Hamid Dabashi on the decline of US empire and what replaces it
Published date: 17 May 2024 14:20 UTC
|
Last update: 6 months 2 weeks ago
Hamid Dabashi is an Iranian-American professor at Columbia University. Having authored more than 20 books, he'e an expert in areas including Iran, US foreign policy, the Middle East, identity politics and empire.
Dabashi grew up in Ahvaz in Iran, moved to Tehran in the 1970s and then relocated to the USA with his family in 1976.
In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, he speaks about what life was like growing up in Iran whilst it was ruled by the CIA-backed Shah and what it was like experiencing the Iranian revolution from afar, and then seeing the repressive regime of the Shah being replaced by a repressive theocracy.
Dabashi then touches upon confronting the US empire and white supremacy as a brown-skinned Muslim in a period when the US has been engaged in wars in Arab and Muslim lands.
He recollects his long-standing friendship with the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said and how they, as faculty of Columbia University along with other colleagues, planted seeds that have blossomed into what have become solidarity protests with the Palestinian national cause on Columbia’s campus, which he describes as a “glorious sight."
UNAPOLOGETIC is a show that unapologetically looks at the life, times and views of some unapologetic and not so unapologetic humans. Hosted by Ashfaaq Carim
Dabashi grew up in Ahvaz in Iran, moved to Tehran in the 1970s and then relocated to the USA with his family in 1976.
In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, he speaks about what life was like growing up in Iran whilst it was ruled by the CIA-backed Shah and what it was like experiencing the Iranian revolution from afar, and then seeing the repressive regime of the Shah being replaced by a repressive theocracy.
Dabashi then touches upon confronting the US empire and white supremacy as a brown-skinned Muslim in a period when the US has been engaged in wars in Arab and Muslim lands.
He recollects his long-standing friendship with the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said and how they, as faculty of Columbia University along with other colleagues, planted seeds that have blossomed into what have become solidarity protests with the Palestinian national cause on Columbia’s campus, which he describes as a “glorious sight."
UNAPOLOGETIC is a show that unapologetically looks at the life, times and views of some unapologetic and not so unapologetic humans. Hosted by Ashfaaq Carim
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.