La présence iranienne dans les régions pontiques, bien qu’apparaissent de manière incidente dans de nombreuses études, n’a jamais fait l’objet d’une thèse de doctorat. Ce travail de thèse se propose de retracer l’histoire de la présence des Iraniens dans les régions pontiques des origines à la chute de l’Empire achéménide. Dans la première partie de notre thèse, nous passons en revue les discussions les plus récentes sur l’origine, les stades de la formation et la répartition des populations nomades iranophones dans les steppes eurasiatiques. Nous nous penchons notamment sur les rasions du passage au grand nomadisme pastoral monté de ses tribus à l’aube du Ier millénaire avant J.-C. Dans la deuxième partie de notre thèse, nous retraçons d’abord l’histoire du peuple cimmérien, puis nous traitons in extenso du problème de leur appartenance linguistique et anthropologique. Dans cette partie sont également examiné l’origine de la culture de la Scythie du Pont, l’établissement des Scythes en Asie antérieures et leur retour aux steppes nord-pontiques. A la fin de cette partie, nous reprenons l’analyse de la première légende d’origine des Scythes rapportée par Hérodote et nous tentons, en utilisant la méthode comparative dumézilienne, de démontrer que les éléments constitutifs de cette légende sont la résurgence et l’assemblage de schémas narratifs des mythes fondateurs des peuples iraniens. La troisième partie de notre thèse est consacrée à l’étude de la présence iranienne dans les régions pontiques à l’époque achéménide. Nous nous appliquons à dresser le portrait historique de ces espaces géographiques sous la domination achéménide et nous tentons d’identifier les traces de l’occupation achéménide ainsi que les « marqueurs » de la présence iranienne dans ces régions. Les documents de natures diverses et complémentaires permettent de confirmer non seulement la présence iranienne, mais aussi la profondeur des contacts inter-culturels entre les Iraniens de la diaspora impériale, les Grecs et les populations locales de ces régions. / The thesis studies the presence and influence of the Iranian peoples and tribes in the Pontus region from the origins to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. While the sedentary Iranian people have been the center of attention, this work focuses firstly on the nomadic Iranian peoples originally living in western Siberia and who moved later in the north-Pontic region. In the absence of Cimmerian and Scythian written documents, the first part of thesis attempts to reconstruct a historical narrative of the migration and invasion of these people through the references made to them in ancient Greek and Assyrian texts, as well as by archaeological evidence. Modern debate about the Cimmerians’ linguistic and ethnic affiliation continues at a lively pace, for the existing documentation is both sparse and full of contradictions. Nonetheless, the inclination today is to consider them as an Iranian people. The second part of thesis traces the history of Scythian tribes in the North Pontic region. The first Scythian legend of origin, as related by Herodotus is studied and it is suggested that this legend incorporates typical features of Iranian legends of origin. The third part of the thesis studies the history of Pontus regions in the Achaemenid period and attempts to evaluate the impact of Persian and Iranian presence there. This part discusses the political status of the Pontus regions within the Achaemenid empire and attempts to determine the nature and the level of political incorporation of these regions into Achaemenid administrative organization. The work concludes by reviewing the written, archeological, artistic and various other sorts of evidence which suggests that there was not only a permanent presence of Persians and Iranians of the imperial diaspora, but also a considerable impact by the Achaemenid political and cultural influence in the Pontus region. This was due to the intense intercultural exchange between these Iranians and local populations.

AbstractThere are only a few studies in Sweden concerning migrants who have converted from Islam to Christianity through Swedish churches and the integration of those converts into Swedish society. The present study therefore concerns the integration of converts and new Christians through congregations and religious community. The main purpose of the thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of how new Christians experience the process of integrating through community, and whether the religious/social community is helpful in promoting and facilitating the integration of new Christians into Swedish society.The study was conducted in two Persian churches and nonprofits, EFS Missionary Association, in the Stockholm region which offers a number of different religious and social activities for Christian Iranians. The study is based on an ethnographic methodological approach: interviews with four church pastors and leaders, participant observation and informal conversations. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of Pierre Bourdieu – field, habitus and capital - the study analyzes how migration affects the individual, and how religious and social communities can compensate for the consequences of migration,destabilisations of networks, habitus or the embodied preferences. It also analyzes, to some extent, how these communities enrich converts’ lives with what they are missing due to theirmigrant experience.The work of integration by missionary groups aims to help immigrants become integrated into Swedish society. But that means, at first, a person becoming a part of the Christian family or being folded into the body of believers [the local church body] and building relationships within the fellowship of the church. This means a person assimilates religious by conversion, and being a part of the community as the way to unity and integration. The study shows how church staff and pastors engage in promoting integration and the employment of converts, and how they go about helping in this way. This happens, for instance, through Bible studies, church classes, counselling, social and cultural gatherings, and help with work.The study shows that missionaries and churches serve to integrate converts largely through religious and social communities, where converts are taken into the fellowship and led to an internal network. This network makes them more inclined to engage outside the church context. Religious and social community is also a place where a new Christian develops social and cultural competencies for future interactions and relationships within Swedish society. In addition, the study analyzes the convert's opportunities and challenges in this process, where the Swedish language, fears, anxiety, lack of motivation, and socializing across ethnic boundaries are considered significant challenges. A side effect of these challenges is disintegration or expanding differences and repulsion.

Nearly four decades after the peak influx of Iranian immigrants to Sweden around 1985-1990, recent academic inquiry has begun to shift its emphasis towards their second generation. These individuals, born to parents who arrived during that period, are now achieving notable positions across various sectors of Swedish society. The significant educational and professional accomplishments of this group, (achieved despite considerable cultural disparities and geographical distances from their parents' country of origin), are noteworthy. While previous research has primarily concentrated on the adaptation challenges faced by first-generation immigrants in Swedish society, the second generation, particularly concerning their educational and professional achievements, has received less attention. Studies indicate that second-generation Iranian migrants blend Iranian traditions and preferences with Swedish and global traits (Moinian, 2012), have greater proficiency in Swedish than Persian, and often prefer exogamy (Namei, 2012), without especially suffering from identity crises (Ahmadi & Ahmadi, 2012). Through an intercultural lens, this study examines how the second generation negotiates their identity between two cultures and strategizes their career paths, with education playing a pivotal role. Based on surveys and interviews with six second-generation Iranians born in Sweden, this essay particularly focuses on those whose parents migrated from 1985 to 1990, acknowledging the group's heterogeneity.  The findings of this study, framed within Bourdieu's concept of capital, reveal how the second generation of Iranians in Sweden strategically navigate their educational and career paths. Influenced by the culturally inherited emphasis on education from their families, this navigation exemplifies the embodiment and application of cultural capital within the fields of Swedish society. Additionally, the study shows that these individuals actively engage in both reconstructing their inherited cultural capital and constructing new forms within these societal fields. This process of adapting and creating cultural capital demonstrates a dynamic interaction that creates a pathway for their success, underscoring the fluid and evolving nature of cultural capital, habitus, and field dynamics in new societal contexts.

This dissertation project examines the lived experiences of immigrant and second- generation Iranian immigrants to uncover the factors that shape their perceptions of belonging in two differ western nations. It is a qualitative methods study that utilized in-depth interviews. I address the limitations of past research by highlighting that Iranians' experiences of belonging and membership in western nations are greatly influenced by the national narratives of their host societies and the global politics surrounding Iran. My central research questions are: How do America's and Germany's national narratives of immigration influence Iranians' sense of belonging? and How do Iranians perceive the global politics surrounding Iran as impacting their lives in the West? Research on Iranians in the United States and Europe underscores Iranians' proclivity to become entrepreneurs in their new nation, the lack of solidarity and community among Iranians, and the discrimination that they experience due to their ethnic and religious identities. However, we lack comparative scholarship that examines Iranian immigrants' experiences in two nations where the national narratives are different. Moreover, there is an absence of research that addresses whether, and how, global politics influence perceptions of belonging. The three empirical chapters examine the data from sixty-four in-depth interviews with immigrant and second-generation Iranians living in northern and southern California, and Hamburg, Germany. In the first interview data chapter, I examine the motivations of Iranians' migration to the US and Germany, their settlement experiences, and their expectations of their lives in their new nation. Specifically in this chapter, I reveal that the lack of foreign policy considerations for post-Revolution Iranian exiles in the US and the institutionalized nature of refugee policy, and lack of it, in each nation helps explain the varying settlement experiences of immigrant-generation Iranians in the US and Germany. It is noteworthy that these experiences also helped shape Iranians' understanding of each nation's main values and characteristics. In the second empirical chapter, I show that national narratives of immigration are important in shaping Iranian immigrants' understandings, expectations, and experiences of belonging and membership in the US and Germany. These narratives inform their interpretations of not just the prospects of belonging, but the indications of whether they have accomplished it. In the last data chapter, I explore how Iran's global political standing influences the lives of Iranian immigrants living in the US and Germany. In both the US and Germany, the dominant negative discourse surrounding a highly politicized homeland stigmatizes Iranians' identities, and makes them more subject to experiences of marginality and discrimination. Specifically, in the US, global politics puts a cap on Iranians' quality of middle class experiences, and facilitates the construction of social marginality and discrimination against them. In Germany, it helps solidify a boundary that is already there. Ultimately, this dissertation research uncovers three important aspects in regards to perceptions of belonging among Iranians in the US and Germany: First, a comparison of Iranian immigrant experiences in two western nations where the narratives of belonging are considerably different demonstrated that the national narratives of an immigrants' host society greatly shape and mediate perceptions and experiences of belonging and membership. Specifically in the US, Iranians perceive belonging when they can obtain opportunities for social mobility, when their ancestry is not marked or stigmatized, and when they can place themselves in the `nation of immigrants' narrative. In Germany, Iranians perceive that they can come close to belonging once they are perceived as having culturally accommodated to German society, can access greater opportunity structures, and are perceived and accepted as `good foreigners and immigrants'. Second, an examination of how global politics surrounding Iran impact Iranians' lives in western nations revealed that their identities are stigmatized; they encounter marginality and exclusion, and ultimately feel that they do not belong or have full membership in the US and Germany. Interestingly, Iranians in both nations hypothesized that an improved Iranian standing would help facilitate belonging and membership. What is more, their perceptions of how their lives would change, and how belonging would take shape, if they did not live with the stigmas created by Iran's global politics, were inextricably linked to the national narratives of their host societies. Third, there were significant generational differences in how the second-generation in each nation assessed belonging. In the US, the second-generations' ability to access the educational resources needed for professional careers, despite their perceptions of the existence of anti-Iranian prejudice, legitimized both the US national narrative and proved to them that they can secure a good quality of life and be a part of US society. In Germany, the second generation experienced generational lag with regard to belonging. Their ability to belong is not resolved by length of residence, German citizenship, German educational attainments, or their adherence German cultural norms and practices. Rather, second generation believed that being marked as foreigners was perpetual, and not an identity that one loses after a few generations. Ultimately, among the US second-generation US sample there were more significant/powerful declarations of the ability to acquire social mobility and belonging, while those in Germany experienced a more generalized feeling of not belonging. This research contributes to ongoing conversations regarding immigrant belonging and membership. It adds the comparative dimension of belonging and membership by examining evaluations of belonging in two western nations where the national narratives are different. Furthermore, it takes into account how the contentious and antagonistic political relationship between Iran and western nations has impacted Iranians' lived experiences, and ability to belong, in the US and Germany. Ultimately, the inclusion of national narratives and global politics contributes to our understanding of the sociological processes that facilitate, and disrupt, experiences of immigrant belonging and membership in their host society, and provides us with a deeper understanding of the layered and complex dynamics that shape immigrant experiences. / Sociology

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2008. / Title from title screen (viewed Jan. 19, 2009) Includes tables and questionnaires in English and Farsi. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Behavioural and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.

Работа посвящена изучению и анализу противостояния Саудовской Аравии и Ирана как основных претендентов на лидерство на Ближнем Востоке. Автор раскрывает специфику арабо-иранских отношений в контексте цивилизационного подхода, анализирует особенности борьбы за лидерство двух стран на фоне основных событий на Ближнем Востоке конца XX – начала XXI века и выявляет военно-политическую направленность саудовско-иранского противостояния в современных ближневосточных конфликтах – сирийском и йеменском. / The paper is dedicated to the study and analysis of the confrontation of Saudi Arabia and Iran as the main contenders for the leadership in the Middle East. The author reveals the character of the Arab-Iranian relations in the context of civilizational approach, analyzes the features of the two countries struggle for the leadership against the background of major developments in the Middle East in the period of the end of XX to the beginning of XXI centuries and reveals the political and military direction of Saudi-Iranian confrontation in the modern Middle East conflict such as the Syrian and Yemeni ones.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the associations among gender-differentiated motivational orientations (integrative and instrumental), acculturation success, and risky behaviours (illicit substance use and gambling behaviour) among Iranian youth who have immigrated to Toronto. DESIGN: Given the exploratory nature of the proposed research, a cross-sectional research design was used. SUBJECTS: A combination of purposive-proportional quota sampling and snowball sampling methods were employed. The sample for this research was comprised of 308 participants (M=155, F=153) who 1) were born in Iran, 2) had recently immigrated to Canada from Iran 2-8 years ago, and 3) were currently attending high school, enrolled in Grade 9, 10, 11, or 12 (ages 15 to 18) in Toronto. RESULTS: The results of the current study confirm 1) the findings in the existing literature that adherence to an instrumental motivational orientation is positively correlated with risktaking behaviours; 2) confirm some of the existing literature findings, which suggest that lower levels of acculturation are negatively associated with problem behaviours; 3) show that males possess an instrumental motivational orientation significantly more than females, and that females possess an integrative motivational orientation significantly more than males; 4) indicate that male participants show significantly lower levels of acculturation while female participants demonstrate higher level of acculturation, which confirms that acculturation is significantly determined by gender; and 5) partially support some of the claims in the literature; for example, it found males are more at risk for illicit drugs, while females to be more at risk for alcohol consumption. DISCUSSION The current study is among the first to examine the interrelationships among illicit substance use and gambling behaviour, acculturation success/stress, and motivational orientation among Iranian adolescent immigrants. To understand the predictors of success or failure among adolescent youth, replication of the current study is necessary. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the associations among gender-differentiated motivational orientations (integrative and instrumental), acculturation success, and risky behaviours (illicit substance use and gambling behaviour) among Iranian youth who have immigrated to Toronto. DESIGN: Given the exploratory nature of the proposed research, a cross-sectional research design was used. SUBJECTS: A combination of purposive-proportional quota sampling and snowball sampling methods were employed. The sample for this research was comprised of 308 participants (M=155, F=153) who 1) were born in Iran, 2) had recently immigrated to Canada from Iran 2-8 years ago, and 3) were currently attending high school, enrolled in Grade 9, 10, 11, or 12 (ages 15 to 18) in Toronto. RESULTS: The results of the current study confirm 1) the findings in the existing literature that adherence to an instrumental motivational orientation is positively correlated with risktaking behaviours; 2) confirm some of the existing literature findings, which suggest that lower levels of acculturation are negatively associated with problem behaviours; 3) show that males possess an instrumental motivational orientation significantly more than females, and that females possess an integrative motivational orientation significantly more than males; 4) indicate that male participants show significantly lower levels of acculturation while female participants demonstrate higher level of acculturation, which confirms that acculturation is significantly determined by gender; and 5) partially support some of the claims in the literature; for example, it found males are more at risk for illicit drugs, while females to be more at risk for alcohol consumption. DISCUSSION The current study is among the first to examine the interrelationships among illicit substance use and gambling behaviour, acculturation success/stress, and motivational orientation among Iranian adolescent immigrants. To understand the predictors of success or failure among adolescent youth, replication of the current study is necessary. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)