DOCSLIB.ORG

Towards Reflexive Land and Water Management in Iran Linking Technology, Governance and Culture

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Towards Reflexive Land and Water Management in Iran Linking Technology, Governance and Culture View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Wageningen University & Research Publications Towards Reflexive Land and Water Management in Iran Linking Technology, Governance and Culture Mohammad Reza Balali I Thesis committee Thesis Supervisors Prof. dr. M.J.J.A.A. Korthals Professor of Applied philosophy Wageningen University Prof. dr. F.W.J. Keulartz Associate professor, Applied Philosophy Group Wageningen University Other members Prof. dr. Paul Richards, Wageningen University Prof. dr. Josee van Eijndhoven, Erasmus University Rotterdam Prof. dr. ir. Wouter. T. de Groot, Leiden University Dr. Maurits Ertsen, Delft University of Technology This research was conducted under the auspices of the Graduate School of Social Sciences II Towards Reflexive Land and Water Management in Iran Linking Technology, Governance and Culture Mohammad Reza Balali Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of Rector Magnificus Prof.dr.M.J.Kropff, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Doctorate Board to be defended in public on Tuesday 8 September 2009 at 4 PM in the Aula III Mohammad Reza Balali Towards reflexive land and water management in Iran. Linking technology, governance and culture, 255 pages Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2009) With references, with summaries in Dutch and English ISBN 978-90-8585-427-2 IV Contents Preface 1 Chapter1. Introduction 7 1.1. General picture of Iran 8 1.2. Land and water problems 15 1.3. Linking land and water issues 19 1.4. Research questions and methodology 21 1.5. Overview and structure of dissertation 22 Part I: Theoretical and conceptual 29 Chapter2. Theoretical and conceptual framework 31 2.1. The technology-governance-people nexus 31 2.1.1. Refining the technology –governance- people nexus 32 2.2. Land and water paradigm: appreciation of the social and natural 36 environment cognitively as well as normatively 2.2.1. Pre-modern (traditional) land and water management paradigm 38 2.2.2. Industrial modernity land and water management paradigm 41 2.2.3. Reflexive land and water modernity paradigm 43 2.3. Refinement of the six research questions 45 2.4. Refinement of the research methodology 46 2.5. Concluding remarks 48 Part II: Historical background 51 Past, present and future of land and water resource management Chapter3. The pre-modern (traditional) land and water management 53 paradigm in Iran 3.1. The main technical system: Qanat 53 3.2. The main social institution: Buneh-the Qanat system as a socio-technical 55 system 3.3. The ethico-religious frameworks: Zoroastrianism & Islam 59 3.3.1. Zoroastrianism: the dominant Iranian religion in the pre- Islamic era 59 3.3.2. Islamic doctrine 63 3.4. Concluding remarks 72 V Chapter 4. The impact of modern land and water management in 75 Iran 4.1. Modernity as idea and developmental model 75 4.2. Iran’s march to modernity 77 4.3. Industrial modernity and the end of the Age of Qanats 79 4.3.1. The hydraulic mission- the replacement of Qanats by deep wells and large 79 dams 4.3.2. The substitution of the Buneh by a system of smallholding 82 4.3.3. The emergence of a mechanistic worldview 87 4.4. Concluding remarks 89 Chapter5. The shift from industrial modernity to reflexive modernity 91 5.1. Anti-modernism and reflexive modernity 91 5.2. Reflexive land and water resource management 93 5.3. Signs and indicators of reflexive turn in Iran 96 5.4. Prospects of reflexive land and water management in Iran 101 5.5. Concluding remarks 107 Part III. Empirical questions 109 Stakeholders’ opinions on the possibilities and constraints of a transition to reflexive land and water management Chapter6. Farmers and village informants 113 6.1 Methodology 113 6. 2. Results and discussion 118 6.2.1. Current perspective on land and water resources management 118 6.2.2. Traditional and modern land and water resource management and their 123 possible integration 6.2.3. Attitudes towards sustainability 126 6.2.4. Attitudes towards technology 129 6.2.5. Attitudes towards science and research 129 6.2.6. Attitudes towards rural institutions and farmers participation 131 6.2.7. Attitudes towards nature and environmental and agricultural ethics 135 6. 3. Concluding remarks 140 Chapter7. Soil and water experts 145 VI 7.1. Methodology 145 7.2. Results and discussion 147 7.2.1. The main land and water policy priorities in Iran from the experts’ point of 147 view 7.2.2. General perception of experts about research questions 147 7.2.2.1. Experts’ attitudes towards sustainability, possibility of integrating 148 traditional and modern land and water management, and technology 7.2.2.2. Assessment of organizations in relation to sustainability issues and the 152 possibility of sustainability under current conditions of the country 7.2.2.3. Attitudes towards ethics in land and water science and the relation 156 between science and society from experts’ point of view 7.3. Concluding remarks 160 Chapter8. Key persons in politics and policy-making 163 8.1. Methodology 163 8.2. Results and discussion 165 8.2.1. Causes of land degradation and water scarcity in Iran 165 8.2.2. Land reform of 1962 and industrial modernization in Iran: advantages and 167 disadvantages 8.2.3. Land and water management paradigms in Iran and transition to reflexive 169 sustainable modernity: opportunities and constraints 8.2.4. Import of western strategy and lack of internal experiences 170 8.2.5. Science, research and technology: part of the problem and part of the 171 solution 8.2.6. Political parties, civil society and democracy as the main way to 173 communicate, promote and implement sustainability 8.2.7. Stakeholders’ participation, government role, land consolidation and rural 174 institutions: challenges and hopes for participation 8.2.8. Ethical issues and the need of ethics regarding land and water, ethics in 175 science and technology and ethics in the administration 8.3. Concluding remarks 176 Chapter9. Comparative analysis of stakeholders’ attitudes 179 9.1. Current perspective of land and water resources management regime and 179 causes of land degradation and water scarcity in Iran 9.2. Sustainability: opportunities and constraints 180 9.3. Integration possibility of traditional and modern land and water resource 181 VII management 9.4. Science, research and technology: part of the problem and part of the 182 solution 9.5. Challenges and hopes of stakeholders participation and the role of 183 government 9.6. Nature, environmental and agricultural ethics 184 9.7. Concluding remarks 186 Part IV: Towards reflexive land and water management 189 Chapter10. Transition to reflexive land and water management in 191 Iran 10.1. From traditional to modern to reflexive land and water management in 191 Iran: answering research questions 1 and 2 10.2. Four key elements of the reflexive land and water management 195 framework: answering research questions 3, 4, 5, and 6 10.2.1. Towards an integrated technical system of traditional and modern 196 technology 10.2.2. Towards new participatory arrangements: shift from government to 197 governance 10.2.3. Towards new ethico- religious framework: post-mechanistic ethics 200 10.2.4. Reflexive soil and water sciences 206 10.3. Concluding remarks 210 Bibliography 213 Summary in English 225 Summary in Dutch( Samenvatting) 233 List of some publications 241 Completed Training and Supervision Plan(TSP) 243 About the author 244 VIII To Fatemeh the beloved daughter of Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) IX Preface Preface “We made from water every living thing” (Quran, 21:30) “The earth has been created for me as a mosque and as a means of purification” (Prophet Mohammad Peace be upon him) As a soil scientist who received his MSc degree in 1997 and started his career as a researcher at the Soil and Water Research Institute (SWRI), I first looked at land and water issues through an engineer’s “spectacles”. At first, however, I was hardly aware that my vision was coloured by the special type of spectacles that I wore. I don’t know Why it is said that the horse is a noble creature, That the pigeon is a beautiful bird. I do not know why nobody keeps a vulture in a cage. I do not know why clover flowers are considered inferior to red tulips. Eyes should be washed to see things in a different way. Words should be washed To become the wind itself, the rain itself. “The sound of water’s footsteps”1 Sohrab Sepehri (1927-1980) In subsequent years I gradually realized that there are also other views on land and water issues. Since the start of my career, new concepts such as sustainability, integrated management, and participatory approach were introduced and raised the question whether conventional methods are still adequate to solve current problems of land degradation and water scarcity with which we are confronted. This gradually brought to my mind the question what “conventional agriculture” and what the rationale behind it is. Also why the new concepts are being introduced and what the differences are between conventional and sustainable methods. Participation in the FAO conference of 2003 entitled “Global food security and the role of sustainable fertilization” made me think more seriously about the questions raised. The conference taught me that soil fertility as the basis of sustainability should be considered from a broad perspective encompassing its environmental and socio– economic aspects. According to the ‘reductionist vision’ that still dominates the productionist paradigm, however, soil fertility management has often been reduced to just giving fertilizer for more production.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Study of Utopia and Dystopia Ideas from Contemporary Iranian Poet's Perspective
    Bagh- e Nazar, 15 (63):69-80 /Sep. 2018 DOI: 10.22034/bagh.2018.67411 Persian translation of this paper entitled: اندیشه های آرمان شهر و پادآرمان شهر از دیدگاه صاحبنظران شعر معاصر ایران (سهراب سپهری و فریدون مشیری) is also published in this issue of journal. The Study of Utopia and Dystopia Ideas from Contemporary Iranian Poet’s Perspective (Sohrab Sepehri and Fereydoun Moshiri) Masoud Haghlesan1, Zohreh Abbaszadeh2, Mohammad Hossein Eslampour*3 Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, ILkhchi Branch, Islamic Azad University, ILkhchi, Iran. PhD student, Department of Architecture, Jolfa Branch, Islamic Azad University, Jolfa, Iran. PhD student, Department of Architecture, Jolfa Branch, Islamic AzadUniversity, Jolfa, Iran. Received 2017/11/18 revised 2018/06/09 accepted 2018/06/18 available online 2018/08/23 Abstract The ideal city (utopia) is a symbol of an idealized reality with no fault. It can also represent an unachievable reality. What Fereydoun Moshiri depicted as an ideal city includes a city with features such as considering humanistic dimensions, equity, tenderness and love among all human beings. The idealistic elements of Sepehri’s poems can be also considered as a mystical and romantic approach. In his magnificent collection of poems named Hasht Ketab, Sepehri has pointed out some architectural elements such as house, portal, room, mosque and etc. and also some materials such as stones, flowers, clay and so on to interpret utopia in his own way. Research objectives: The research attempts to discuss the concepts of utopia and dystopia from contemporary poet’s perspectives in both Sohrab Sepehri and Fereydoun Moshiri’s works.
    [Show full text]
  • Islamic Perspective Journal of the Islamic Studies and Humanities Number 7, Volume 1, Spring & Summer 2012 London Academy of Iranian Studies
    Islamic Perspective Journal of the Islamic Studies and Humanities Number 7, Volume 1, Spring & Summer 2012 London Academy of Iranian Studies Chairman: Seyed G. Safavi, SOAS University, UK Editor-in-Chief: Seyed Javad Miri, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS), Iran Book Review Editor: Yoginder Singh Sikand, National Law School, Bangalore, India Managing Editor: Reza Hosseini, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS), Iran Editorial Board Akbar Ahmed, American University, USA Rohit Barot, Bristol University, England Kenneth MacKendrick, University of Manitoba, Canada Faegheh Shirazi, The University of Texas at Austin, USA Judith Blau, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA Warren S. Goldstein, Center for Critical Research on Religion, USA Oleg V. Kuznetsov, State University of Chita, Siberia, Russia Syed Farid al-Attas, National University of Singapore, Singapore Seyed G. Safavi, SOAS University, UK Richard Foltz, Concordia University, Canada John Herlihy, Petroleum Institute, UAE Margarita Karamihova, Sofia University, Bulgaria Gary Wood, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, USA Seyed Javad Miri, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Iran Husain Heriyanto, ICAS, Indonesia Eleanor Finnegan, University of Florida, USA Tugrul Keskin, Portland State University, USA Advisory Board George Ritzer, University of Maryland, USA Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky, USA William I. Robinson, University of California-Santa Barbara, USA Omid Safi, University of North Carolina, USA Charles Butterworth, University of Maryland, College Park, USA Mahmud Keyvanara, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran Zivar Huseynova, Xezer University, Republic of Azerbayjan Yoginder Singh Sikand, National Law School, Bangalore, India Rachel Woodlock, Monash University, Australia Ejder Okumuş, Eskişehir osmangazi University, Turkey Manuscript Submission Submissions of articles, book reviews and other correspondence should be sent to: Seyed Javad Miri at [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • On Complexity of Persian Orthography: L-Systems Approach
    On Complexity of Persian Orthography: L-Systems Approach Nassim Taghipour Pattern Research Center, Tehran, Iran [email protected] Hamid Haj Seyyed Javadi Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Shahed University Tehran, Iran [email protected] Mohammad Mahdi Dehshibi* Pattern Research Center, Tehran, Iran [email protected] *Corresponding author Andrew Adamatzky Unconventional Computing Centre, University of the West of England Bristol, UK [email protected] To understand how the Persian language developed over time, we un- cover the dynamics of complexity of Persian orthography. We represent Persian words by L-systems and calculate complexity measures of these generative systems. The complexity measures include degrees of non- constructability, generative complexity, and morphological richness; the measures are augmented with time series analysis. The measures are used in a comparative analysis of four representative poets: Rudaki (858–940 AD), Rumi (1207–1273), Sohrab (1928–1980), and Yas (1982–present). We find that irregularity of the Persian language, as characterized by the complexity measures of L-systems representing the words, increases over temporal evolution of the language. 1. Introduction Generation of culture-related motifs, for example, oriental ornaments or scripts, is among the hot topics of computer graphics and virtual re- ality [1–4]. The patterns can be produced in a “natural” way using simulated biological, physical, or chemical processes growing plants as L-systems [5]; precipitating reaction-diffusion media [6] are based on the actual mathematical equations designed by scientists to model the studied phenomena. Other approaches include cellular automata. Thus, Arata et al. [7] used cellular automata with a Margolus neigh- Complex Systems, 25 © 2016 Complex Systems Publications, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • My Tehran for Sale
    ! MY TEHRAN FOR SALE A REFLECTION ON THE AESTHETICS OF IRANIAN POETIC CINEMA G. MOUSSAVI ! THESIS IN THE FULFILMENT OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF CREATIVE ARTS UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY ! © Granaz Moussavi - 2011 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this paper to the memories of my late mother and father: Parvin Chegini Farahani and Hashem Moussavi, as well as my beloved grandmother Nayer Fakhimi who taught me the first poems to recite. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to show my gratitude to my supervisors: Dr. Juan Salazar, Associate Professor Hart Cohen, and Professor Ivor Indyk for their encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level of completing this research. My deepest thanks go to Dr. Juan Salazar who kindly but rigorously shepherded me to overcome the obstacles in my way to complete this written research and constantly motivated me to perform to my best ability. I must also extend my appreciation to the University of Western Sydney for its generosity for granting me the scholarship over my candidature. Also, I would like to sincerely thank Michael Falk for editing and proofreading my thesis. I also wish to express my deepest gratitude to the cast and crew of My Tehran For Sale in Australia and Iran, especially those in Iran who backed me up in many ways, gave me courage, and took many risks to facilitate making of the film. I would like to especially mention the actors - Marzieh Vafamehr and Asha Mehrabi - who took so much trouble in the aftermath of the film’s illegal virtual distribution and its wide reception by the audiences in Iran, as well as Amir Chegini (my husband), and the sound recorder Yadollah Najafi.
    [Show full text]
  • Malmö, C-Uppsats 2020 Augusti
    Kultur-språk-medier Examensarbete 15 högskolepoäng, grundnivå Läroböcker inom modersmålsundervisning i persiska och konstruktionen av nationell identitet Ferdovs Ahmady Examen och poäng : (Lärarexamen 90 hp) Examinator: Pär Widén Datum för slutseminarium: 2021-06-06 Handledare: Maria Kouns 1 Abstrakt De lärare som undervisar i persiska som modersmål och deras elever kommer ursprungligen från olika områden i den persisktalande världen. Detta leder till en spridd användning av lärobokstitlar i modersmålsundervisning i persiska. Syftet med denna uppsats är att kritiskt undersöka läroböcker som används i modersmålsundervisning i persiska i Sverige samt identifiera tänkbara följder som härstammar från politiska motsättningar och instabilitet i de persisktalande områdena. Uppsatsen bygger på diskurs som ett teoretiskt ramverk och grundar sig på Foucaults teori om diskursanalys. Metoden är kvalitativ och en läromedelsanalys har använts. Materialet som ska analyseras utifrån den diskursanalytiska metoden består av läroböcker som undervisas till elever som kommit från persisktalande områden i Afghanistan och Iran. En genomgång av de läromedlen som används i modersmålsundervisning i persiska i Sverige visar att de har en förankring i politik, etnicitet, religion och den nationella diskursen vilket leder till att negativt påverka modersmålsundervisning i persiska i Sverige. Resultatet utifrån skolans värdegrund visar att befintliga läromedel i modersmålsundervisning i persiska är politisk färgade. Det syns tydligt hur språket som verktyg och instrument används av utbildningsväsendet för att skapa kategorier, social verklighet och att konstruera en nationalistisk normativ som ideal diskurs. Nyckelord: Läroböcker, modersmålsundervisningen, diskursanalys, nationalism, persiska språket. 2 Innehållsförteckning ● Inledning 4 ● Syfte och Frågeställning 5 ● Bakgrund 6 ● Teoretiska perspektiv 11 ● Tidigare forskning 15 ● Metod och material 20 ● Resultat 23 ● Diskussion och slutsats 32 ● Vidare forskning 37 Referenslista 3 1.
    [Show full text]
  • GHAREHGOZLOU, BAHAREH, Ph.D., August 2018 TRANSLATION STUDIES
    GHAREHGOZLOU, BAHAREH, Ph.D., August 2018 TRANSLATION STUDIES A STUDY OF PERSIAN-ENGLISH LITERARY TRANSLATION FLOWS: TEXTS AND PARATEXTS IN THREE HISTORICAL CONTEXTS (261 PP.) Dissertation Advisor: Françoise Massardier-Kenney This dissertation addresses the need to expand translation scholarship through the inclusion of research into different translation traditions and histories (D’hulst 2001: 5; Bandia 2006; Tymoczko 2006: 15; Baker 2009: 1); the importance of compiling bibliographies of translations in a variety of translation traditions (Pym 1998: 42; D’hulst 2010: 400); and the need for empirical studies on the functional aspects of (translation) paratexts (Genette 1997: 12–15). It provides a digital bibliography that documents what works of Persian literature were translated into English, by whom, where, and when, and explores how these translations were presented to Anglophone readers across three historical periods—1925–1941, 1942–1979, and 1980–2015— marked by important socio-political events in the contemporary history of Iran and the country’s shifting relations with the Anglophone West. Through a methodical search in the library of congress catalogued in OCLC WorldCat, a bibliographical database including 863 editions of Persian-English literary translations along with their relevant metadata—titles in Persian, authors, translators, publishers, and dates and places of publication—was compiled and, through a quantitative analysis of this bibliographical data over time, patterns of translation publication across the given periods
    [Show full text]
  • Nature in Sohrab Sepehri's Poetry and Thought
    International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences April 2015, Vol. 5, No. 4 ISSN: 2222-6990 Nature in Sohrab Sepehri's Poetry and Thought Dr. Mohammadreza Nasr Isfahani1, Mahdi MohammadGhasemi2, Zahra Hosseini3, Zahra Eftekhar4 DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v5-i4/1586 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v5-i4/1586 Abstract: In Sepehri's view, the entire universe, even nature, is alive and active. Nature has not only physical appearance, but also spiritual essence and soul. Looking at nature monotheistically, we can even see mud and bur as containers of the truth and signs of God. Sepehri believes that nature is the embodiment of God's grace and grandeur. Hence, looking at and meditating on it, man may be led to meet God and reach spiritual worlds. In Sepehri's poetry, nature and phenomena in the universe, as well as their living, beauty, and meaningfulness, are treated as manifestations of the Truth and inspiration. Key words: Man, Faith, God, Sepehri, Nature Introduction: Sohrab Sepehri, the contemporary Iranian poet and painter, is among the artists who are expert in both poetry and painting. As a thoughtful poet who spent most of his life in pondering upon different horizons and spiritual matters and studying various mystical, philosophical, and religious schools and worldviews, Sepehri has unique attitudes toward life. This view of man and the meaning of life evolves and is illuminated gradually throughout his works. It seems that he has followed human's life from the beginning to the end of its evolution and provided his audience with the most essential issues of life.
    [Show full text]
  • Iranian Modern Art During the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925-1979)
    Iranian Modern Art during the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925-1979) DISSERTATION to Obtain the degree of Doctor of Art History at the Institute of Art History, University of Regensburg 2021 Presented by Solmaz Keshavarzi First appraiser: Prof. Dr. Christoph Wagner Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................ 10 Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 11 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 12 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 13 1 Modernity .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The beginning of modernity in Iran ....................................................................... 2 1.2 Modernity in Iran under Pahlavi rule .................................................................... 5 1.3 Chronology ............................................................................................................ 8 1.3.1 1911-1942 ................................................................................................... 8 1.3.2 1942-1958 ................................................................................................... 8 1.3.3 1958-1979 ..................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • By Kara Abdolmaleki a Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The
    A ROBIN REDBREAST IN AN IRON CAGE: REVISITING THE INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT OF DISSENT IN IRAN BETWEEN THE 1953 COUP AND THE 1979 REVOLUTION by Kara Abdolmaleki A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies University of Alberta © Kara Abdolmaleki, 2018 Abdolmaleki | ii ABSTRACT In the wake of the 1953 CIA-backed coup d’état in Iran and the toppling of the democratically elected government of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, a cultural-political movement that opposed the Shah’s policy of rapid, authoritarian modernization emerged in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. This study proposes the concept of Bazgasht be Khish [A Return to Self] as an umbrella term that describes the various anti-colonial and critical counter-Enlightenment strains that eventually converged and formed a revolutionary force in 1979. The concept of A Return to Self was not monolithic and was defined differently by competing ideological movements. This project focuses on Ali Shariati’s consequential question, “A return to which self?” and defines it not as a regressive form of self (ethnic, racial, Islamist, etc.) but as a progressive one that is critical of hegemonic universalism, traditionalism, nativism, and fundamentalism and offers a “third way” based on a dialectical interlocution between modernity and tradition, or between East and West. The conventional literature concerning the post-coup period has often dismissed the movement of A Return to Self as nativist and, therefore, of little intellectual merit. This study takes a different perspective and proposes that it is possible to recast and theorize the post-coup intellectual movement in Iran as an attempt at a “third way,” which sought to transcend the tradition / modernity binary and offer a way out of the impasse the Iranian society was facing.
    [Show full text]
  • Samad Alavi the Poetics of Commitment in Modern
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Poetics of Commitment in Modern Persian: A Case of Three Revolutionary Poets in Iran Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9vn474vw Author Alavi, Samad Josef Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Poetics of Commitment in Modern Persian: A Case of Three Revolutionary Poets in Iran by Samad Josef Alavi A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Shahwali Ahmadi, Chair Professor Muhammad Siddiq Professor Robert Kaufman Fall 2013 Abstract The Poetics of Commitment in Modern Persian: A Case of Three Revolutionary Poets in Iran by Samad Josef Alavi Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Shahwali Ahmadi, Chair Modern Persian literary histories generally characterize the decades leading up to the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as a single episode of accumulating political anxieties in Persian poetics, as in other areas of cultural production. According to the dominant literary-historical narrative, calls for “committed poetry” (she‘r-e mota‘ahhed) grew louder over the course of the radical 1970s, crescendoed with the monarch’s ouster, and then faded shortly thereafter as the consolidation of the Islamic Republic shattered any hopes among the once-influential Iranian Left for a secular, socio-economically equitable political order. Such a narrative has proven useful for locating general trends in poetic discourses of the last five decades, but it does not account for the complex and often divergent ways in which poets and critics have reconciled their political and aesthetic commitments.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Poetry's View on Love
    J. Basic. Appl. Sci. Res., 2(3)3026-3035, 2012 ISSN 2090-4304 Journal of Basic and Applied © 2012, TextRoad Publication Scientific Research www.textroad.com Contemporary Poetry's View on Love Samira Ahmadian1, Mohammad Hasan Haeri1, Fatemeh Kolahchian2 1Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah Branch, Kermanshah, Iran 2Assistant professor, Razi University, Faculty of Arts, Persian Department ABSTRACT In this paper it is tried to have a quick overview on the concept of Love from the point of view of tow poets, Nima Youshij and Sohrab Sepehri. Some examples of the poems of these tow educated poets are made in the regard of specifying their point of view to this subject. KEYWORDS: Sohrab Sepehri; Love; Contemporary poetry; Nima Youshij. INTRODUCTION Sohrab says about his life: <I am from Kashan .but I was born in Ghom. My birth certificate is not correct. My mother knows that I was born in Mehr. It was 12 o’clock that my mom was hearing the voice of Azan (call prayers) .we have not been so long in Ghom. We went to Golpayegan and KHansar .Then we went to my father land …. > Sohrabs’ father, Asadollah Sepehri, was the staff of post and telegraph office and he was interested in art and literature. Sepehris’ mother, was Mahjabin (Forogh Iran) Sepehri .After his husbands’ death, she grew her children. She loved Sepehri more. Poems have been remained in which this kind of love is clear. When Sohrab died, his grandmother was living. Forogh Sepehri was alive when her son died.she was more than 90 years old. She passed away in the early of June in 1994.
    [Show full text]
  • The World of Persian Literary Humanism
    THE WORLD OF PERSIAN LITERARY HUMANISM THE WORLD OF PERSIAN LITERARYq HUMANISM HAMID DABASHI HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts London, En gland 2012 For the memories of my mother’s lullabies, and the whispers of the woman I love: For Golbarg. For Good. Copyright © 2012 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Dabashi, Hamid, 1951– The world of Persian literary humanism / Hamid Dabashi. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0-674- 06671-7 1. Persian literature—History and criticism. 2. Humanism in literature. I. Title. PK6412.H86D33 2012 891'.5509—dc23 2012022225 q Contents Preface vii Introduction The Making of a Literary Humanism 1 1 The Dawn of an Irani an World in an Islamic Universe The Rise of Persian Language and Literature (632– 750) 42 2 The Persian Presence in the Early Islamic Empires Resisting Arabic Literary Imperialism (750– 1258) 70 3 The Prose and Poetry of the World The Rise of Literary Humanism in the Seljuqid Empire (1038–1194) 98 4 The Triumph of the Word The Perils and Promises of the Mongol Empire (1256– 1353) 131 5 The Lure and Lyrics of a Literature The Center and Periphery of the Timurid Empire (1370– 1506) 165 vi Contents 6 The Contours of a Literary Cosmopolitanism Treading over Multiple Empires (1501– 1732) 191 7 The Dawn of New Empires Literary Humanism in Search of Itself (1736– 1924) 224 8 The Final Frontiers New Persian Literary Humanism (1906 to the Present) 263 Conclusion Literary Humanism as an Alternative Theory to Modernity 301 Notes 329 Ac know ledg ments 359 Index 361 q Preface The Karun River runs through the Khuzestan province in southern Iran, where I was born and raised, like an immortal serpent whose head and tail are lost in the subterranean sinews of the earth or else deleted from the terrain of history.
    [Show full text]