Maziar Behrooz—Exploring Islam's diversity

For the past several months, SFSU historian Maziar Behrooz may have been better known off campus than on campus. The scholar of Middle East history and Islamic history and culture has been in demand by the media for analysis during war with Iraq, patiently explaining the differences between the Shiite Arabs in the south, the Sunni Arabs in the middle and the Kurds in the north of the country.

"Whether I am teaching in class or responding to questions by the media, I try to show the diversity of the Islamic world," said Behrooz, an assistant professor of history."I try to explain that Islam as a religion is subject to interpretation, similar to other religions and that the current developments in the Islamic world have socio-economic as well as colonial causes."

Born in Iran, which is formally called the Islamic Republic of Iran, Behrooz grew up in a middle class household in Tehran filled with many discussions of the intellectual and political topics of the day. "Many family members were left-wing, ex-political activists," Behrooz recalled. "My parents were both activists during the 1940s and my father is a journalist-in fact one of the eldest in the field in Iran-and he kept our family environment interested in social issues and encouraged us to read books."

Behrooz spent his last two years of high school in England before deciding to come to the United States in the late 1970s to continue his education. He landed in the Bay Area at St. Mary's College because a friend of the family taught there and graduated in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in history and government. Attracted by the reputation of the History Department at SFSU, Behrooz came across the bay for graduate studies in the history of modern Europe and received his master's degree in 1985.

At the same time, Behrooz took a strong interest in the history of the Middle East. It was a logical but heartfelt choice. "Having grown up in Iran, I knew the country and the language (Persian, officially known as Farsi). It was an area that I wanted to explore and an area that fewer historians were studying," he said.

Behrooz, 44, earned his doctorate in 1993 from UCLA's noted Near East Studies Program in the history of the Near East from 1500 to the present with a special concentration in 19th and 20th century Iran.

He is the author of the 1999 book Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran, which was translated and published in Iran in 2000. The scholar is now at work on a biography of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza Qajar, a leader in 19th century Iran who introduced some of the first modern reforms to Iranian society. Behrooz was a faculty member at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts before returning to SFSU last fall for a tenure-track position. But Behrooz began to make his mark at SFSU much earlier as a lecturer when he was asked by the History Department to create a two-part course on the history of Islamic civilization.

History Professor Jerry Combs, who works closely with Behrooz on campus forums, admires his range of scholarship. "Maziar is a scholar who is knowledgeable about not just the Arab world, which receives the lion's share of attention in the American media, but also about the other nations and cultures that make up the Islamic world as a whole. The course on the history of the Islamic world that he has put together for San Francisco State University is a model of its kind," Combs said.

Behrooz said he is already seeing strong student interest in an undergraduate seminar on the modern history of the Middle East even though he won't teach it until next spring. "I hope that my current courses in Islamic civilization will serve as a sort of platform for students to continue their studies in this area and perhaps go on to earn a MA or doctorate," he said.

One of the first hires in a proposed Islamic Studies Program, Behrooz will be joined by several more scholars in the fall. Behrooz thinks an Islamic Studies program at SFSU will help create a new generation of scholars in the field. "Compared to fields such as European history, Islamic history is an underdeveloped field. There is much research that needs to be done to document this untold history," he said.

And interest in Islamic Studies is apt to grow in the future. "The future of Iraq, the Palestinian-Israeli peace plan, the United States interest in oil reserves in the Middle East and other issues will keep America interested in understanding Islamic culture for a long time to come," he said. Behrooz is pleased that the program will span several disciplines. "When you look at Islamic or Near East Studies you include a Middle East that is not just made up of Muslims, but also Christians, Jews and other traditions," he said.

In addition to the scholarly work of the proposed program, Behrooz envisions a strong link to the Middle Eastern community in the Bay Area. "There is a large Muslim community in this area that would benefit from such a program in helping create better understanding of the peoples of the Islamic world," he said. Behrooz's work with Islamic Studies goes beyond the classroom. Six years ago he was instrumental in creating the Center of Dialogue in Berkeley, which sponsors lectures primarily of interest to the Bay Area's Iranian community. And he frequently makes speaking appearances before community groups as well as serving as a regular participant at campus forums.

"I try to do all the speaking appearances and media interviews and answer any questions I can for people to help explain in greater detail the history and culture of the Islamic world," he said.

"I think it is that greater understanding that people today are seeking."

—Ted DeAdwyler             

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