their followers from among the more socially conservative classes such as the bazaaris (traditional merchants), rejected the Western domination of Islamic societies and sought a complete purification of those societies from Western political, ideological and cultural influence. Pan-Islamists envisaged that this could be achieved through a return to and reinterpretation of the basic tenets of religion. In the museum, this tendency would figure in the form of the central exhibit and the way Islamic territories are defined and emphasises over and above national(ist) territories. fin al Islamic Authenticity Anti-imperialism, Islamic revivalism and a critical response to Western Enlightenment, which initially figured in Islamic unity, were also incorporated in another intellectual discourse focused on authenticity. This will be identified, after Lee (1997), as Islamic Authenticity, a movement that became prominent in the Islamic countries in the 1970s (Lee 1997, p. 1) and was a major contributing element to the Islamic Revolution and its Islamist ideology. Islamic Authenticity is fundamentally romantic and characteristically revolutionary. It stems from Western romantic debates on authenticity and is characterised by a critique, or even revolt against both tradition and modernity. Its proponents seek to construct what they consider to be the authentic Islamic tradition (Lee 1997, p. 16). This reconstructed tradition is different to dominant social customs, which Authentics see as impediments to human freedom. Islamic Authenticity is another response to the identity crisis in Islamic countries caused by the Enlightenment and its Humanist ideals. In the Iranian context, this response was fashioned by reinterpreting local Shiite traditions and rituals in light of Modern Western civilisation.6 It came through a reaction to Pahlavi cultural, social and government policies that aimed at Westernised progress, which the Authentics thought would result in the loss of Iranian identity 262 A. Mozaffari and consequently, subjugation to the West. They sought the definition of authentic Iranian identity, firstly in the country’s cultural, meaning religious, traditions and then in developing a scientific and rational understanding of the Western civilisation. Although this tendency is less pronounced than the other two in the space of the museum, it is detectable in the emphasis on the Islamic identity that dominates the interior and its relationship to the broader revolutionary discourses of the state. fin al dr af ta s pu bl is he d Traditionalism Islamic unity and Islamic Authenticity are attempts to repel Imperialism and furnish a response to the crisis it caused in the East. Traditionalism, on the other hand, is an attempt to redress the disillusionment with modernity and Western rationality felt by twentieth century intellectuals – initially in the West, but later globally – since the Renaissance (Sedgwick 2004, p. 264). The founder of twentieth century Traditionalism, René Guenon, endeavoured to ‘restore to the West an appropriate traditional civilization’, a ‘divine order’, which emphasises the immutability of traditions and their sacred aspects (Sedgwick 2004). This, essentially modern movement, is in the East merged with Sufism, which is a mystical movement within Islam that seeks to find divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God. Traditionalism is, in spirit, removed from Islamic Authenticity. Rather, its emphasis on the unity of all being under the aegis of religion, and an ideal origin located in a romanticised golden past, brings it closer to Pan-Islamism. In the Iranian society with its powerful, often living, Sufi traditions and religious belief, Traditionalism appeared as the continuation of the existing customs and penetrated ‘significant areas of Iranian life’ and politics. Traditionalism is, in spirit, removed from any kind of Islamic reformism and Islamic Authenticity. Rather, its emphasis on the unity of all being under the aegis of religion, and an ideal origin located in a romanticised golden past, is indicative of revivalist tendencies within it. From a Traditionalist perspective, Iranians have preserved their Persian essence within the Islamic civilisation. Since Tradition is essentially singular, hence the capitalisation, Islam is characterised as the authentic reassertion of timeless truths, also present in the decayed pre-Islamic Iranian traditions. Therefore, for Traditionalists, the Iranian conversion to Islam, which followed the Islamic conquest, would have been an expected and voluntary event. From this perspective, the contemporary Iranian, or Persian, views his or her life as completely and willingly immersed in religion and its laws (Nasr 1975, pp. 101–121). Traditionalism’s categorical rejection of Western civilisation and modernity is also apparent in its rejection of aspects of modernity such as secularism, nationalism and Westernisation – policies espoused by the pre-Revolutionary State of the Pahlavis (Nasr 1975, p. 105). In the museum, as in many instances of the state’s public discourse, Traditionalism is the concealing veneer, the gel that covers inherent contradictions within the ideology deferring contentious matters to tradition. This tendency would influence the formation and experience of the main exhibition level within the museum. Islamism Iranian Islamism was born from the confluence of the above three tendencies that are not fully congruent. As a syncretic ideology, it has remained ambiguous and is International Journal of Heritage Studies 263 pu bl is he d riddled with internal contradictions.7 For example, Islamic Authenticity’s critique of tradition is antithetical to the latter’s glorification by Traditionalists, while they both posit differently constructed origins for traditions. Nevertheless, the ideology galvanized much of the revolutionary activities, mass support and the direction of events that followed the Revolution. What these three strands have in common is firstly a rejection of the West, Westernisation and modernity on Western terms as symbolised by the deposed monarchy; and secondly, they draw their impetus from familiar traditions, much of which are dominated by the ethos of Shiism. The core question of Islamism has been over the relevance of native traditions to the contemporary conditions of Iran.8 Attempts to formulate a response to that question have informed the definition of heritage and heritage policies, and their practical outcomes have become manifest in the curatorial narrative of the IPM, where objects are narrated ‘in accordance with Islamic art and philosophy’ (Roohfar 1997, p. 55). The curatorial narrative of the museum closely reflects the above conditions of Islamism: each one of the three constituents of the ideology is present, without dominating the narrative. This peculiar condition in the curatorial narrative results in a general ambiguity in its meaning and ultimately the connotations of the museum while concurrently assisting the authentication of state ideology. With this background in mind, it is possible to detect and unravel ideological cues embedded in the curatorial narrative and architecture of the IPM. fin al dr af ta s The Museum and its curatorial narrative The building The museum is distributed over three levels. The entrance is through a raised ground level above which there are two other levels dedicated to permanent exhibition halls: the second level containing the museum shop and thematic exhibitions and the third level consisting of chronologically arranged exhibitions where historical periods are determined following the succession of dynasties that ruled over Iran after Islam. Spatially, the museum forms a concentric interior consisting of a primary central space surrounded by four secondary wings, one of which constitutes the entrance and stair hall. It is useful to focus on examples of exhibits on the second level and interpret them as the discussion proceeds. Exhibitions begin at this level. The galleries are entered through a large glazed wall beyond which there is a steel mesh providing a gridded view of the main hall of the museum. Framed and gridded views are not uncommon in traditional Iranian and Islamic architecture, however, such a metal trellis is only found in religious shrines. Specifically, the scale of the steel mesh invokes the lattice work in the mausoleum of Sheikh Safi ad-Din Ardebili, the founder and central figure of the Safavid dynasty, and by implication, for the advent of Shiism in Iran. The visitor may wonder if this is a hint towards the sanctity of the museum exhibits. Furthermore, the association with religious shrines, hinting at once to the other world through death and a sense of the sacred, has potent religious connotations, which bring together different components of Islamist ideology. In the traditional religious belief, death is the moment of union with God, a potentially significant purifier. This is manifest in the idea of martyrdom, exemplified in the martyrdom of the third Shiite saint, Imam Hossein. Both martyrdom and Hossein as its symbol have been potent political instruments of the Islamist ideology as is exemplified in 264 A. Mozaffari fin al dr af ta s pu bl is he d numerous wall paintings across Iranian towns. To Islamic Authentics, death is the ultimate expression of individual authenticity and a gateway to a superior knowledge, knowledge of the self. This kind of knowledge is imbued with a sense of the sacred. There is an overlap with Traditionalism in which self-knowledge, gained by chosen people, is the gateway to a superior knowledge, which Traditionalists identify as Sacred Knowledge. Further to providing a visual clue, the grid also directs visitor movement to a framed orientational map of the ‘Islamic territories.’ This map, which is entirely in Persian, suggests the geographical extent of the Islamic Empire (Figure 1). The most prominent feature of this map is the iconic building of the Ka‘ba in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) presented in its black cloth cover over yellow the desert colour of the Islamic lands. Ka‘ba, the House of God, is a sacred Muslim monument with a cosmological significance as well as daily relevance, since Muslims offer their daily prayers facing Ka‘ba. While in this exhibit, three-dimensional natural features are represented, and some countries such as Iran, Arabia and Spain are nominated, there is little emphasis on contemporary geo-political divisions among countries. The map depicts a pre-nationalist world and rather than overtly connoting contemporary nation-states, it is Mecca-centric emphasising Islam as the common cultural denominator of the depicted territories. There are a few place-names on the map, some of which designate the origins of exhibits in Iran, and some, such as Mosul in Iraq, are places that have been in cultural exchange with Iran (previously known as Persia) throughout centuries. The implicit transnationalism on this map may be interpreted as a commentary on the idea of a nation-state: it subsumes Iran under a notional Islamic territory without clearly denoting the relationship between the two, Iran and that world. The map in the IPM is in three colours that constitute a representational hierarchy: a realistic representation in black for Ka‘ba invoking medieval miniature paintings, a blue to represent water and an abstract desert yellow for all lands. Perhaps, the map is intended to suggest to the viewer that there is but one concrete and higher Figure 1. Orientational map or map of the Islamic world in the IPM. International Journal of Heritage Studies 265 he d Reality or Truth (symbolised through Ka‘ba) and the rest are only ‘abstractions’ from it. In this process, the notion of a homeland within a distinctive geopolitical entity is treated likewise, as an abstraction. Instead, the map denotes a spiritual homeland – the Islamic territory – the heart of which is Ka‘ba (in Mecca). Centring the Ka‘ba, the map immediately posits Islam as the ultimate source of authenticity and celebrates a Theo-centric unity that subsumes all other differences and divisions, including national divisions and this would seem out of place in a national museum. Through visual devices, this orientational map celebrates the unity of God, the fundamental doctrine of the Islamic faith, and also, the unity of all being with God, which is a Traditionalist idea. It also invokes the modern, pan-Islamic ideal of an essential unity of the Islamic territories and peoples. As an orientational map, this exhibit can prepare the visitor for the experience of any level of the above connotations (transnationalism, the Islamic territories as a spiritual homeland, the centrality of religion in identity), which, as elaborated later, exacerbates the perceptual confusion in the museum. fin al dr af ta s pu bl is The Koran exhibition Past the orientational map and a number of smaller exhibits, the visitor steps into the double-height central hall of the IPM, where the Koranic Manuscripts Exhibition is located (Figure 2). The space is covered with a decorative plaster dome that creates an acoustic effect, similar to traditional mosques. The exhibition is slightly elevated from the surroundings and is facing Mecca, the universal direction of all mosques. Its general characteristics invoke the idea of early Arabic mosques, which is reinforced with the presence of a prayer niche and rug within the space. The Figure 2. The Koran Exhibition with the metal trellis in the background. 266 A. Mozaffari fin al dr af ta s pu bl is he d Koran exhibition constructs its own architectural order in the interior, emphasising its independence from and authority over the rest of the IPM. The planning of the space is such that the visitor is required to submit to the autonomy and power of this exhibition by circumambulating and entering it facing the prayer niche. The museum space is, therefore, analogous to other Muslim ritual sites, and above all, the Ka‘ba in Mecca which is distinguished by formal simplicity and circumambulatory movement during the rituals. The collection of Korans at the centre is particularly significant for two reasons. Firstly, the Koran is seen by Muslims as the Prophet’s only Miracle, which is why the Arabic alphabet constitutes a ‘coherent, consistent and reasonably pan-Islamic’ visual symbol (Grabar 2006, p. 185) and its script is seen by some, including the curator, as a ‘divine sign’ (Roohfar 1999, p. 27). The Book contains knowledge of the Divine. The Koran exhibition is thus sacralised.9 This sacralised exhibition establishes a unidirectional validation from the centre towards the periphery, from God to all else. This is reinforced by subtler visual cues that make up the atmosphere of the IPM, such as the dominant whiteness of the exhibition, which suggests purity. Secondly, although the Koranic manuscripts in the exhibition range from the ninth to the twentieth century, historical and artistic evolution is secondary to the ultimate spatial unity of the arrangement. This imposed unity subsumes their distinct individual differences in artistic and stylistic expressions of the manuscripts positing them as different manifestations of the same truth. The explicit attempt for a timeless and sacred aura distinguishes this exhibition from the rest of the IPM, while invoking a most familiar religious place, the mosque. This exhibition may, on one hand, be interpreted as a Traditionalist symbol, an interpretation that one is tempted to extend to the rest of this level in the museum, and accords with parts of the state ideology. On the other hand, it may be a representation of Pan-Islamism, an interpretation that is consistent with the orientational map of the museum, the title of the museum – Islamic Period – and part of the state ideological rhetoric. Given that the IPM’s curatorial narrative primarily targets Muslims from within the Islamic Republic (Roohfar 1999, p. 26), the Koran Exhibition has further politico-historical connotations pertaining to the Islamist ideology. Firstly, to a local visitor, it is likely to invoke the role of mosques as multifarious revolutionary centres during and after the 1979 Revolution. There is mutual dependence and reinforcement between the institution of the mosque and community leadership in Islamic tradition. Secondly, by invoking early Islamic mosques, this exhibition suggests parallels between the events of the Revolution and those of the nascent and idealised Islamic community, positing the Islamic Republic as the reincarnation of the Islamic community and its leader as the heir to Prophet Mohammad. This recalls the Constitution of the Islamic Republic where it declares the objective of the Revolution to be a return to ‘authentic intellectual standpoints and world-view of Islam’ and the establishment of ‘ideal society’ based upon ‘Islamic norms,’ under the leadership of a jurist (Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran). The former curator of the museum has suggested the presence of an holy atmosphere in the museum (Roohfar 1999, p. 26), which recalls the Traditionalist assertion that traditional art ‘has a sacramental function’ (Nasr 1989, p. 253). From this perspective, the Korans, and indeed the rest of the museum, would convey the essence of humanity and are concerned with the attainment of Sacred Knowledge (Nasr 1989, p. 259) – the epiphany of God. The curatorial narrative imposes an internal hierarchy International Journal of Heritage Studies 267 fin al dr af ta s pu bl is he d among the exhibits, the centre of which is the Koran exhibition – indicating the supremacy of Sacred Knowledge – surrounded by other types of ‘scientific, historical and literary manuscripts10’, repositories of knowledge of a second order, according to a Traditionalist outlook. Such a concentric hierarchisation results in the classification of more mundane objects of daily life according to museological conventions in the peripheral galleries of the third level. The strong focus on the Koran Exhibition, which dominates the totality of the curatorial narrative, does invoke Traditionalism, but to fully accord with a Traditionalist view, a view that does not subscribe to modern historicality, historical progress and chronology would be the least of the curatorial narrative’s concerns. However, the presence of chronologically arranged exhibits that seem to historicise objects and impose a notion of historical progress in the museum results in an ambiguous, albeit religious, impression in this regard. It is also possible to detect the presence of, Islamic unity and Islamic Authenticity, which acknowledge and respond to historical processes within the museum. The Koran Exhibition resembles a prototypical seventh century AD mosque, as a central, politico-religious, civic and exclusively Muslim urban space (Grabar 2006, pp. 109– 110). This universal prototype is pre-denominational, suggesting an authentic, original Islam, no longer existing in the contemporary world. It suggests a return to origins and thus concurs with the orientational map, which subsumes different peoples and territories into an Islamic territory. It would appear that the thematic galleries on the second and third floors accord with this interpretation: they trace historical development of art objects, without placing an overt emphasis on Shiism. To this extent, the IPM’s curatorial narrative transcends denominational, confessional and territorial divides in favour of a unitary notion of Islam and an Islamic nation. Yet again, for the museum to be a true representation of Islamic unity, and for the orientational map to make any sense, exhibits must come from, or be related to, the extent of that imagined Islamic territory as depicted on that map and this does not happen in the museum. Instead, firstly, the information provided at the entry to each gallery suggests the influence of Persian art upon the Islamic arts of other lands, thus designating and separating this as a distinct sub-community, and secondly, the curatorial narrative utilises an Iran-centred periodization of history, appropriate for a national museum, by positioning Iran and its rulers in the context of larger events in other parts the Islamic Empire and in Muslims in general. The museum’s message thus remains ambiguous as a result of competing means of authentication with reference to Islam and the geo-political, national entity of Iran. Similarly, it could be argued that the curatorial narrative only partially reflects ideas of Islamic Authenticity as the exhibits are not necessarily limited to Shiite material culture. Instead, the museum seems to be underpinned by a vague sense of nationalism. It appears that the configuration of the Koran Exhibition is the main source of the IPM’s problematic ambiguity. Islamism as revolutionary ideology relied, above anything else, on ritual manifestations inherited from the Shiite traditions of Iran, a quality implied in the IPM. The ambivalence experienced towards the museum space, an ambivalence centred on reutilisation and the inculcation of a sense of the sacred, recalls state politics where Islamist ideologues invoked Shiite rituals and legends and co-opted a traditional aesthetic and combining it with other expedient modes of expression, as required. Thus, the ideology that was itself ambiguous nevertheless appeared deceptively familiar, traditional and authentic as it appropriated the memory of cultural practices. The museum mimes this quality. 268 A. Mozaffari fin al dr af ta s pu bl is he d Conclusion The central message of the curatorial narrative in the IPM emphasises the primacy of Islamic identity over all else. The curatorial narrative establishes a strong link between exhibits and the refurbished interior of the museum. Exhibits are at once art objects and yet in some instances, such as the Korans, they are sacred entities pertinent to daily lives of Muslim visitors. The exhibits thus invoke multiple references and this is amplified by the configuration of the interior space. That configuration has two attributes. Firstly, a central focus, which has made the position of the Koran Exhibition all the more prominent and therefore meaningful. Secondly, a specific movement pattern that resembles the circumambulatory patterns of Muslim rituals. The space, therefore, lends itself to specific religious interpretations on the part of the initiated – the local Muslim population. In it, they can imagine their familiar traditional religious practices such as daily prayers and the type of movement occurring in religious commemorative and pilgrimage rites, be it in a mosque, a saint’s tomb or other ritual sites. However, in constructing this religious message, the museum assists and reinforces the political message of state Islamism. As it was shown in this paper, the museum makes ‘subliminal’ references to aspects of Islamism. The emphasis of the museum seems to be not so much on detailed historical and scientific aspects of exhibits, but on making emotional connections and general impressions through the totality of space and the experience of movement through it. This amplification of cultural practices and emotive and bodily habits results in a transient emotional experience that conceals ambivalences and even contradictions in the curatorial narrative and, by extension, the state ideology. In this space, invocations of religious traditions act as a veneer that conceals the otherwise incompatible messages of the museum and its driving ideology of Islamism. The museum thus reproduces aspects of Islamism through its spatial and exhibitory relations. Authenticating that ideology, it also authenticates the state-sanctioned version of collective identity the core of which is an Islamic identity that is meant to subsume all other manifestations of identity. The IPM has been closed to the public for minor refurbishment since late 2008. It remains to be seen what will come out of this prolonged refurbishment and whether the curatorial narrative incurs any transformation. Acknowledgements The production of this paper was made possible in part through a Publication Grant awarded by Curtin University’s Faculty of Humanities. I would also like to thank the anonymous referees and the editor for their comments and acknowledge Associate Professor Nigel Westbrook from the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, and Professor Michael Pinches from the School of Cultural and Social Studies, Faculty of Humanities of the University of Western Australia for their constructive comments on the original research project, my doctoral dissertation at that university, from which this paper is drawn. Notes on contributor Ali Mozaffari is a research associate at the Centre for Muslim States and Societies at the University of Western Australia. He is also an associate at the Australia Asia Pacific Institute at Curtin University. His interests include place and identity, heritage and museum studies, cultural and architectural anthropology, cultural politics, Islamism and Iran. International Journal of Heritage Studies 269 Notes is he d 1. An ethnographic museum in this building never actually eventuated despite the fact that the building was designed and conceived, after a long process, to host ethnographic collections. 2. For the origins of Islamism, see among others, Enayat (2005) and Keddie (1994) and for a thorough discussion of the ‘state of dependency’ in Iran see Foran (1993). 3. I have discussed this in further detail in my doctoral research, Mozaffari (2010). 4. For the relationship between the Enlightenment thinking and Islamism, see Burke (1998). 5. Shiism is a denomination of Islam and the majority and official religion of Iran. 6. This strand of thought was championed by Ali Shari‘ati. For a summary of his thoughts refer to Rahnema (1994, pp. 208–250). 7. Such contradictions arguably originate from the ambiguities embedded in the Islamist ideology. For further reading refer to Burns (1996). 8. This classification is a means for analysing the IPM. In reality, there are even more fractures, ideological divisions, and factionalism within the ideology of the Islamic Republic than articulated in this chapter. 9. Scripture (the Koran) was the Prophet’s only Miracle and is regarded as sacred by all believers. 10. From the brochure of IPM published in English. bl References fin al dr af ta s pu Burke, E., 1998. Orientalism and world history: representing middle eastern nationalism and Islamism in the twentieth century. Theory and Society, 27, 489–507. Burns, G., 1996. Ideology, culture, and ambiguity: the revolutionary process in Iran. Theory and Society, 25, 349–388. Enayat, H., 2005. Modern Islamic political thought: the response of the Shii and Sunni Muslims to the twentieth century. London: I. B. Tauris. Foran, J., 1993. Fragile resistance: social transformation in Iran from 1500 to the revolution. Oxford: Westview Press. Grabar, O., 2006. Islamic art and beyond: constructing the study of Islamic art. Aldershot: Ashgate/Variorum. 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