I RAN /P ERSIA Socio-Cultural Competence SS08 Presented by Daniel Snider Sye Macey Katharina Stöttinger

O VERVIEW Facts & Figures History Islam in Iran Values Intercultural Dimensions

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

T HANK YOU P ERSIA 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

A CTIVITY 2 How high would you estimate the Iranian GDP? How high would you estimate the income per capita? $USAAustriaMexicoGreece GDP 13.5 trillion billion trillion billion Per capita 43,44436,000 12,77534,814

F ACTS & F IGURES Capital: Tehran Official Language: Persian Population: GDP: $853.6 billion Per Capita: $12.300

F ACTS & F IGURES

A CTIVITY 3 Can you match the following religions to the corresponding portion of the pie chart? Shi‘a Muslim Sunni Muslim Other (Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian) 1 3

F ACTS & F IGURES *Other = Jewish Christian Zoroastrian

I SLAM IN I RAN 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

I RANIANS /P ERSIANS /M USLIMS / ARABS ? Bernard LewisBernard 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]"[1]

H ISTORY 1500 BC Persian king Cyrus – Ahaemenid Empire BC Alexander the Great Sasanian dynasty

H ISTORY 641 Arab Muslim rule Islamic conquest Safavid dynas ty Shiite Islam Qajar dynasty Russians vs the British

A CTIVITY 4 What important event took place in 1979? Can you name the current president of Iran? Can you name the current supreme leader of Iran?

H ISTORY 1925 Reza Shah Pahlavi Mohammed Reza Pahlavi 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini Islamic theocracy 2005 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I RANIAN V ALUES 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

A CTIVITY 5 Where would you place Iran on the scales of the following intercultural dimensions? Power Distancy Individuality Uncertainty avoidance

I NTERCULTURAL DIMENSIONS