New Book Celebrates the Ongoing Impact of Houchang Chehabi
As 2025 was coming to a close, Harvard University Press released a new book that celebrates the work of Houchang E. Chehabi, Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History, titled The Making of Iranian Modernity: Studies in Honor of Houchang E. Chehabi, edited by Roham Alvandi, Afshin Marashi, and David Motadel.
Affectionately known as “Houchang”, Professor Chehabi’s continuous presence in the field of Iranian Studies for over four decades has cultivated an air of deep respect and familiarity from his colleagues, collaborators, and friends. During the 2022 Convocation celebration which also signified his retirement, Noora Lori, Associate Professor of International Relations remarked, “Throughout his distinguished career, Professor Houchang Chehabi has cultivated an interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and teaching that exemplifies the mission of the Pardee School.”
Chehabi has been credited for revolutionizing the field of Iranian Studies as well as lending a generous hand of support to new scholars. Marashi reflected on his own introduction to Chehabi’s work,
I first read Houchang as an undergraduate at Berkeley in the late 1980s. A professor of mine who knew Houchang from his days at Harvard recommended that I read his book about the post-revolutionary transitional government. When I started graduate work at UCLA, I was fortunate to overlap with Houchang when he was a visiting professor there in the mid-1990s. He gave me excellent advice during a critical phase of my early career.
At the time Houchang was part of a small group of scholars who were pioneering the field of cultural history in modern Iranian Studies, especially focusing on the interwar Reza Shah period. I was deeply influenced by his work in this period, in particular his famous article, Dress Codes and Nation-Building Under Reza Shah. Much of my work over the past three decades that focusses on various aspects of the cultural and intellectual history of modern Iranian national identity has grown out of what I learned from Houchang during that period.
Marashi added there is much interest in an ongoing rethinking of Iran’s modern history, especially now both within Iran and the global Iranian diaspora. “Houchang has always been consistent and unapologetic in his belief in the possibility of building a liberal, progressive, pluralistic, and democratic Iran,” he said. “Despite all the challenges that Iran has faced in the last four-plus decades, the articles in this volume will hopefully contribute towards a broader rethinking of the past and future of Iran.”
For the generations of Iranian Studies scholars who came of age after the 1979 revolution, Chehabi has been credited as an indispensable resource for helping them think and learn about Iran’s modern history. From inspiring young scholars to take up the task of Iranian Studies to his influential publications that have spearheaded the field, as Marashi put it, “His influence has been crucial in shaping the field of modern Iranian history.”
To know more about Chehabi’s scholarly work and achievements, visit his faculty profile.