Anachronism and Doxa Attitude in Dr. Nasser Takmil Homayoun’s Historiography

Abstract

The present article examines the writings of Dr. Nasser Takmil Homayoun, a prominent contemporary historian and sociologist, with a special emphasis on his works in the Qajar period. Most of his writings are researches on the history and society of Qajar. Thus the main question of the present article is whether Takmil Homayoun been able to adhere to the principles of historiography and especially sociology in his writings؟ Despite his specialized education in sociology, he seems to have considered himself mainly a historian and he did not pay much attention to the principles and rules of sociology so that his works in the field of use of sociological concepts, methods and theories, and sociological explanations are devoid of such criteria and even in some of his most important writings, a conflict with sociological methods and explanations is evident. Therefore, the present article evaluates the works of Takmil Homayoun on three levels: definition of concepts and conceptual anachronism, Doxa perspective, and poverty of sociological methods and theories.

Keywords

• nasser takmil homayoun
• historiography
• sociological criticism
• anachronism
• qajar