Journal of Iranian Cultural Research

Journal of Iranian Cultural Research

The domestication of media, the mediatization of homes material culture of media technologies and changes to domestic spaces in Iran

Document Type : Scientific Research Manuscript

Authors
A. Habibi 1
S.A. Yazdanfar 2
M. Hamzenejad 3
A. Varij Kazemi 4
1 PhD Student of Architecture, School of Architecture and Environmental Design, University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
2 Iran University of Science and Technology
3 Assistant Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture and Environmental Design, University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
4 Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Cultural Studies, Institute of Cultural and Social Studies, Ministry of Science, Tehran, Iran
10.22035/jicr.2023.3013.3352
Abstract
Today's house is very different from a traditional or pre-industrial one. Numerous factors have been involved in home changes, but none of them has affected the home and domestic space as much as with the emergence of modern technologies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of linking and companionship of Iranian homes and media outlets and their mutual effects. Regardless of the content of the media, which is often considered, focusing on the material culture of media outlets, especially television, the paper pays attention to the process of domestication of media technologies and the mediatization of the home in Iran. The findings show that media outlets faced internal and external resistance when entering Iranian homes and in its process of domestication. The common denominator of resistance, despite their different origins, is being ideological. The findings also show that a process of the mediatization of homes in Iran is recognizable, which began with the arrival of radio and, consequently, electricity in Iranian homes. A process that is gradually moving towards increasing home smarting. By moving in this direction, the house itself becomes a medium, the one that is moving towards a "connected home" by connecting it with other homes, neighborhoods and smart cities.
Keywords
domestication
mediatization
material culture
future home
smart home
connected home
Subjects
Adib, M. (1965, May). Barq-e Tehrān [Tehran electricity]. Nagin Weekly, 1, 35-38.
Akrich, M. (1992). The De-scription of Technical Objects. In Bijker, W. & Law, J. (Eds.) Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (pp.205-224), MIT Press.
Alalhesabi, M. & Korrani, N. (2013). Avāmel-e ta’sirgozār bar tahavvol-e maskan az gozašte ta āyande [Factors affecting the transformation of housing from the past to the future]. Journal of Housing and Rural Environment, 32(141), 19-36.
Aldrich, F.K. (2003). Smart Homes: Past, Present and Future, in R. Harper (Ed.), Inside the Smart Home (pp.17-40). London: Springer.
Amin, C. M. (2004). Importing “Beauty Culture” Into Iran in the 1920s and 1930s: Mass Marketing Individualism in an Age of Anti-Imperialist Sacrifice. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 24(1), 81–100. doi: 10.1215/1089201x-24-1-81.
Appadurai, A. (Ed.). (1986). The social life of things: Commodities in cultural perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Bennett, T. (2006). Exhibition, Difference, and the Logic of Culture. In Museum Frictions (pp. 46–69). Durham: Duke University Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv11cw1hd.7
Berg, A.J. (1994). A Gendered Socio-technical Construction: The Smart House, in C. Cockburn and R. First-Dilic (Eds), Bringing Technology Home: Gender and Technology in a Changing Europe (pp.165-180). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Blunt, A., & Dowling, R. (2006). Home. London: Routledge.  doi: 10.4324/9780203401354
Chambers, D. (2011). The material form of the television set: A cultural history. Media History, 17(4), 359–375. doi: 10.1080/13688804.2011.603194
Chambers, D. (2016). Changing media, homes and households: Cultures, technologies and meanings. London: Routledge.‏ doi: 10.4324/9781315630397  
Chambers, D. (2019). Designing early television for the ideal home: The roles of industrial designers and exhibitions, 1930s–50s. Journal of Popular Television, 7(2), 145–159. doi: 10.1386/jptv.7.2.145_1
Chambers, D. (2020). Cultural ideals of home: The social dynamics of domestic space. London: Routledge.‏ doi: 10.4324/9781315205311
Chevalier, S. (2016). Tarh-e do xānegi-ye farānsavi, tahaqqoq-e hovviat-e xānevādegi. (Z. ghaznaviān & et al, Trans.). in I. Cieraad (Ed.), Dar xāne: ensānšenasi-ye fazāhā-ye xānegi (pp. 151-169) [At Home: Anthropology of Domestic Space]. Tehrān, Iran: Research Center for Culture, Art and Communications. (Original work published 2006)  
Church, K., Weight, J., Berry, M., & MacDonald, H. (2010). At home with media technology. Home Cultures, 7(3), 263–286. doi: 10.2752/175174210X12785760502171
Colomina, B. (2007). Domesticity at war. MIT Press.
Fazeli, N. (2008). Modernity and housing.  Journal of Iranian Cultural Research, 1(1), 25-63. doi: 10.7508/ijcr.2008.01.002
Fiske, J. (1989). Moments of television: Neither the text nor the audience. In E. Seiter, H. Borchers, G. Kreutzner & E.M. Warth (Eds), Remote Control: Television, Audiences, and Cultural Power (pp. 56-78). London: Routledge.
Geller, M. (1990). Introduction. In M. Geller (Ed.), From Receiver to Remote Control: The Television Set (pp. 7-10). New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Giddens, A. (2017). Jāme’e Šenāsi [Sociology] (12th ed.; H. Čāvošiyān, Trans.). Tehrān, Iran: Ney. (Original work published in (1986).
Goffman, E. (2012). Nemud-e xod dar zendegi-ye ruzmarre [The presentation of self in everyday life] (M. Kiānpur, Trans.). Tehrān, Iran: Našr-e Markaz.
Gumpert, G., & Drucker, S. J. (1998). The mediated home in the global village. Communication Research, 25(4), 422–438. doi: 10.1177/009365098025004005
Hagh-shenas, M., & Hanachi, P. (2020). Influencing factors on residental architecture and lifestyle in century-old Iran: case study: Transformation of housing models in historical city of Lar. Iranian Architecture Studies, 9(17), 57-76. doi: 10.22052/9.17.57
Harper, R. (2003). Inside the smart home: Ideas, possibilities and methods. In Inside the Smart Home (pp. 1-13). London: Springer.‏ doi: 10.1007/1-85233-854-7_1
Hollows, J. (2008). Domestic cultures. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Iranian Statistical Center (2018). Natāyej-e āmārgiri az farhang-e raftār-e xānevār dar sāl-e 1396 [Rrsults of statistics of family behavior culture in 2016]. Retereived from https://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/0/News/1397/farhang-s-96.pdf
Janadleh, A. & Rahnama, M. (2018). Bāznamāyi-ye āsibšenāsāne-ye resānehā-ye novin dar motāle’āt-e xānevāde: Farātahlil-e maqālāt-e čāp šode dar xosus-e ta’sir-e resānehā-ye novin bar xānevāde [The Pathological representation of new media in family studie: A Meta-Analysis of articles regarding the effect of new media on family]. Journal of New Media Studies, 4(16), 1-40. doi: 10.22054/nms.2019.34873.562
Javaher-Kalam, A. (1957). Az dārie tā television [From Tambourine to TV]. Weekly Information Magazine, 815, 11.
Karimi, P. (2021). Zendegi-ye xānegi va farhang-e masrafi dar Iran: Enqelābhaye dāxeli dar asr-e modern [Domesticity ans consumer culture in Iran: Interior revolutions of the modern era] (M. Kiānpur, Trans.). Tehrān, Iran: Širāze-ye Ketāb-e Mā. (Original work published 2013) 
Kazemi, A. (2016). Amr-e ruzmarre dar jāme’e-ye pasā enqelābi [The everyday in post-revelutionary society]. Tehrān, Iran: Farhang-e Jāvid.
Kopytoff, I. (1986). The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process. In A. Appadurai (Ed.), The Social Life of Things (pp. 64–92). Cambridge University Press.  doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511819582.004
Kubey, R. W., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Television as escape: Subjective experience before an evening of heavy viewing. Communication Reports, 3(2), 92–100. doi: 10.1080/08934219009367509
Laermans, R. & Meulders, C. (2016). Xānegi šodan-e raxtšuyi. In I. Cieraad (Ed.), Dar xāne: ensānšenasi-ye fazāhā-ye xānegi (Z. Ghaznaviān & et al, Trans.; pp. 213-233) [At Home: Anthropology of Domestic Space]. Tehrān, Iran: Research Center for Culture, Art and Communications. (Original work published 2006)
Leal, O. F. (1990). Popular taste and Erudite repertoire: The place and space of television in Brazil. Cultural Studies, 4(1), 19–29.
Livingstone, S. (2007). On the material and the symbolic: Silverstone’s double articulation of research traditions in new media studies. New Media & Society, 9(1), 16–24. doi: 10.1177/1461444807075200
Mahbubi-Ardakani, H. (1989). Tārix-e moasesāt-e tamaddoni dar Iran [History of civilized institutions in Iran]. Tehran, Iran: University of Tehran.
Mäkikalli, M. (2019). Television in hiding: Early television sets in Finland. The Journal of Popular Television, 7(2), 161–176. doi: 10.1386/jptv.7.2.161_1
Marcellus, K. (2011). The Long History of the Networked Home: Convergences of technology, space and sociality in the domestic environment (Unpublished doctoral dissertation)‏. Queen‟s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Marikyan, D., Papagiannidis, S., & Alamanos, E. (2019). A systematic review of the smart home literature: A user perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 138, 139–154.  doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.08.015
Marvin, C. (1988). When old technologies were new: Thinking about electric communication in the late nineteenth century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780195063417.001.0001 
Mohammadpur, A. (2018). Zedd-e raveš: Zaminehā-ye falsafi va raviyyeha-ye amali dar raveš šenāsi-ye keyfi [Counter-method: the philosophical undefpinnings and practical procedures of qualtitive methodology]. Qom, Iran: Logos.
Mohsenian-Rad, M. (2006). Iran dar čhāhār kahkešān-e ertebāti: Seir-e tahavvol-e tārix-e ertebātāt dar Iran, az āqāz tā emruz [Iran in four communication galaxies: the evolution of the history of communication in Iran from the beginning to today]. Tehrān, Iran: Soroosh.
Morley, D. (1986). Family television: Cultural power and domestic leisure. London: Comedia.
Morley, D. (2003). Home territories: Media, mobility and identity. London: Routledge.‏ doi: 10.4324/9780203444177
Morley, D. (2007). Media, modernity and technology: The geography of the new. London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203413050
Morley, D. (2018). Televizion, moxātab va motāle’āt-e farhangi [Television, Audiencees and Cultural Studies] (S. Abdi, Trans.). Qom, Iran: Logos. (Original work published 1992) 
O’sullivan, T. (2005). From television lifestyle to lifestyle television. In D. Bell & J. Hollows (eds), Ordinary Lifestyles: Popular Media, Consumption and Taste (PP. 21-34). Maidenhead: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill International.‏
Putnam, T. (2016). Zendegi-ye xānegi-ye postmodern (Z. Ghaznaviān & et al, Trans.). in I. Cieraad (Ed.), Dar xāne: ensānšenasi-ye fazāhā-ye xānegi (pp. 261-276) [At Home: Anthropology of Domestic Space]. Tehrān, Iran: Research Center for Culture, Art and Communications. (Original work published 2006)
Rees, E. (2019). Television, gas and electricity: Consuming comfort and leisure in the British home 1946–65. Journal of Popular Television, 7(2), 127–143. doi: 10.1386/jptv.7.2.127_1
Rybczynski, W. (1983). Taming the Tiger: The struggle fo control technology. New York: Penguin.
Scott, S. (2018). Ma’nā baxši be zendegi-ye ruzmrre [Making sence of everyday life] (F. Maktubiān & M. Maktubiān, Trans.). Tehrān, Iran: Jāme’ešenāsān. (Original work published 2009)
Shapiro, D. (2016). John Vassos: Industrial Design for Modern life. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. doi: 10.1080/00043079.2017.1337427
Sharifzadeh, R. (2018). Mozākere ba ašya (Bruno Latour va nazariye-ye konešgar-šabake) [Negotiation with objects (Bruno Latour and Actant Network Theory)]. Tehrān, Iran: Ney.
Silverstone, R. (1993). Time, Information and Communication Technologies and the Household. Time & Society, 2(3), 283–311. doi: 10.1177/0961463x93002003001
Silverstone, R. (1994). Television and everyday life. London: Routledge.
Silverstone, R., & Haddon, L. (1996). Design and the domestication of information and communication technologies: Technical change and everyday life. In R. Silverstone, & R. Mansell (Eds.), Communication by Design: The Politics of Information and Communication Technologies (pp. 44-74). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Silverstone, R., Hirsch, E. and Morley, D. (1992). Information and Communication Technologies and the Moral Economy of the Household. In R. Silverstone, & E. Hirsch (Eds.), Consuming Technology: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces (pp115-131). London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203401491
Soronen, A., & Sotamaa, O. (2004, June). And my microwave is a fox. In Refelcting domestic environments and technologies by means of self-documentation packages. Teoksessa Fay Sudweeks & Charles Ess (toim.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication Karlstad, Sweden. 27, 211-225.
Sovacool, B. K., & Furszyfer Del Rio, D. D. (2020). Smart home technologies in Europe: A critical review of concepts, benefits, risks and policies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 120, 109663. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.109663
Spain, D. (1992). Gendered spaces. Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina Press.‏
Sparke, P. (2008). The Modern Interior Revisited. Journal of Interior Design, 34(1), v–xii. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-1668.2008.00002.x
Spigel, L. (1992). Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Spigel, L. (2001). Welcome to the dreamhouse: Popular media in postwar suburbs. Durham: Duke University Press.
Spigel, L. (2005). Designing the smart house: Posthuman domesticity and conspicuous production. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 8(4), 403–426. doi: 10.1177/1367549405057826
Spigel, L. (2012a). Object lessons for the media home: From storagewall to invisible design. Public Culture, 24(3 68), 535–576. doi: 10.1215/08992363-1630681
Spigel, L. (2012b). Domestic technologies and the modern home. International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, 383–398. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-08-047163-1.00316-7
 Story, J. (2017). Motāle’āt-e farhangi darbāre-ye farhang-e āmme [Cultural studies and the study of popular culture] (H. Payande, Trans.). Tehrān, Iran: Âgah.
Sustersic, P. (2013). Domestic spaces in the information era: architectural design, images and life in a technological age (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Southampton.‏ Southampton, United Kingdom.
Thumim, J. (2004). Inventing television culture: Men, women, and the box. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198742234.001.0001
Tichi, C. (1991). Electronic hearth: Creating an American television culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
Van Rompaey, V., & Roe, K. (2001). The Home as a Multimedia Environment: Families’ Conception of Space and the Introduction of Information and Communication Technologies in the Home. Communications, 26(4). doi: 10.1515/comm.2001.26.4.351
Wentling, J. W. (1990). Housing by lifestyle: The component method of residential; design. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wheatley, H. (2017). Television in the ideal home. In R. Moseley, H. Wheatley and H. Wood (Eds.), Television for Women (pp. 205-222). London: Routledge.
Send comment about this article
Enter Name.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter a vaid affiliation.
Enter comments (At leaset 10 words)
CAPTCHA Image
Enter Security Code Correctly.

  • Receive Date 27 July 2022
  • Revise Date 26 October 2022
  • Accept Date 10 January 2023