Journal of Iranian Cultural Research
Year:2018 | Volume:11 | Issue:3 ( 43)|Papers Count:7

Study of how to spend non-native students of Ferdowsi University among leisure time, is purpose of this research. Non-native students experience different process in different terms related to leisure time due to special conditions. Entering in new environment, and often new experience in a metropolis, can be understood of people for different leisure time. In fact, since non-native student arrived in own city of study, shares his leisure time with his friends and his family plays a very small part in spending his leisure time. The more elbowroom, having more time to spend leisure time, getting to know new friends and different types of leisure time in a metropolis, opportunity to relationship with opposite sex and many other things will cause of difference in the leisure time of non-negative students. The method of this research was qualitative. With 40 non-native students, individual in-depth interviews were done and finally, by reaching theoretical saturation, the interviews were coded in three stages and finally-analyzed. One of the most important results of this study is the reduction of leisure time in the final semester. Also, the type of spending leisure time for non-native students in the final semester has differences that are discussed in the findings. Generally, Activities in social networks, relationship with opposite sex, street surfing and going to the park are most important leisure activities of the students. More than twenty of leisure time is described according to interviews in the report.

Students have interactions and communications beyond the official university systems which are informal and form many of their memories during the time of education. What matters is the students' understanding and perception of mental concepts of student life which should be discovered to narrow the gap between higher education and university officials as much as possible so that the hidden layers of student life can be perceived and policies can be formed according to them. In the present study, a summary of the perceived, meaning and experienced student's life will be presented during these interactions. For this purpose, deep phenomenological interviews were made with 52 students from different departments and fields of study in the University of Tehran. Over the informal interactions and spending most of their times with their friends, the students have changed in many cases of their student life such as changing in human communication patterns, changing religious styles, changing the leisure time, an improvement in personal abilities, gender attitudes, changing in educational patterns, changing of attitude and worldview, achieving positive personal feelings, support and a sense of group affiliation, compensation, changing in social participation motivations, change in the socializing processes and the normative system.

The main purpose of this research is first to provide a sort of forces and social groups’ categorization in the Balochistan community and, in the following, discourses that can be deduced from the activities of these groups. The present research is fundamentally, within the framework of a kind of historical-genealogical methodology. Findings show that especially in the last century and among social groups in political and social discourses of Balochistan, the most influential ones included: 1) Commanders, khans and the traditional aristocracy; 2) Ethnic nationalist and national elites; 3) clerics, Molavies and religious activists; 4) intellectuals and modernist civil activists. It seems that each of these groups act in a special thinking context and space; this issue is discussed in the present article, following the presentation of four discourses: 1) Self-centered and ethnocentric discourses; 2) nationalist discourses; 3) socio-political religious-oriented discourses; 4) Reformative socio-political discourses.

The schemata existing among social groups have a direct impact on the formation of interactions in different societies. People often perceive others as members of a social group and form their own relationships and interactions based on ideas that they have from one another. The study and identification of ideas can be effective in establishing or not establishing communication. This article studies the schemata between members of the Islamic Association and Basij members. Because of this, we tried to use Nishida’ s theory of schemata. Based on this theory, schemata is a set of past experiences that are categorized in relevant knowledge groups and used to guide our behavior in familiar situations. According to the definitions of Nishida (1999) and Turner (1987), personal and self-schemata are two of the types of schemata's. The method approach in this study is a qualitative approach. At the end, a Semi-structured interview was conducted between 46 active members of these Groups. Data analysis has been carried out in the form of thematic analysis. Personal schemata of the members of the Islamic Association are identified and categorized against the self-schemata of the members of the Basij in the form of themes and sub-themes. In the following, opposite and similar schemata between the two Student groups have been identified.

This paper aims to investigate the most significant factors affecting the socio-cultural adaptation of international students in Iran. A survey was conducted on international students studying at University of Tehran. Data was collected both online and on paper among the students. 284 valid responses were collected. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between the level of socio-cultural adaptation of international students and factors such as having companion during the study period in Iran, the length of stay, being accepted by people in society, being accepted by university staff and students and an overall satisfaction of living in Iran. The results also suggest that there is no significant relationship between acquiring prior knowledge regarding Iran and the level of socio-cultural adaptation of students. The results also indicate that there is no significant relationship between the demographic factors such as age and gender and socio-cultural adaption of international students at the University of Tehran.

This study follows a social approach and pays attention to the social and cultural level of convergence in the daily life of the Shia and Sunni people. The cultural patterns of Shia-Sunni divide in Lā restan region (south Fars province) and Bastak (west Hormozgā n province) are a good example of the coexistence and sympathy between the two religious groups in Iran. The main question is: How the co-existence of Shia and Sunni people in this region can transform the ethnic and religious fanaticism into the ethnical and cultural relativism and ultimately lead to a cultural integration between Shias and Sunnis? Milton J. Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) was adopted as the theoretical model for answering the question. The research includes a field study and a survey interview with 420 Shia and Sunni people in Larestan and Bastak. The results showed that Sunni people have a more ethnocentric view compared with Shia people, because the Sunni people are a minority group who pursue more conservative and cautious views to protect their societies. The Shia people have more ethno relativist views; Shia people have more cultural tolerance and are more inclined to accept and even integrate with Sunnis. It is based on this view that the coexistence, convergence and social integration of Shias and Sunnis have become possible.

Suicide is one of the important problems the prevalence of which has brought about a crisis in Ilam province. Numerous studies have been carried out, but have not adequately addressed the cultural causes (meaning). Hence, the main issue in the present research is what is the meaning of suicide among the people of Ilam? To achieve the response, the strong program approach in the cultural sociology of Alexander and Smith was used. The method is of a qualitative kind; it is based on the "strong program". In this research, due to the subject and the conditions, purposive sampling was used. The sample includes all individuals who have had suicide attempts (unsuccessful) in the province during the period from September to December 2014, or relatives of those who have committed suicide. Data collection techniques, included observation and interviews with either people who had committed suicide some of their relatives. The data was supplemented through interviews with hospital personnel, university professors, researchers and informant individuals, referring to articles and publications; news reports and press releases; sites and weblogs; as well as proverbs, poems, etc. The results show that in Ilam society, suicide is a symbol of the objection against the status quo and is codified as evil. There are two main narratives about suicide: fatalism and salvation. Through analyzing the symbols, codes and narratives of suicide, it is understood that suicide is thought to be a way the person is recognized.