Cultural Studies
F. Mohammadi
Abstract
The present research, using a qualitative approach, tries to examine the shaping components of unfinished mourning during the covid-19 pandemic in the city of Sanandaj. To achieve this goal, the concepts of worry, guilt, meaningful-meaningless death confrontation, the mental suffering of victims’ ...
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The present research, using a qualitative approach, tries to examine the shaping components of unfinished mourning during the covid-19 pandemic in the city of Sanandaj. To achieve this goal, the concepts of worry, guilt, meaningful-meaningless death confrontation, the mental suffering of victims’ families and discourse were used as a conceptual framework. In the field study, the postmodern grounded theory was used whereas the data were gathered through in-depth qualitative interviews. Samples were selected through the purposive sampling method with the maximum variety and finally 15 participants were interviewed and the collected data were coded and analyzed in the form of eleven central categories. The results show that unfinished mourning are formed under the influence of spatial, technological, therapeutic-health, psychological, organizational-medical, social, cultural, discursive, philosophical-ideological and bureaucratic regulation components; in a way that the medical discourse, by shaping the laws of organizations and institutions such as cemeteries, hospitals and public places, causes the non-performance of burial rituals, funerals, obituaries, compliance with health protocols, drug consumption, avoidance of relatives and neighbors and family tensions. In turn, it has led to the feeling of emptiness, meaninglessness of life, delaying relief and finally, the persistent grief of mourners. Therefore, the mourners’ experience during the pandemic is the experience of connection with the medical discourse and the social space, meaning that our social world can only be understood in the form of discourse.
Cultural Studies
M.S. Zokaei
Abstract
Knowledge and perspective about cultural studies have been debated extensively in the global academic spaces and partly within Iran. However, the pedagogical requirements of this tradition have rarely been a topic for discussion. As a matter of fact, cultural studies’ project inevitably requires ...
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Knowledge and perspective about cultural studies have been debated extensively in the global academic spaces and partly within Iran. However, the pedagogical requirements of this tradition have rarely been a topic for discussion. As a matter of fact, cultural studies’ project inevitably requires teaching critical skills and analyses in classrooms. Relying on educational experiences of the author, the current paper aims to introduce some major challenges in the process of cultural studies pedagogy. Reliance on a formal teaching separated from social context, ambivalence and confusion on the concept of culture and cultural theory, difficulties in providing critical teaching and drawing boundaries of popular culture are amongst the major challenges faced by academics attached with cultural studies in Iran. It therefore can be argued that to be efficient and dynamic, and to preserve its distinction as a critical discipline, cultural studies needs today to employ educational initiatives that not only serve multi-layered historical understanding of Iranian society and culture but also fit with a reformistic cultural policy-making.
Cultural Studies
M.H Badamchi
Abstract
Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, the commencement camp in the beginning of the new academic year was considered to be one of the unique and distinct traditions of the Sharif University of Technology. This paper is the product of a research designed to study the impact of holding such an event on the ...
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Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, the commencement camp in the beginning of the new academic year was considered to be one of the unique and distinct traditions of the Sharif University of Technology. This paper is the product of a research designed to study the impact of holding such an event on the sociocultural atmosphere of this university during 2002 and 2019. For this purpose, this research uses a twofold conceptual model consisting of “explicit cultural goals” and “implicit social patterns”. The main research question is that what was the explicit cultural goals and implicit social patterns of the planners and moderators of the camping, and what is students' reaction to that? To respond to the first question, interviews with main planners, and content analysis of official proposals and documents were used. For the second question, qualitative method was applied by interviewing 40 undergraduate students and an electronic survey of about 400 students graduated from the university. Findings show that while explicit cultural goals was presenting cultural contents to introduce several aspects of new academic life style, campus issues and useful educational information; some explicit social patterns were repeating each year: “Monopoly in administration, planning and managing of the event by the religious student organizations such as Basij and Hey’at”, “key role of religious senior group of camp leaders in making new social relations and cultural guidance”, “emphasis on camping in Holy religious city of Mashhad in religious accommodations dedicated to pilgrims” and “strict gender segregation between women and men”. Gathering the results together, depicts that Sharif University’s camp commencement is acting as a sociocultural suction motor over the past two decades. Beyond just a camping, this event by central organizing of students in a religious network with particular cultural, sociological and ideological identities, with isolating and rejecting the less religious students, had deeply polarized Sharif University of Technology’s community around a specific religious gap, covering other potential sociocultural conflicts.
Cultural Studies
H. Naderi; M.A. Mousavi
Abstract
Culture, as one of the main components of any social system, has always been exposed to all kinds of reflexivity, and one such case of ideation is related to the promotion of the notion of collapse by the elites. The purpose of this article is to examine what cultural collapse is, and to identify the ...
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Culture, as one of the main components of any social system, has always been exposed to all kinds of reflexivity, and one such case of ideation is related to the promotion of the notion of collapse by the elites. The purpose of this article is to examine what cultural collapse is, and to identify the root cause of it related to the elite community. To achieve this goal, a qualitative study with inductive content analysis was conducted with the participation of 12 academic elites who were experts and had published books on the subject under study. To analyze the data, a thematic analysis was adopted and the data were coded in Atlas.ti8. The findings showed that the use of the idea of cultural collapse has caused conceptual confusion among the elites, and while culture does not disappear but can be accompanied by metamorphosis and change. The roots of this go back to the forms of cultural change, analytical deception, the role of educational centers, the body of power, and the media; and the nature of the idea of collapse is related to the political system and has nothing to do with culture.
Cultural Studies
A. Ravadrad; M. Mousavi Haghshenas
Abstract
With a comparative discourse analysis of three important museums, this article tries to show the relationship between the institution of power and the institution of museum in Iran. The research question is whether or not Iranian museums on different historical topics and periods receive equal attention ...
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With a comparative discourse analysis of three important museums, this article tries to show the relationship between the institution of power and the institution of museum in Iran. The research question is whether or not Iranian museums on different historical topics and periods receive equal attention from the power institution, today. The method of discourse analysis is based on Foucault’s concept of power as well as a description of Gillian Rose on this theory. This research is about power apparatuses and institutional technologies in three important museums i.e., The Museum of Ancient Iran, The Islamic Museum, and The National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Holy Defense Museum. For that matter, a second type of the discourse analysis has been used that focuses more on institutions, their related procedures, and how content is produced. Findings from field surveys of museums indicate significant differences in the apparatus and institutional technologies being used there. The results show that The National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Holy Defense Museum articulates the discourse of its trustees such as anti-arrogance, resistance, and progress in comparison with others that are equipped with the most diverse, advanced, and attractive designs, space, displaying technologies, and facilities. The Islamic Museum, by the way has its own importance for authorities because of its post-Islamic Iran cultural manifestations compared to The Museum of Ancient Iran.
Cultural Studies
P. Mohammadi; N. Amiri; S. Gholipour
Abstract
The perception of residents of a neighborhood about their life there may indicate "restlessness" and "tension" or "peacefulness" and "calmness". The starting point of the present study is the lived experience of one of the authors and the exploratory observation of two others in the Daulatabad neighborhood ...
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The perception of residents of a neighborhood about their life there may indicate "restlessness" and "tension" or "peacefulness" and "calmness". The starting point of the present study is the lived experience of one of the authors and the exploratory observation of two others in the Daulatabad neighborhood of the city of Kermanshah who found that the general feeling of the residents there is related to "place" and their sense of belonging. As such, the article intends to search as what makes the residents to feel so. While searching for the main question, the accuracy of more or less intuitive statement was also tested. But the emphasis had been to find elements that make life in Daulatabad more or less acceptable to its inhabitants. The theoretical basis is a narrative view and specifically the micro concept of Boje’s narrative. Through interviews, observation and of course data of the lived experience, two important elements in the life of neighborhood residents were highlighted and the two meanings that showed the acceptability of the neighborhood for its residents are: Local mosque and bazaar, symbols of religion and the world. But what has made these two bodies important in creating a sense of belonging to the neighborhood is how they are interwoven in daily life and of course, the placement of dimensions of these symbols in the collective memory. The present article, in fact, describes and analyzes these facts.
Cultural Studies
A. Ghorbani; N. Ounagh; A. Salehi
Abstract
Youths are valuable assets of the society who would determine the future of that society. As a matter of fact, identifying different dimensions and factors affecting young people as well as finding solution to their problems are of great importance. The aim of this study, as the title indicates, is to ...
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Youths are valuable assets of the society who would determine the future of that society. As a matter of fact, identifying different dimensions and factors affecting young people as well as finding solution to their problems are of great importance. The aim of this study, as the title indicates, is to sociologically analyze the effect of socio-cultural factors affective on social isolation with a case study of the city of Bagh-e Bahadoran. The research is descriptive and survey-based; with the statistical population being youths aged 17-25 years from that city. The statistical population included 2000 people, 322 of them were selected by the proportional sampling method. The theoretic framework of this research was based on viewpoints of different thinkers such as Durkheim, Hari Alper, Merton, Simmel, Almond, Paul, Inglehart, Gwen, Giddens, and Marcuse. Findings show that there is a direct relationship between religiosity, social participation and social isolation but they are not meaningful and thus the hypothesis is rejected. With respect to socio-economic base and social isolation, there is an inverse and meaningful relationship. A direct and significant relationship is also shown between social media viewing and social isolation. Also, there is a significant relationship between socio-economic base and the ratio of social media viewing with social isolation. The regression analysis results show that two independent and dependent variables are attached to a good model and are able to explain social isolation. Similarly, they found to provide a suitable fit in the modeling of media structural equations and socio-economic base. As a result, socio-cultural factors explain social isolation.
Cultural Studies
M. Aznab; S.J. Mousavi; J. Honarvar
Abstract
Place and the sense of attachment to a place are among the topics that are considered in this study in which people are shown to have internal relationship with the environment. In fact, the feeling of belonging and attachment to a place play a decisive role in any situation and space, in order to benefit ...
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Place and the sense of attachment to a place are among the topics that are considered in this study in which people are shown to have internal relationship with the environment. In fact, the feeling of belonging and attachment to a place play a decisive role in any situation and space, in order to benefit and maintain human presence there. This sense leads to the connection in such a way that man considers himself as a part of the place. The spatial attachment is a relationship of belonging and identity to the environment in which one lives. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to achieve the effective factors in the formation of a sense of attachment, by recognizing the characteristics of the place. This research is qualitative in nature and is conducted with an existential phenomenological approach in which three types of informal (conversational) and semi-structured interviews and in-depth (structured) interviews are used as data tools. Findings show that two categories of factors can be effective in the sense of attachment of residents to the house: external dialectic and factors that are related to the outside of the house (i.e., the quality of the exterior appearance of the house; neighborhood reputation and security) and internal dialectics factors that are related to inside (i.e. ownership; quality of comfort; physical quality of the house; neighborhood satisfaction and positive emotional relationships). These two categories influence the formation of residents' attachment to house i.e. "human-house interaction" and have been identified as the core of research. In the phenomenological approach, the sense of belonging means the inter-relationship between human and the environment, which includes all indicators.
Cultural Studies
A. Ghasemi
Abstract
The Iranians’ Ethos is one of the issues that have been taken into account by researchers in recent decades. This article takes up the issue using a fuzzy method and attempts to show that ethos like many other concepts is fuzzy. For that purpose, break points and sensitive historical events were ...
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The Iranians’ Ethos is one of the issues that have been taken into account by researchers in recent decades. This article takes up the issue using a fuzzy method and attempts to show that ethos like many other concepts is fuzzy. For that purpose, break points and sensitive historical events were selected that had a great impact on the mood of Iranians, including the famine during the First World War. The war in the early 20th century had also adversely impacted the economic, social and cultural life of Iranians, which in this study specifically examines as the Ethos of Iranians. The results show that the people during the famine demonstrated characteristics such as individualism, collectivism, anti-authoritarianism and lawlessness, each of which too prevailed to some extent among Iranians. Collectivism emerged in the form of two indicators of generosity and social participation, individualism as consideration to material and immaterial interests, with the material having a higher membership score (0.48). On the discussion of lawlessness, various crimes emerged and overcharging had the highest score with 0.52 points of fuzzy membership. Anti-authoritarianism was also manifested in the form of indicators such as interference in the government’s affairs and accountability, in which the latter received the highest score with 0.18 member score. The final analysis of the concepts also shows that overcharging was the main Ethos during the famine of the First World War. Finally, it can be said that Ethos is like many fuzzy concepts and using this method can provide more appropriate results.
Cultural Studies
S.Y. Khatami; S.A. Safavi; S.M. Khatami
Abstract
Muharram commemoration to remember sacrifices made by Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions is one of the special and deep-rooted Islamic events, tied to spirituality for centuries. These processions are often held in specific routes or ‘mourning pathways. These ...
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Muharram commemoration to remember sacrifices made by Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions is one of the special and deep-rooted Islamic events, tied to spirituality for centuries. These processions are often held in specific routes or ‘mourning pathways. These paths and related spaces over time, in addition to being memorable and creating identity, have become spiritual in their own ways. But the contemporary Iranian urban planning pays more attention to material aspects and has moved away from spiritual spaces. Extensive physical changes and interventions in traditional cities, as well as threats and damage to mourning pathways, highlight the need for further research. This article, using comparative-qualitative studies and bringing evidence and numerous examples from different Iranian cities and emphasizing Ardabil, has tried to interpret the collected data, while proving and introducing mourning pathways as sacred and spiritual paths, determine their spiritual dimensions and aspects. The spiritual effects of mourning before and after the events along with their margins have been studied. The results show that various sacred-religious, physical-spatial, cultural-social, historical-political and natural factors constitute mourning pathways and then the socio-cultural dimension added weight to it. On the one hand, these pathways connect spaces to history, and on the other hand, they add a special symbolic and semantic dimension that distinguishes them from other paths.
Cultural Studies
M. Hasanpur
Abstract
Auditory perception is one of the most important human senses, which is intertwined with the feeling of one’s presence in lived life. The analytical properties of sound not only are present in sound physics but also extend to its virtual metaphors. Photographs as a historical document as well as ...
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Auditory perception is one of the most important human senses, which is intertwined with the feeling of one’s presence in lived life. The analytical properties of sound not only are present in sound physics but also extend to its virtual metaphors. Photographs as a historical document as well as a place of consensus on visual perception and other human senses can provide auditory indexes and virtual symbolic representations of sound in their context. Therefore, in the present paper, the socio-cultural history of senses is used as a method of researching auditory perception in the context of photographs in order to interpret and analyze the implicit layers of sound. The importance of the work is reflected in the fact that urban photographs are considered as documents that can "sensory record" human subjects in urban communities, hence; the beholder-interpreter can use the power of hearing as one of the five senses in understanding the photo within the process of perception and interpretation. Here the question is, how can the auditory perception in a photograph analysis, which has a necessary relationship with visual perception, provide historical information about its text? We hypothesize those urban photographs since they record people's daily lives and information except their visual form and structure, as implicit data that can be analyzed and understood through an auditory-historical understanding of the photographic document. The result shows that the auditory perception when interferes with visual power in photographic documents, creates a wealth of conscious cultural information such as nostalgia, memories, and recollections in its particular beholder. In addition, by tracking auditory indexes as recorded on photographs, the historical, social, and human contexts as well as quality of life and daily life interactions of a demographic category can be studied.
Cultural Studies
N. Fazeli; S. Sharifi; M. Talaei
Abstract
The economic actors` behavior could not be understood in isolation, without considering the influence of cultural factors. Although there has been less attention paid to the role of culture in economic activism, it is of strategic importance, especially among the youth because culture can affect their ...
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The economic actors` behavior could not be understood in isolation, without considering the influence of cultural factors. Although there has been less attention paid to the role of culture in economic activism, it is of strategic importance, especially among the youth because culture can affect their behavior valuation, behavior purpose, and behavior standard. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the cultural perception of money among the young generation. Analysis is based on a subtype of qualitative method: content analysis of the interviews. The study population includes young economic activists aged between 18 and 32 years. The targeted sampling is based on criteria and non-homogeneous method, reaching the theoretical saturation point with 12 subjects. Data are collected using semi-structured interviews. The credibility of the collected data is confirmed by credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability indexes, as well as by in depth description, reference to interviewees, and two encoders. The findings show that money is culturally perceived as an end, an indicator of social conflict, an alternative to happiness, and a benchmark for social credibility among the young generation; on the other hand, these perceptions could be attributed to priority of money function over money usage, educational conflict, the dominance of thrift, overview of values and money-based identity, will power, the social trap of money, and the ambiguity within monetary authorities. In general, findings show that ambiguity and contradiction in young people's understanding has caused the perception of money to be changed compared to the past, enriching its function.
Cultural Studies
P. Javadzadeh; M. Kowsari; M. Ameri Shahrabi; A. Abtahi
Abstract
Among the three main domains of production, distribution and consumption, Iranian national music has specifically received little attention from contemporary researchers. Music has a special place in the Iranian culture since it is shaped by historical and biocultural experiences of this society. But ...
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Among the three main domains of production, distribution and consumption, Iranian national music has specifically received little attention from contemporary researchers. Music has a special place in the Iranian culture since it is shaped by historical and biocultural experiences of this society. But in recent years, Iranian national music has not only lost its social influence but the audience and its social functions as well. Usually, music is distributed in Iran through its producers after obtaining official licenses and reviewing the content of a musical piece. Since Iranian national music is different in contents and requirements compared to other countries, using Western theories to understand its distribution mechanism in Iran may not be very helpful. Also, no research has been done so far to understand the socio-cultural aspects of the distribution mechanism of Iranian national music. This research seeks to establish a comprehensive understanding of this field with a heuristic approach as well as by using the systematic grounded theory. Data were collected via an in-depth interview technique, coded and categorized with three open and axial as well as selective instructions. 23 concepts and 8 categories were extracted from the data. Finally, using the paradigm model, the grounded theory is presented in the form of a story and visual model.
Psychology, Video Games
Z. Tasviri; Z. Athari
Abstract
Due to the sensitive conditions of childhood and the fact that one of the most popular and influential types of media for children is animation, it is inevitable to study the effects of observing animations in the education of this period. The present study was conducted to investigate the negation and ...
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Due to the sensitive conditions of childhood and the fact that one of the most popular and influential types of media for children is animation, it is inevitable to study the effects of observing animations in the education of this period. The present study was conducted to investigate the negation and necessity of educational implications of Sponge Bob animation based on six areas of education. The formal validity of the categories related to the six domains was confirmed by experts. 772 using the Scott coefficient and the opinions of 4 experts in this field; Finally, Shannon entropy method was used to analyze the data obtained from the study. Based on the findings of this study, 242 topics related to the existence of six fields of education in this animation were observed that the field of biological and physical education has the highest level of attention and importance and the field of moral education has the lowest level of attention and importance. Also, 314 themes were observed in the negation of the six domains; the negation of the field of moral education has the most attention and importance and the negation of the field of aesthetic and artistic education has the least attention and importance. Findings indicate that the growth of human existence has not been considered in a balanced way in SpongeBob animation, so it is recommended to avoid the formation of caricature characters and pay attention to all areas of human existence.
Cultural Studies
A. Babakhani; A. Yazdanfar; S. Norouzian-Maleki
Abstract
In a minority society, culture is more tangible and locates the individual in the larger society. So far, in terms of Armenian lifestyle (in housing) and dealing with it closely, few studies have been conducted. The present study is based on the principle that one of the main pillars of housing quality ...
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In a minority society, culture is more tangible and locates the individual in the larger society. So far, in terms of Armenian lifestyle (in housing) and dealing with it closely, few studies have been conducted. The present study is based on the principle that one of the main pillars of housing quality is the connection of the house with the culture by which the people live. To improve the quality of housing in which a family resides with-in a certain community who share common characteristics, it is necessary to increase the cultural and habitat correspondence. The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of lifestyle on housing and subsequent effects of Armenian social and individual lifestyle patterns on their neighborhood, the exterior and interior layout and how to use housing. Before results analysis, to achieve the research objectives through a mixed re-search method, case studies have been taken in an Armenian neighborhood of Tehran. Also, in qualitative part of the study, daily life of the residents in the housing and out-side area, as well as short interviews with residents have been conducted and validated using space syntax analysis techniques. The results show that people engage in activities throughout the day, week, month and year, depending on everything that goes into their lifestyle. These are reflected in specific functions in specific places of the house and eventually, there are spaces that are more important regarding to Armenians’ activities.
Cultural Studies
N. Shahidi; A. Rahmani; S. Samanian; S.A. Seyyedi
Abstract
The customs and rituals of the people of Gilan province are part of their intangible identity and heritage, which are studied in this article in two areas of mourning and feasts. Textiles can always have different uses in these rituals, and the study of textiles in the rituals of the province determines ...
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The customs and rituals of the people of Gilan province are part of their intangible identity and heritage, which are studied in this article in two areas of mourning and feasts. Textiles can always have different uses in these rituals, and the study of textiles in the rituals of the province determines their function. 1480 works have been nationally registered in the list of intangible cultural heritage, of which 55 works belong to Gilan province. Seven of the recorded rituals in which textiles are used have been studied as the statistical population of the study. Three of them are in the field of mourning rituals and four are in the field of feasting rituals. This article seeks to answer how textiles are used in mourning and feasting rituals registered in the list of intangible cultural heritage of Gilan province. To achieve this goal, first the type of textiles, color, function, purpose and method of using textiles as research variables are determined, then the variables in the statistical population are studied by library and field researches. The present article is descriptive-analytical. The results show that textiles are used in mourning rituals as means to grant wishes as well as cover. Textiles are also used in various forms in feasts as means for ritual begging, distinction, cover, reminder, offer, giving information, prevention of malice, reaching goals, gift, decoration, storage as well as reward.
Cultural Studies
M. Mehrban; E. Shahghasemi
Abstract
The world is experiencing a change at a rapid space with ever-increasing innovation and development in information and communications technologies. In fact, the modern world is controlled by the media, and many human relationships are driven by new technologies, especially social media which is growing ...
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The world is experiencing a change at a rapid space with ever-increasing innovation and development in information and communications technologies. In fact, the modern world is controlled by the media, and many human relationships are driven by new technologies, especially social media which is growing and spreading at lightning speed. This type of media, including Instagram has incurring more negative impact on children and adolescents. Therefore, it is important to pay more attention to media literacy, which is considered in this research. It should be noted that media literacy does not occur spontaneously but is possible through an appropriate educational system. As such, there is a need to present a coherent and purposeful model in the media space surrounded by all kinds of celebrities and all kinds of content on the Instagram. This research method is qualitative-exploratory in nature. With the help of experts, the researchers intend to provide a media literacy model for teenage girls addicted to the Instagram. The Delphi method was used while the study population was selected from experts and professors in the field of communication and media literacy. Finally, the desired model of media literacy was organized around five areas of cognitive, technological, educational, research and policy making.
Cultural Studies
F. Samanpour; N. Barakpour; M. Farasatkhah
Abstract
In recent decades universities are pushed to provide services to commercial or governmental stakeholders rather than the civil society. In Iran, even, the commercial services have not developed satisfactorily. In this situation a strategy for promoting the position of universities is to provide voluntary ...
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In recent decades universities are pushed to provide services to commercial or governmental stakeholders rather than the civil society. In Iran, even, the commercial services have not developed satisfactorily. In this situation a strategy for promoting the position of universities is to provide voluntary social services within the educational and research activities. This article is part of an attempt to introduce such services to the urban planning postgraduate programs of two schools in Tehran. Although, this attempt was successful in some aspects, it could not satisfy the participating professors. To find the reasons, the pragmatic foundation of academic services has been reviewed and the review showed that provision of civil services necessitates holistic cultural communication with people. An interdisciplinary workshop was held for examining the quality of the cultural communication of the faculty; and some interviews were conducted with some of the attended lecturers and professors. A narrative analysis of speeches, interviews and communications was then conducted by using a framework devised for the assessment of universities’ public communication on the basis of Habermas’ theory of communicative rationality. It identified that the organizational culture of the faculty has paid little attention to the aesthetic aspects of communication; also while the school has critical attitudes, theoretically, it is practically confined to formal structures and has little competence in critical action. The article suggests a framework for a substitute organizational narrative that may promote the aesthetic interaction, and suggests that other disciplines evaluate their social relations aesthetically, too.
Cultural Studies
M. Kolahi
Abstract
Main question of this research is how “self” is made during the “Student stage” of life? Most researches consider self-making process as the result of the efforts of socialization agents and important active role of the student is neglected. The results of our research showed ...
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Main question of this research is how “self” is made during the “Student stage” of life? Most researches consider self-making process as the result of the efforts of socialization agents and important active role of the student is neglected. The results of our research showed the plans of the socialization agents constitute just a part of the student’s life-world which has called here as “plan sub-world”. But there is another neglected but important part here called as “play sub-world” which have not been addressed adequately by previous researches. “Play” here is defined as the activity which is done for its own sake not for any advantage it will bring. Play sub-world is where one can express him/herself freely, independent of the control of every pre-designed planning. Juvenile mischiefs like childish fights, teasing the teacher, runaway from the school, and cheating in the exams are samples of the activities of this sub-world. The student’s self, more can be made through this sub-world than everywhere else; because it is at this sub-world that student can express him/herself freely, actively and creatively (unlike plan sub-world in which student is more passive and under control). Therefore, the student life-world includes two plan and play sub-worlds and is made through the dialectic between these two sub-worlds; a dialectic which corresponds to dialectic between practice-thought; active-passive; creativity-memory; sender-receiver, and source-destination. The process of making self in this dialectic is the same as the process of making society.
Cultural Studies
Mohammad Rashid Soofi; A. Ravadrad
Abstract
This paper aims to introduce a mixed research method for the analysis, reading, and interpretation of urban visual culture texts. To reach this goal, mural have been chosen as the most outstanding urban visual text. In order to do a case study, one of the outstanding wall-paintings located in Tehran`s ...
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This paper aims to introduce a mixed research method for the analysis, reading, and interpretation of urban visual culture texts. To reach this goal, mural have been chosen as the most outstanding urban visual text. In order to do a case study, one of the outstanding wall-paintings located in Tehran`s Vanak square, has been selected to be analyzed by a mixed method. The analysis of the visual text has been done in two stages including semiology and discourse analysis. For the first stage, we used O`Toole`s semiotic method suitable for analyzing urban murals, and for the second stage, we employed Laclau and Mouffe`s discourse theory. Findings of the case study for the micro level showed that, key signifiers - as nodal points - of the text have been recognized as nature, city, man, and woman and the relationship and interaction between them have been distinguished in the form of binary oppositions such as nature (village)/city and man/woman. At the macro level, the main competitive discourses identified in the text, are Environmental Protection vs. Urban Sprawl and Masculism vs. Feminism, that are lively and actively in an antagonistic situation using their key signifiers. Finally, the dominant and hegemonic discourses through positive representation of their key signifiers can be considered as Environmental Protection and Masculism.
Cultural Studies
M. Ezati; S. Gholipour; H. Moradkhani
Abstract
This paper is to explore the mechanism of social production of Nowbahar Park in Kermanshah city. The theoretical approach is based on Henry Lefebvre's opinions on production of space. The study method is ethnography and in addition data collection techniques: observation, interviews, examination of documents ...
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This paper is to explore the mechanism of social production of Nowbahar Park in Kermanshah city. The theoretical approach is based on Henry Lefebvre's opinions on production of space. The study method is ethnography and in addition data collection techniques: observation, interviews, examination of documents and cognitive maps. The research findings are as follows: 1) Nowbahar Park was built in the late 1960s on the broad settlement processes; 2) The way people are exposed to this public space is influenced by intrinsic meanings, and each age group uses its own terms. Teenagers and young people in the reproduction of stigmatized meanings and the old people play a role in production of meanings. The permanent presence of Teenagers and young has increased their naming power; 3) Activists of daily life over time have been described by different meanings. These meanings are dual and at the same time, good/bad, relaxing/threatening. But, negative meanings are more prominent and so as to be known as a stigmatized place in the mental space of the city.
Cultural Studies
A. Heydari; M. Mohajerani
Abstract
Understanding of urban life influenced by the conventional pathological logic has led to the perception of what is known as “Suburbanization” as something outside the city and as islands separate from the center. Kahrizak, as one of the suburban districts of Tehran, has strongly entangled ...
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Understanding of urban life influenced by the conventional pathological logic has led to the perception of what is known as “Suburbanization” as something outside the city and as islands separate from the center. Kahrizak, as one of the suburban districts of Tehran, has strongly entangled in such an understanding. Focusing on the problem of generating Kahrizak, this study strives to show how Kahrizak has been embodied in the confluence of forces. The present study's question is to engage in a field understanding of the forces that have provided the ground for Kahrizak to appear and emerge. Genealogy and methods of space production influence the present study in the context of social relations. The genealogical research aspect is based on its involvement in understanding the relations of forces, their becoming process, and the story of their confluence. The present study focuses on some key moments as starting points for the spatial formation of Kahrizak: moment 1) Sugar factory; moment 2) Land reform or the continuation of the fragmentation of Kahrizak space; moment 3) Creating the dock; & moment 4) Kahrizak construction in Oral history.
Cultural Studies
H. Beigi
Abstract
Religious rituals and mourning ceremonies are amongst the most important resources of reaching identity intellectual ruts and the lifestyle by the individuals who collectively exercise and continue them in a certain region. Hosseini mourning ritual ceremony, in Masuleh Residential Estate, is the performance ...
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Religious rituals and mourning ceremonies are amongst the most important resources of reaching identity intellectual ruts and the lifestyle by the individuals who collectively exercise and continue them in a certain region. Hosseini mourning ritual ceremony, in Masuleh Residential Estate, is the performance of traditional rites that put on their symbolic guise on the body of the Muslims’ lamentations after the entry of Islam into this region and updated the traditional ritual style for expressing sympathy with Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his companions. This cultural phenomenon that has been registered as a spiritual heritage needs to be seen so that its practical manifestations can be preserved and guarded hence not lost. Ritual tourism with its dramatic feature, repetition and redisplay of the course of event narrates the ritual actions and reactions before the eyes of the tourists and acts as a powerful medium for preserving the unique and lean characteristics of the regions. The present study is a descriptive and survey research that has been conducted through taking advantage of such means as interview and questionnaire based on convenience and snow ball methods amongst 340 domestic and foreign tourists of Hosseini mourning rites in Masuleh residential estate in 2018. The results of the investigations and analyses of the tourists’ ideas and outputs based on SPSS and Excel are expressive of the considerable role of ritual tourism in the preservation and guarding of the traditional rites and the necessity for equipping the region’s tourism infrastructures. In line with purposive guidance of the tourists and benefiting from the ritual tourism, the holding of specialized and well-planned tours is amongst the primary suggestions of the present study.
Cultural Studies
S. Fotuhi; N. Fazeli
Abstract
The present study phenomenologicaly examines and analyzes the lived experience of the Nowdeshah’ borderline residences. Based on a thematic analysis, four dimensions of the lived experiences studied are identified consisting of the cultural, environmental, economic and political experiences. In ...
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The present study phenomenologicaly examines and analyzes the lived experience of the Nowdeshah’ borderline residences. Based on a thematic analysis, four dimensions of the lived experiences studied are identified consisting of the cultural, environmental, economic and political experiences. In the cultural and environmental experience, the border is considered as a limiting wall and a factor in the abandonment of human communication, where as the political dimension is considered as a liberating frontier. From the economic point of view, the situation is more complicated and there are three different perspectives which are commonplace to the border phenomenon. The first one believes that the border is "potentially life- limiting". In this perspective the border is a barrier to economic relations, although it is necessary and might be existed and accepted. This is due to that fact that without the border it is too difficult to live and survive. In the second view, the border is seen as “liberalization of the market." In this sense, the frontier makes the two countries' economies more interconnected, and there is a two-way exchange between them, which does not provide for foreign cities. In the third approach, the border is considered as "deprivation from the center". In this view the border is seen an obstacle to development, and even to the acquisition of amenities.
Cultural Studies
N. Mousapour; L. Falahati; M. Mazinani
Abstract
Semiotics is the science of studying the sign systems and, in fact, an interpretive process for understanding the hidden truth behind the signs, mysteries, and signs and cultural symbols. In addition, semiotics tells us that structures can be meaningful. The sign system in the Islamic Republic of Iran ...
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Semiotics is the science of studying the sign systems and, in fact, an interpretive process for understanding the hidden truth behind the signs, mysteries, and signs and cultural symbols. In addition, semiotics tells us that structures can be meaningful. The sign system in the Islamic Republic of Iran is very important because of the creation of a new Shiite identity. The present study examines the process of transition from political symbols to social symbols in the stamps between 1979- 2001 as a cultural instrument of the Islamic Republic of Iran through a combination of content analysis and semiotics. The findings of this study indicate that the process of changing the emblems on stamps between 1979- 2001 indicates that the Islamic Republic of Iran's legitimacy has shifted from rulers to society and from political to social.