New Books in Middle Eastern Studies Radio ReOrient 14.1: State of the Ummah: “A War Against the Islamic Republic?”, hosted by Shehla Khan, with Mona Makinejadbanadaki and S. Sayyid.
Apr 10, 2026
S. Sayyid, a political theorist and historian, offers historical and geopolitical analysis. Mona Makinajadbanadaki, a sociologist and researcher, brings sociological insight on diaspora narratives and Islamophobia. They unpack narratives shaping the war against the Islamic Republic. Conversations trace diaspora divisions, dehumanization, Kemalist and Aryan influences, shifts in the Islamic Republic, and how Orientalism and geopolitics frame hostility.
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PreIslamic Aryan Myths Fuel EthnoNationalist Narratives
- Diaspora and monarchist narratives use pre-Islamic Aryan myths and anti-Islam rhetoric to construct an ethno-nationalist Iranian identity.
- Mona links this to a Khomaism/Islamophobic historiography tracing to claims about 'Arab invasion' and cultural purging.
Islamophobia Enables Kinetic Violence
- Islamophobia has kinetic consequences, including justification for large-scale violence and even genocide.
- S. Sayyid stresses that dehumanizing narratives make attacks on hospitals, schools, and civilians morally legible to supporters.
Kemalism As A Transnational Secularizing Template
- Kemalism is a transnational template for removing Islam from public life, not just a Turkish phenomenon.
- Mona and S. Sayyid argue monarchists and Zionists converge on secularizing politics to align with Eurocentric modernity.