This course will focus on the later years of the Persian Empire (1900s-1925), the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979) and life since the takeover of the government by the Islamic nationalist Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.  The history, government and economy of the country will be covered as well as the life, culture and customs of the people during these times.  Many of the early and most current observations will be based on the writings and photographs of the instructor, her father and grandfather, each of whom lived and worked there for periods of time.Susan Sherk is a cultural anthropologist who has spent much of her career consulting to corporations, governments and communities around the world to study, predict, and address the social effects of large-scale developmental projects on local populations. She was also an assistant deputy minister with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and a senior public affairs manager with the former Mobil Canada and Mobil Corporation.  She has worked or travelled in sixty countries. Her geographic specialties are the Arctic and Central Asia.  Her home for the last fifty years has been St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.