Changing presents, shifting past(s): the diverse interests of transitional justice and cultural heritage in the case of the Iranian revolution

Cultural heritage and transitional justice both seem to be established terms with fixed connotations: the former of universally valued and appreciated cultural objects and the latter of processes related to replacing a non-democratic regime with a democratic one. The social, political and legal realities of actual transitions and cultural objects caught in their midst, however, are much more complex. One such particular case was the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and its immediate aftermath, which, despite being a distinct transition from one non-Western regime to another, encountered similar issues with regard to the preservation of cultural heritage objects linked to the former establishment. The purpose of this paper is thus to provide a better understanding of the non-traditional processes of transitional justice, with a special focus on the place of cultural heritage objects during a transition using the example of Iran.