عندما تعيد العروبة إنتاجها فى ظل الحكومات غير العربية الأحواز مثالا

Abstract

Abstract

The Ahwazi Arabs constituted about 3 percent of the total Iran’s population in 1986 and were residing in Al-Ahwaz which is in the southwest of Iran, bordered by Iraq.  Throughout the history, they played an important political role; especially during Iran-Iraq war when there was greed for oil and Arab world wanted to annex it to them on the basis that they considered it belonged to them.  Approximately 80% of Iranian exports are based on the oil industry and 70% of which are located in Ahwaz region which makes it clear that Arabs reside in the Iranian economic and strategic heart.

The Arabs embraced Iran’s legal and political system and abide by the same rules and regulations as all Iranian nationals. It also shares the other side of the Gulf and Iraq, similar language, traditions and customs with Arab. The Tribal System of Arab which originated from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Gulf states also corresponds to Iranian culture. But now sadly Arab societies are ignorant of this ethnic minority of Iran. Historians quote that in 1925 the last princess of Ahwazis, Sheikh Khazal Al-Kaabi was captured by Rezakhan Pahlavi, which led to the disputes between these two tribes. During the Pahlavi Rule, the Arabs were subjected to politics of Persians just like many other minorities in Iran. The Ahwazi elite played a significant role in revitalizing the Arab literature. They impeded the unification of Arab identity into the national identity, exploited cultural and political spaces under the reformist’s rule. This paper aims to discuss: How do the Ahwazis reproduce their Arab ethnic identity under the current circumstances? Following sub questions are also discussed within this framework:

First: What are the modern techniques adopted by the Ahwazis to reproduce their Arab cultural identity?

Second: Which important spaces were exploited by the elites to activate the elements of cultural identity?

This work is based on literature review and bibliographic search from scholarly studies, books, encyclopedias, magazines, semi-structured interviews and similar resources in four languages i.e. Arabic, English, French and Persian. The importance of this paper lies in the fact that it discusses the dynamic of Al-Ahwazi cultural identity, as it is considered among the first academic works in this field.