CURA: Religion, Mass Media, and Charismatic Authority
“Religion, Mass Media, and Charismatic Authority: Iranian Music in the Revolutionary Decade, 1979-1989”
with Houchang Chehabi, Professor of International Relations and History
Tuesday, May 3
4pm Lecture
5:30pm Reception
GSU 239 Terrace Lounge
CURA is pleased to be hosting this Valedictory Lecture in honor of Professor Chehabi’s upcoming retirement. Please join us for a lecture and reception. RSVP here.
Description:
Soon after the revolution of 1979, music was outlawed in Iran, as Twelver Shiite Sharia takes a very restrictive view of music. The ban could not be enforced in practice, however. Not only did people continued playing and listening to music in private, but even the state-owned media, Radio and Television, could not function without a modicum of musical programming. Music became an issue in the factional struggles within the new regime, generating theological debates about its permissibility. In 1988 Ayatollah Khomeini settled the issue, as far as the state was concerned, by issuing a series of fatwas that in fact legalized music, breaking with hundreds of years of religious tradition.