Elena Andreeva. Russia and Iran in the Great Game. Travelogues and Orientalism

London; New York: Routledge, 2007. — 288 p. — (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern History). — ISBN: 978-0-415-77153-5.The primary goal of this work is to introduce Russian travelogues about Iran written in the nineteenth and early twentieth centures as new and untapped source of information about the history of Iran during this period. The research based on more than 200 books and articles, published by Russians who went to Iran in that period, which are now found in the libraries of Russia, Iran and the USA.The travelogues serve as a valuable source on the history Iran (called Persia up to 1935) during the rule of the Qajar dynasty (1797 — 1925).Setting the stage
Orientalism Russian style
The concept of Orientalism: Western European version
Russian national identity and Russian Orientalism
Overview of the Russian travelogues and their authors
Pre-nineteenth-century Russian travelogues about Iran
The main features of the Russian travelogues about Iran in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
The authors of the travelogues
The travelers’ missions in Iran
Russian military aims and activities in Iran
Russian diplomacy in Iran
Russian emigrants in Iran
Russian trade in Iran
The travelers’ self-representation vis-а-vis the Oriental «Other» and the British «Self»
The «travelees» — representation of Iran and her people by the Russian travelers
«Power of the gaze»
The «travelees»: manners and morals
The «travelees» — education, culture and society
The Iranian army
Lack of education
Iranian medicine
Iranian arts and architecture
Iran as «a Country of Ruins»
Islam as perceived by the Russian travelers
Mullahs, dervishes and sayyeds
Shi'i and Sunni Muslims
Iranians and «infidels»
Muslim customs and rituals
Gender and ethnicity
Iranian women and prosaic harems
The travelers’ religious and ethnic preferences
Travelers and travelees: Russians through Iranian eyes as imagined by the travelers (discourse with themselves)
«Anti-Romanticism»