IRAN/PERSIA

Socio-Cultural CompetenceSS08

Presented by

Daniel Snider

Sye Macey

Katharina Stöttinger

OVERVIEW

Facts & FiguresHistoryIslam in IranValuesIntercultural

Dimensions

ACTIVITY 1Can you find out which Persian inventions these symbols stand for?

THANK YOU PERSIA

Goats Bricks Wine Tar (lute) Peaches Backgammon Zororastrianism

Taxes Courier Post Spinach Ice Cream Algebra Trigonometry Polo

Green = Islam

Red = Bravery

White = Peace

Script : „God is Great“

4crescents+ 1 word+ 1 shaddah= 5 pillars of Islam

ACTIVITY 2How high would you estimate the Iranian GDP?

How high would you estimate the income per capita?

$ USA Austria Mexico GreeceGDP 13.5

trillion297.5 billion

1.149 trillion

412.5 billion

Per capita

43,444 36,000 12,775 34,814

FACTS & FIGURES

Capital:Tehran

Official Language:Persian

Population:71.208.000

GDP:$853.6 billion

Per Capita:$12.300

FACTS & FIGURES

ACTIVITY 3Can you match the following religions to the corresponding portion of the pie chart?

• Shi‘a Muslim• Sunni Muslim• Other (Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian)

1

3

FACTS & FIGURES

*Other =•Jewish•Christian•Zoroastrian

ISLAM IN IRAN

Only official Shi‘ite state of all Muslim countries

Shi‘a Islam vs Sunny Islam:Dispute: Who should become Mohammed‘s successor?

Shia Muslims: followed Mohammed‘s daughter Fatimah Zara and his son-in-law Ali

Sunni Muslims: followed Caliph Abu Bakr

IRANIANS/PERSIANS/MUSLIMS/ARABS?

Bernard Lewis: "Iran was indeed Islamized, but it was not

Arabized. Persians remained Persians. […] In a sense, Iranian Islam is a second advent of Islam itself, a new Islam sometimes referred to as Islam-i Ajam. It was this Persian Islam, rather than the original Arab Islam, that was brought to new areas and new peoples: to the Turks, first in Central Asia and then in the Middle East in the country which came to be called Turkey, and of course to India. The Ottoman Turks brought a form of Iranian civilization to the walls of Vienna...[1]"

HISTORY

HISTORY

ACTIVITY 4What important event took place in 1979?

Can you name the current president of Iran?

Can you name the current supreme leader of Iran?

HISTORY

IRANIAN VALUES

Family values Family as the basis of all social structures Priority of Family before business Importance of Privacy Nepotism

Public vs Private Identity „zaher“ vs „batin“ Inner circle includes family and friends and can

be extended to business partners Taarof – Politeness

Protest compliments Always first decline offers before you finally

accept

ACTIVITY 5

Where would you place Iran on the scales of the following intercultural dimensions?

Power Distancy

Individuality

Uncertainty avoidance

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance

Individuality

Austria

USA

Mexico

Greece

INTERCULTURAL DIMENSIONS