Journal of National Studies
Year:2009 | Volume:10 | Issue:1 (37)|Papers Count:8

This paper will provide a phenomenological analysis of Samad' s narration of Iraqi imposed war on Iran. Samad Shafi-ee was a warrior from the city of Urumieh, Azarbiajan whose way of narrating war events attracted many academics' attention but remained as an intact phenomenon to be studied. Here I will analyze his particular way of narrating war events that was filmed and took place in early 1980s. His narration represents one of the unique media texts and dramas regarding narration of war events. His narrating method of war events provides a very unique text and the paper will indicate that a phenomenological analysis of his media text can help to understand the specificities of the Iranian mode of warfare. This mode of warfare includes 1. believing in a single God and 2. using tolerance towards prisoners of war and the defeated enemy and keeping distance from getting engage in irregular use of violence and 3. loving Iran and 4.directing the warfare towards Iranian mode of civilization. This paper can best be located as a paper that deals with matters that interest multidisciplinary arguments regarding sociology and communication. The paper claims that this analysis can help to understand some principles of Iranian life-world as well as Iranian identity, something that has remained as a mystery to many Iranologists. Among contributions that the paper provides we can also refer to the question of how Iranian discipline of warfare does not intend to emphasize only on individuals to be war heroes. On the contrary, the Iranian mode of warfare seeks to legitimize its civilization claims. It seeks this path through insertion of believing in a single and universal God and using ethics of tolerance. Martyrdom, gains an extra-individual and extra-hero value because it represents an ultimate degree of sacrifice that a hero cannot perform.In this sense, methodologically the paper reconstructs principles of Iranian mode of warfare using Samad's method of narrating war events. This analysis provides knowledge on dimensions of Iranian mode of warfare that has been unknown before. I will pay special attention to the monotheistic characteristic of the Iranian mode of warfare.

The present research examines the outlook of ordinary youth and Isargar children towards the Isargaran function. This research has been conducted according to survey method and the statistical population is consisted of all young people of the country. Sampling method was multistage and the estimated sample contains 4681 people. The data has been gathered from Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Khoozestan and Lorestan provinces. In order to measure the respondents' outlook towards Isargari, three factors (indices) have been applied: the degree of preparation for an act of Isargari (Self-sacrifice), the scope of knowledge towards it and the extent of feeling about it. At the end, combining all these factors together, the outcome indicates that, the average outlook of Isargaran children in respect to the extent of feeling and preparation for an act of Isargari is in a better condition compared with that of ordinary youth. Also the final analysis of the obtained outcomes shows that Isragar children have a more positive outlook towards Isargaran function in comparison with ordinary youth.

This study offers empirical measures for the concepts of Cultural Capital and Social Identity, analyzes the relationship between various dimensions of cultural capital and how one defines himself, and examines the correlation between cultural capital and the salience of various social identities. The study consists of a survey research conducted among 391 students in Tabriz university. Based on the theory of Pierre Bourdieu cultural capital has three dimensions: subjective, objective and institutional. Social identity consists, ethnic, national, religious, global identity and individual identity. Research results indicate a positive correlation between cultural capital and the salience of the identities. Yet, the highest degrees of correlation are with ethnic, individual, national and religious identities, while the lowest is with global identity. Also, the correlation between the various types of social identity and institutional and subjective dimension of cultural capital is to some extent different from that of the objective dimension.

This text is an attempt to show some motifs in saqqa - talars' paintings, that have important role in Iranian identity. This paper describes a type of traditional architecture of Northern Iran, which the author believes to have originated from ancient Iranian culture.I find that this construction is mostly made of wood and is called "saqqatalar" to natives. "Saqqa" means one who gives water to others. On the other hands, all Saqqa - talars are devoted to Abolfazl, the valorous brother of Imam Hossein, the third Shiite Islamic leader. The motifs are signs directly or indirectly related to water, such as serpants, dragons, horned serpentdragons, the two guardian angles of water and greenery (Khordad and Mordad), the king of rain among others. These are dichotomized based on varieties of forms and content:a: Religious designsb: Secular designsProphets, Imams, myths and epics, folklore and legends, ancient Farsi literary texts, astrology and constellations, fantastic creations and geometrical motifs are most decorative motive. Calligraphy also plays a very important role in defining the identity of Saqqa-talars. I attempt to show how this motifs can identify Iranian art and folklore specially in Mazandaran. In this study, Tools analysing motives are based on the concepts, myths, epics and religious symbols. Studying this decorative painting, can assist us to become more aware of reality, identity and content of motifs and the roles played in history art of Qajar period in Mazandaran.

National integrity is an important means for maintenance of communities life. It is difficult to imagine a society without national integrity due to the association between nation and government and among socio-cultural groups within a society. National integrity is so important that governments by all means try to acquire it.Previous studies show that preservation of national communities in diverse societies, including Iran, is subject to the conditions of the relationship among ethnic groups. Domestic tourism development contributes notably to such relationships in a country. Domestic tourism development leads to coherence and unity within a nation, especially in economy, culture and community. Furthermore, it causes national communitys stability and permanence by intensifying people's sense of loyalty to their country.Considering economic and socio-cultural conditions of Iran, abundance of sub-cultures cannot be denied, so policy of "solidarity within diversity" would be the most appropriate.Applying this policy is essentially cultural and can be procured via intercultural discourse.This paper asserts the role of cultural tools in strengthening national integrity, as the aforementioned policy is cultural and modem. Definitely, tourism development increases understanding of oneself and of others, which is the main tool to fulfill national integrity.

An important function of Archaeology is the reconstruction of the nation's past lives, while it could also function as a main approach in establishing national unity in different societies. Nowadays, this approach, which due to interdisciplinary studies has developed, is extremely useful in societies with different ethnicities. It should be stated that as this approach could be useful for national unity of different societies, while it also could cause ethnic conflicts. In fact, the application how-to for this approach has given it such important; however this importance has not yet been conceived in our country. Proper utilization of this approach could set it useful; in contrary, misuse could cause for conflict and disunion.The main question of this paper is whether cultural unification and national unity exist in Sistan and Baluchestan Province? In attempt to answer this question, however, it is necessary to first discuss problems of national unity, and then to represent logical solution for national unity. Archaeology as the main approach will bridge national unity between the mentioned origins. Baised on the archaeological material discovered by author of the present paper from the third millennium BC sites, such as sistes in the Bampur Valley in the Iranian Bluchestan region; and Shahr-i-sokhte in the Iranian Sistan basin, in could be stated that cultural unification and national unity have their roots in third millennion Be.

In this paper we are trying to determine common cultural identity among Iranians and Afghans. For this purpose we use qualitative methods and independent interviews to study mental images of Afghan immigrants in Iran. The theoretical framework of this paper is based on intercultural model of Tony Bennet. We conduct 14 independent interview based upon this model. The result of this study is not generizable; it illuminates some enlightening aspect of cultural exchange among Iranians and Afghans. In this paper we mentioned the cultural commonalities of Iranians and Afghans and refer to some cultural roots of them. This paper remarked that we must remove exclusive ideologies from culture and welcome cultural and ethnic pluralism.