Converting to pre-islamic glory. Historiography and national identity in the Christian Iranian diaspora in Denmark

Abstract (English)

Based on ethnographic research in an Christian community of Iranian migrants in Denmark, this article explores how conversion to Christianity becomes a crucial strategy for negotiating new and hybrid identities. On the one hand, conversion to Christianity is conceived as a bridge to Danish culture and society. At the same time the paper shows for Iranian in Denmark embracing Christianity does not imply rejecting their Iranian culture and heritage but rather represents a strategy of connecting with a pre-Islamic golden age that allegedly harbored the essence of authentic Iranian culture. I demonstrate how in the testimonies of Iranian converts the reconstruction individual biographic pasts becomes closely intertwined with a heavily politicized historical narrative according to which pre-Islamic Zoroastrian religion is closely linked to Christianity and in which Islam presents and alien and invasive force. In other words, leaving Islam behind and embracing becomes a strategy both for finding a place in Danish society and for reconnecting with an Pre-Islamic essence of Iranian culture and identity. The paper draws, both on conversion theory that emphasizes biographic reconstruction, and on scholarly literature on historiography and the importance of history in contemporary identity politics.