Many scholars argue that homogenization is an essential part of nationalism. National states apply various strategies to mask difference, to assimilate various ethnicities, to homogenize people within a territory, and to create non-national others. However, nationalism is not just about unification and homogenization; it is also about constructing differences, creating new boundaries, building distinctions, and representing others within the nationalist discourse. Indeed, national identities are “the product of the making of difference and exclusion.” We can say that homogenization and differentiation are two crucial dynamics by which nationalistic discourse constructs minorities. This process includes suppressing the incompatible and promoting the compatible identity. Positioning the other in the attempted unified image of a nation is a crucial element of this process. In this research project, I examine this mechanism in the case of Iran to observe how these two mechanisms, homogenization and differentiation, work in constructing ethnic identity. By focusing on the cultural products of three influential Iranian studies institutions in recent years, in this project I will address the following questions: How is Iranian Arab identity narrated in Iranian national discourse? How is the identity of Arab people in Iran constructed as a minority? How they are differentiated from other Iranians and how they are included in the national discourse? And how are the culture, history, and social structure of Arab people in Iran narrativized in Iranian nationalism? In this project, I will use narrative analysis as the methodological approach to examine the above-mentioned questions. As many studies show identity is constructed, shaped and reshaped through constructing different narratives. Through telling stories, people understand themselves and represent their identity. Analyzing these narratives can provide us insight into identity production mechanisms. In this project, I will collect and review the identity narratives produced about Arabs of Iran in the last decade by three influential Iranian studies institutions: Afshar Foundation (Bonyad Moqofat Doktor Mahmod Afshar), Foundation for Iranian Studies, and The Encyclopædia Iranica.