Journal of National Studies
Year:2004 | Volume:5 | Issue:3 (19)|Papers Count:9

The present article is an attempt to describe and analyze the combination of the migrating nomadic population of the country on the basis of the census carried out by the Statistical Center of Iran in 1998. Such indices as age, gender, literacy, education, employment, family system, and marital status will be analyzed in the present research. In order to have a profounder understanding of the situation of nomads in Iran attempts have been made to analyze the migrating nomads on the basis of the length of their trips as well as their winter and summer settlements. The findings of the paper indicate that the migrating nomadic population is younger than the total population of the country. Among the children, the dominant sex is male, while the ratio is vice versa with regard to the active population. The education of women is lower and the average strength of family is 6/5 people. Most of the marriages are endogamous.    

Normally in order to differentiate and recognize the ethnic communities and nations, some of their values such as religion, language, literature, customs, norms, and even their race and historical backgrounds are studied. One of the most outstanding subjective and objective examples of recognition and differentiation of the ethnic communities and nations is dress. There has not yet been considerable scientific research about dress in our country. The present article is an attempt to open a new chapter in this regard and study such aspects of dress as its symbols, language and literature of dress, semantic of dress as well as national identity and dress. The method is semantic in this article.  

Since long time back until the Second Pahlavi era, a kind of local governments ruled in various parts of Iran. These local governments through reliance on the local capabilities and cultural structures of the society based on cattle-raising and nomadic economy used to manage the affairs of the society in the name of nomadic society through a traditional manner. In this social lifestyle, the natural environment was protected and at the same time an order dominated the society in which a hierarchical system of political, economic and cultural power used to supervise the people's life and manage the affairs of the society. This local government had its own cultural jurisdiction which was in congruence with the tribal domain and economic realm. Although there have been some exceptions, almost all members of the society were accountable to this system and any family that could not adjust itself with this structure would leave the domain, going to another shelter. The Bakhtiyari tribe is one of the traditional structures. The present article is an attempt to introduce the domain and hierarchical power structure.  

The tribe lifestyle of Iran, as one of the oldest lifestyles, has a history replete with ups and downs. One of the features of this lifestyle in Iran is its independent political-social structure, leaving an impact on sociopolitical events and developments. The continuation of a specific tribal structure gives a special status to the tribal system in Iran. The significance of this status can be observed in the formation of political dynasty in our country.This lifestyle constituted a major chunk of social life in Iran for a long time. With the advent of the fourteenth century, the tribal lifestyle under the influence of various issues underwent drastic structural changes. This change has not taken place in the traditional type: the tribal groups still live in the form of tribal groups, but its transformation in the new types which has taken place with their settlement in rural and urban structures have changed the tribal groups into ethnic groups. In this transformation we observe the emergence of ethnic groups. The present article is an attempt to study the process of transformation of tribal identity to ethnic identity.  

The present research is an attempt to study the role of nomads in safeguarding the national unity and territorial integrity of Iran. Hence two hypotheses have been studied: one, considering a negative role for the nomads; and the second a positive one. Also the present study refers to the issue of ethnicity in the Western societies and their fundamental differences with the issue of nomads in Iran. Finally it mentions some examples of the record of the nomads in Iran and concludes that the second hypothesis is right in this regard.    

The present article is an attempt to study the way of formation of new regional identities in the Khuzestan Province under the influence of the activities of the oil company by relying on the story-writing in Khuzestan. The area of research is the oil-rich Khuzestan Province and story and story literature have been defined. Then the reflection of the economic developments and social activities of the oil company in the stories of the writers of Khuzestan is studied. Attempts have been made to demonstrate the role of each development in the formation of new identities. At the end, through studying cultural issues the issue of new identities has been studied.