Tehran Via Tel Aviv: Annie Tracy Samuel's Academic Journey

Research Fellow Annie Tracy Samuel's passion for the Middle East was born from a love of history. As a history major at Columbia, her coursework stoked a particular curiosity for the region. "Learning about the breakup of these multi-national, multi-ethnic empires that was going on during World War I got me very interested in other parts of the world," she said, "and particularly the period following the First World War in the Middle East." This nascent interest in the region would steer her academic journey in new directions, eventually leading to her expertise in the history and politics of the Middle East and Iran, and a fellowship with the Belfer Center.

While finishing her senior thesis, Tracy Samuel's determination to further study the Middle East culminated in a last-minute application to Tel Aviv University's master's program in Middle Eastern History. The self-described "girl who was never going to leave the island of Manhattan" soon announced to friends and family her departure for Israel in six weeks—right before the outbreak of the 2006 Lebanon War. Undaunted, she went ahead. Her first weeks in Israel were marked by the realities of the conflict: fighter jets flew over Tel Aviv's beaches while the university's dorms took in refugees from the north of the country. As her studies progressed, she discovered the university's Center for Iranian Studies and, with it, her own interest in Iran. Its founding director encouraged her to remain at Tel Aviv for her Ph.D. and become part of the center.

Delving into Iran's foreign policy led her to the event that forged the character of today's Islamic Republic: the Iran-Iraq War. "It's political and it's personal,” said Tracy Samuel. "Everyone in Iran who was alive during that period has a memory of the war; of fighting in it; of a brother dying in it; of the chemical weapons; of something. It's very much alive." She also found missing pieces of the war's history. "I found volumes of sources about the war written by the Revolutionary Guards," said Tracy Samuel. "First I thought it was odd that this organization was writing these very serious, detailed histories about the war." The gaps in the mainstream histories of the war that were filled in by these new sources formed the basis of her dissertation.

Looking at today's Iran, Tracy Samuel urges cautious optimism following the election of moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani.  "I think what we know of him, the sort of things he said during his campaign and the sort of things he said after his victory indicate that he will take a more moderate, pragmatic, cautious approach to foreign relations and a more moderate approach domestically," said Tracy Samuel.  She says it's an opportunity of which the U.S. should take advantage.

It's important to remember, added Tracy Samuel, that the Iranian nuclear issue does not exist in a vacuum, but is instead connected to ongoing struggles within Iranian politics and across the Middle East itself—struggles that Rouhani must now tackle.