INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN THE HUMANITIES (IRANIAN JOURNAL OF CULTURAL RESEARCH)
Year:2019 | Volume:11 | Issue:4 (44)|Papers Count:6

Interdiaciplinarity is one of the most significant phenomena of our time, but it is not an easy task to come up with a coherent and precise definition. Evidently, the reason is the wide variety of opinion among the experts in this field. A historical approach toward the most practical definitions of interdisciplinarity and its different types can be very advantageous in this regard. The present research has aimed to show that that, in its early stage, interdiscipllinarity was merely an idealistic concept which was related to the development of 'unified science'. However, the more we move to the present time, the more tangible problems from the world outside we can deal with. Three main insights into the concept of interdisciplinary are based on "Epistemic breaches", "degree of integration", and "the purpose of interdisciplinary research" and illustrate the afore-said conceptual transition. In the latter type, interdisciplinary researches are observed on the basis of their applicability. In the first two types, however, epistemological and knowledge-related issues are at stake. The most recent concept of "Transdisciplinarity" is also entirely based on the degree of applicability and locality of the issues in question. In the first type, we will face "crossing the boundaries of knowledge" and in the second one, we will "cross the field of knowledge". Among these terms, "multidisciplinary" has been far less controversial and there is a relatively good agreement on it. In this way, the co-operation of the disciplines is minimal.

Genetically modified products have been the site of controversy over the last two decades. The main objective of this study is to examine these claims and identify the claim makers that raise these claims. This is a qualitative case study and data has been collected from three sources: interview with key actors in the field, the contents of three debates among the claim-makers and specialized and non-specialized texts related to the field. Research findings show two networks have been formed around genetically modified products. Each network consists of different groups and actors with a common view about genetically modified products. Network of proponents frame genetically modified products as food security, clean environment, healthy food and national production. The network of opponents frames them as risks to environment and human health and a scheme for the intrusion and manipulation of the agricultural system particularly in developing countries. The dominance of a group of frames has different consequences for society.

Apart from the fact that the conceptualization and application of interdisciplinary fields are still in midway, most studies in this field have focused on f the university and paid attention to the necessity of establishing an interdisciplinarity at the university. However, academic experience has shown that a student at the university who has not learned interdisciplinary skills before (in a pre-academic period or school), is weak in the understanding and use of interdisciplinarity at the university. From this viewpoint, regardless of the concept of "discipline, " which remains a specialized activity in the university, the term "interdisciplinarity" expresses a set of future-oriented skills that have to be from the first stage of human development in the Education Portfolios. This paper is a theoretical and analytical attempt to extend interdisciplinarity in pre-academic literature. In this paper, first the feasibility and necessity of pre-academic interdisciplinarity are studied, and second, some practical solutions are offered to achieve this goal in order to form a collage of the future of the school. This collage is a future image of the schools where the interdisciplinary human achieves skills such as adaptability, teamwork, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving for living in a complex environment.

Our concern is with the image of the west in the first Iranian travelogues. How Elements which shape the west image in these travelogues are assembled? Where is their origin? How they interact with each other and were narrated? The contemporary image of the west is an over-determined and dreamlike image-narration. By relying on concepts such as over determination, different histories, elements, and moments, we try to suggest an interpretation about the structure of west narration in primary Iranian travelogues. Our research suggests the idea of the west, in mystical and Sufi doctrine, represents a sequence of association: material-body-darkness-descend-temptation-guilt-accident. The idea of the east associates the opposite side of sequence: sprit-gust-light-ascend-certainty-virtue-essence. These sequences of associations are preconditions of visibility which the first travelogues experience the geopolitical west. Our research about the origins of the narrative structure of travelogues about the west suggests that synthesis of the colonial and the mystical thoughts create a special narration about the east-west relation. East is the ascending arc and west is the descending arc. This image of east-west relation is one of the main assumptions of orientalism.

The Zayandeh-Rood river basin is the only permanent and water-rich river in the central plateau in a densely populated area with a dry and semi-arid climate. Due to precise historical management and supervision, the social problems of water distribution rarely happened. However, since the mid-1980s, the river has steadily lost its natural flow and has become seasonal river. Therefore, there have been many protests by stakeholder in the provinces. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reason for the water crisis in the Zayandeh-Rood river basin has occurred over the last two decades. The knowledge of water management is beyond the technical understanding of the subject, and it is an interdisciplinary science, so it should be considered in different fields. Thus, this article focuses on recognizing the water governance gap in the Zayandeh-Rood river basin in various sectors. The method used for this purpose, is analysis of documents, based on a comparative content analysis. Also we conducted interviews with 30 water experts in different districts and provinces (Isfahan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari). The results showed that water governance in the Zayandeh-Rood River basin resulted in various gaps, including executive gaps, targeting gaps, policy gaps, information gaps, capacity gaps, investment gaps, and responsibility gaps.

Water Withdrawal in Iran is more than the capacity of renewable resources. In addition, Iran is facing a decline in surface water and groundwater. But, it seems the water problem is not well understood in society. Furthermore, there is no consensus in perception of this problem. The media can play an important role in this regard. In recent years, as the problem became more serious and its consequences more apparent, media attention to this issue has increased. But, how the media portrays this issue is unclear. So, this study aims to identify the representation of Iran’ s water issue in mainstream newspapers. To achieve this goal, quantitative content analysis has been applied and contents of four mainstream newspapers have been reviewed over a period of seven years. Based on the findings, natural factors are the most prominent cause of water problems and the authorities’ views are more and the people’ s views are less distinguished in these newspapers. In other words, the content of newspapers is consistent with the government’ s views. "Crisis", "Water scarcity" and "drought" are the most highlighted vocabularies in headlines. These words hide the role of people and officials in creating the problem and represents water problem as a natural problem. Furthermore, water is highlighted as a problem that must be addressed by the government and the role of people is reduced to saving. Whereas, a good governance requires involvement of civil society in decision making.