Among the Iranians.

AuthorByers, Bruce
PositionBook review

Among the Iranians

Review by Bruce Byers

Sofia Koutlaki, Among the Iranians: A Guide to Iran's Culture and Customs, Intercultural Press: Boston, 2010, ISBN -13:978-1931930901, 240 pp., $24.95

Greek-born Sofia Koutlaki has written an important and helpful book, Among the Iranians--A Guide to Iran's Culture and Customs, that offers readers detailed information about many of the cultural mores and traditions in today's Iran. Ms. Koutlaki has long been married to an Iranian and has lived for many years in and outside of Iran. When she first arrived in Tehran she spoke no Persian, and this put her at an initial disadvantage which she soon overcame. She has conducted extensive research and interviews to create a very useful guide for foreign visitors to Iran.

Prior its publication Ms. Koutlaki had conducted research and written extensively about communication and social interaction among Iranians. Her Ph.D. thesis The Persian system of politeness and Persian folk concept of face, with some reference to EFL teaching to Iranian native speakers (University of Wales, 1997) forms a background for many of her comments about the importance of etiquette and the concept of "face" among different individuals and groups in Iranian society. Readers should keep this in mind when reading her guide because she delves into many facets of contemporary Iranian society and shows connections between them and the underlying cultural influence and meaning of Shi'a Islam in a broader social context.

Ms. Koutlaki offers us a different way of knowing about another people and their culture. If there is a common thread that runs throughout her guide it is that Iranian society with all of its diversities and paradoxes is resilient and has withstood many assaults over the millennia of its existence. Her guide is not a travelogue or a definitive sociological analysis of contemporary Iranian life. Instead it gives us clear explanations with examples of how people in Iran live, communicate, and cooperate among themselves in ways that might appear strange and foreign to most Americans. It is written as a help in understanding the many levels of social behavior among people one might meet in Iran. Through her experiences with Iranians, including her husband and his family, she shares her curiosity and appreciation for their society and customs.

In each chapter she illuminates different aspects of culture and custom and extends our view far beyond the media depictions of events in...

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