Extant studies of Iranian nationalism accentuate the self-aggrandizing side of Iranian modernity, mainly achieved through, and informing, a process of otherizing certain non-Persians/Iranians, particularly the Arabs. I argue that equally important to understanding Iranian modernity is its lesser recognized, shameful and self-demeaning face, as manifested through a simultaneous 19th-century discourse, which I call “self-deprecating modernity.” This was an often self-ridiculing and shame-inducing, sometimes satirical, discourse featuring an emotion-driven and self-Orientalizing framework that developed out of many mid-nineteenth-century Iranian modernists’ obsessions with Europe's gaze; with self-surveillance; and with the perceived humiliation of Iranians through the ridiculing laughter of Other (especially European) nations at Iran's and Iranians’ expense. To explore this discourse, I re-examine the works of three pre-constitutionalist thinkers and writers within the broader sociopolitical context of late Qajar Iran, surveying their perspectives on shame, embarrassment, and ridiculing laughter, and showing how they were significantly informed by, while also helping to form, self-deprecating modernity. Given the strong, self-colonizing presumptions of this discourse, I conclude the article with a stress on the importance of re-exploring collective self-critical practices in modern Iranian history, culture, and literature with an eye toward decolonizing self-criticism.

现有的伊朗民族主义研究强调了伊朗现代性自我夸大的一面，主要是通过并告知某些非波斯人/伊朗人，特别是阿拉伯人的异化过程。我认为，对于理解伊朗现代性同样重要的是它较少被承认的、可耻的和自贬的面孔，正如同时发生的 19 世纪话语所体现的那样，我称之为“自我贬低的现代性”。这是一种经常自嘲、引人羞耻、有时带有讽刺意味的话语，其特点是情绪驱动和自我定位的框架，其发展源于许多 19 世纪中叶伊朗现代主义者对欧洲凝视的痴迷；具有自我监控功能；以及通过其他（尤其是欧洲）国家在伊朗的嘲讽笑声，使伊朗人感到羞辱” s 和伊朗人的费用。为了探索这个话语，我在伊朗卡扎尔晚期更广泛的社会政治背景下重新审视了三位前宪法思想家和作家的作品，调查了他们对羞耻、尴尬和嘲笑的看法，并展示了他们如何从以下方面获得重要信息：同时也有助于形成自嘲的现代性。考虑到这篇论述强烈的、自我殖民化的假设，我在文章的结尾强调了重新探索现代伊朗历史、文化和文学中集体自我批评实践的重要性，着眼于非殖民化自我批评。调查他们对羞耻、尴尬和嘲笑的看法，并展示他们如何从自嘲的现代性中获得重要信息，同时也帮助形成了自嘲的现代性。考虑到这篇论述强烈的、自我殖民化的假设，我在文章的结尾强调了重新探索现代伊朗历史、文化和文学中集体自我批评实践的重要性，着眼于非殖民化自我批评。调查他们对羞耻、尴尬和嘲笑的看法，并展示他们如何从自嘲的现代性中获得重要信息，同时也帮助形成了自嘲的现代性。考虑到这篇论述强烈的、自我殖民化的假设，我在文章的结尾强调了重新探索现代伊朗历史、文化和文学中集体自我批评实践的重要性，着眼于非殖民化自我批评。