New Books in Islamic 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, scholar of world history and political theory, offers decolonial and geopolitical framing. Mona Makinajadbanadaki, sociologist focused on Iranian politics and diaspora, analyzes identity and Islamophobia. They unpack narratives shaping the war on the Islamic Republic. Short takes on diaspora divisions, Kemalism, dehumanization, and how Western frameworks miss the region’s political currents.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Diaspora Framing Separates Nation From Islam
- Diaspora narratives frame the conflict as a war against the Islamic Republic, not Iran, separating Persian identity from Islam to justify targeting the state.
- Mona Makinajadbanadaki links this to ethno-nationalist Kamalist myths and claims that the Islamic Republic is an "occupier."
Kemalism As Transnational Secular Project
- Kemalism functions transnationally as a project to remove Islam from public life, producing secularizing elites across the Islamosphere.
- Mona argues monarchists and Zionists align over this anti-Islamic political aim, seen in diaspora rallies and actions against Palestinian marches.
Dehumanization Determines Who Counts
- Dehumanization underpins support for attacks on civilian infrastructure, revealing which lives are valued.
- Shehla Khan connects acceptance of bombing schools and hospitals to proximity to whiteness and secular norms as markers of whose lives matter.