The “Iranian Awakening” in the perception of the Western observer: Myths and reality

The article attempts to analyze the materials of Western travelogues concerning the events in Iran in 1905–1911, which became a powerful ideological factor in the domestic political life of the country, for the first time so powerfully and obviously faced with the influence of Western ideas, the central part of which were the representative form of government, the constitution and the institution of the Majlis. It is no coincidence that these events were called the “Iranian awakening” (рers. bidari-ye irani) in ideological terms and the “constitutional movement” (рers. jonbeshe mashruteh) in the political. Actively disseminated in the official Western media and in the works of well-known colonial figures of Great Britain, which played the role of the leading power of the Western world throughout the 19th century, the point of view regarding the Westernization of Persia during the “Iranian awakening” turned out to be clearly one-sided and simplified the main course of events. The involvement of numerous travel guides of Western travelers who visited the country during the study period, who were not biased by their professional affiliation to the British government institutions, as additional sources of materials, allowed us to look at what is happening more objectively and not biased.

the “Iranian Awakening”, the Iranian Revolution of 1905–1911, the constitutional movement in Iran, travelogues, “the image of another”, imagology