This article exposes an analysis of most of the existent bibliography surrounding Tunisian author Ṭāhar Ḥaddād. As an Islamic reformer, Ḥaddād was an active member of the nationalist movement, as well as a poet, a journalist, an educational reform activist, a trade unionist, and a firm believer in the emancipation of women. Despite his contribution to modernist thought in colonial Tunisia, the criticism he received in life as well as his premature death, led to a period of oblivion from the time of his death until independence. By then, his ideas began to receive scholarly attention, which made it convenient to have a list such as that provided by this article to facilitate research from future scholars. Our aim is twofold; on the one hand, we intend to detect periods of high academic interest and periods of less activity to understand what social or political events were causing them. On the other hand, we aim to analyze which facets of Ḥaddād’s production have received the most attention and which have received the least to highlight areas of research that need further development. We believe that these, which include his take on educational reform, as well as comparative studies between him and other modernist thinkers of the time, both inside and outside his country, hold the most potential for future research.

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This study explores the role of “invented traditions” in shaping Iranian nationalism during the Pahlavi period and the post-Islamic revolution era. Drawing on the perspective of historian Eric Hobsbawm, this study investigates how new traditions were strategically created to maintain political power. In the Pahlavi era, nationalist rhetoric grounded in the history of pre-Islamic Iran was employed to establish a sense of continuity for the Pahlavi Dynasty, positioning it as successors to the 2500-year-old kingdom. Shiraz, with its rich cultural heritage and proximity to the ancient city of Persepolis, was presented as a symbolic center representing centuries of history and the fusion of Eastern and Western civilizations. However, following the Islamic Revolution, the dominant nationalist discourse shifted toward the Shia framework. Events such as the 2003 U.S. occupation of Iraq and the increase in the power of the Shia majority in the Iraqi government further exacerbated this shift, which led to the revival of long-forgotten Shia customs in Karbala, the site of the third Imam of Shia martyrdom. This study delves into the unique attributes of each era and analyzes them through the dual lenses of socio-political and socioeconomic dynamics. It seeks to elucidate why the Pahlavi Dynasty, compared with the Islamic Republic, was less effective in advancing its nationalistic agenda and leveraging the shaping of national identity to its advantage.

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