Cultural Revolution in Iran: Contemporary Popular Culture in the Islamic Republic PDF
Preview Cultural Revolution in Iran: Contemporary Popular Culture in the Islamic Republic
Annabelle Sreberny is Professor of Global Media and Communi- cations in the Centre for Media and Film Studies at SOAS, University of London. She is the co-author of Blogistan: The Internet and Politics in Iran (I.B.Tauris, 2010). Massoumeh Torfeh is the Director of Strategic Communication & Spokespersons Unit, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA),Kabul,AfghanistanandaResearchAssociateintheCentrefor MediaandFilmStudiesatSOAS,UniversityofLondon.Shewaspreviously a senior producer for the BBC World Service. CULTURAL REVOLUTION IN IRAN Contemporary Popular Culture in the Islamic Republic Edited by Annabelle Sreberny and Massoumeh Torfeh Publishedin2013byI.B.Tauris&CoLtd 6SalemRoad,LondonW24BU 175FifthAvenue,NewYorkNY10010 www.ibtauris.com DistributedintheUnitedStatesandCanadaExclusivelybyPalgraveMacmillan 175FifthAvenue,NewYorkNY10010 Copyrightq2013AnnabelleSrebernyandMassoumehTorfeh TherightofAnnabelleSrebernyandMassoumehTorfehtobeidentifiedastheeditorsofthiswork hasbeenassertedbytheminaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentAct1988. CopyrightEditorialSelectionc.2013AnnabelleSrebernyandMassoumehTorfeh. CopyrightIndividualChaptersc.2013LilianeAnjo,MahmoudArghavan,AliceBombardier,Katja Fo¨llmer, Mehri Honarbin-Holliday, Azadeh Kian, Pardis Mahdavi, Amin Moghadam, Parmis Mozafari,BronwenRobertson,NaghmehSamini,NahidSiamdoust,VitSˇisler,AnnabelleSreberny, AnnaVanzan,SaeedZeydabadi-Nejad. Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypartthereof,maynot bereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyany means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permissionofthepublisher. InternationalLibraryofIranianStudies41 ISBN:9781780760896 AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyT.J.International,Padstow,Cornwall CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii 1. Thirty-plus Years of the Iranian Revolution: Culture in Contestation 1 Annabelle Sreberny Part I. Social Context and Sexuality 2. Iran’s Green Movement in Context 13 Pardis Mahdavi 3. Tehrani Cultural Bricolage: Local Traditions and Global Styles of Tehran’s Non-Conformist Youth 27 Mahmoud Arghavan 4. Social and Cultural Change and the Women’s Rights Movement in Iran 43 Azadeh Kian 5. Emerging Forms of Masculinity in the Islamic Republic of Iran 59 Mehri Honarbin-Holliday Part II. Performing Arts and Cinema 6. Contemporary Iranian Theatre: The Emergence of an Autonomous Space 81 Liliane Anjo 7. Dance and the Borders of Public and Private Life in Post-Revolution Iran 95 Parmis Mozafari vi CULTURAL REVOLUTIONIN IRAN 8. Beyond Gender: Women Filmmakers and Sociopolitical Critique 109 Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad Part III. Music 9. ‘I am an Original Iranian Man’: Identity and Expression in Tehran’s Unofficial Rock Music 133 Bronwen Robertson 10. Neither ‘Islamic’ nor a ‘Republic:’ Discourses in Music 151 Nahid Siamdoust Part IV. Representation 11. Digital Heroes: Identity Construction in Iranian Video Games 171 Vit Sˇisler 12. Satire in the Iranian Media: Development and Diversity 193 Katja Fo¨llmer 13. Gendered Taboos in Iran’s Text Message Jokes 209 Naghmeh Samini 14. Iranian Mural Painting: New Trends 217 Alice Bombardier 15. From the Pen to the Rotary Press: Women Book Publishers in Post-Revolutionary Iran 231 Anna Vanzan Part V. Beyond Borders 16. The Other Shore: Iranians in the United Arab Emirates Between Visibility and Invisibility 247 Amin Moghadam List of Contributors 267 Index 273 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1.1 Basiji poster, Tehran 2 Fig. 1.2 ‘Death to America’ wall painting, Tehran 3 Fig. 1.3 Religious mural, Modares Highway, Tehran 4 Fig. 1.4 Biscuits, Armenian bakery, Tehran 9 Fig. 5.1 Hooshyar and Ashraf, Iranian men 66 Fig. 5.2 Joljota in performance 69 Fig. 5.3 Winged man 71 Fig. 5.4 Hojat and Lorestan rock 72 Fig. 5.5 Billboard in Tehran 73 Fig. 5.6 Poster of Imam Hussein 74 Fig. 7.1 Mural of Safavid entertainers, Chehel Sotoon Palace, Isfahan 98 Fig. 9.1 Zina and his band Yellow Dogs in their rehearsal studio 134 Fig. 9.2 Marcus, Mehran and Shervin of Audioflows rehearsing in a disused sauna 135 Fig. 11.1 Resistance video game 176 Fig. 11.2 Valfajr 8 video game 177 Fig. 11.3 Lotfali Khan Zand video game 181 Fig. 11.4 Age of Pahlevans video game 182 Fig. 14.1 Mural, Tehran 221 Fig. 14.2 Mural, Tehran 222 Fig. 14.3 Mural reform, Tehran 223 Fig. 14.4 Mural, new genre, Tehran 225 Fig. 14.5 Inhabitants of Tehran mural 226 Fig. 14.6 Pre-urban Idyll 227 All images courtesy of the individual authors of the chapters unless otherwise specified. CHAPTER 1 THIRTY-PLUS YEARS OF THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION Culture in Contestation Annabelle Sreberny * The relationship between culture and politics is endlessly fascinating and perhaps nowhere as tantalising recently as inside the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite, or even because of, a draconian system of surveillance and control, an extremely lively cultural milieu of practice and representation exists in Tehran and elsewhere in the country that utilises many different forms of expression. Iranians are used to state interference in their cultural lives and censorship.UnderthePahlaviregimethestatecontrolledbroadcasting,the privately-owned press was censoredand SAVAKwas activeinuniversities andwork-places.Satireandfilmthatraisedsocialissuesorquestionedthe directionoftheWhiteRevolutionwereproscribedandtheregicidehistories ofShakespearewere prohibitedfrombeing performed. From its establishment in 1979, the Islamic Republic has engaged in a totalisingprojectofculturalhegemonythatdictateswhatcountsasacceptable ‘cultural expression’ and the forms this may take. The state spends a big budgetonideologicalmaintenanceanditspublicpresence.IslamicRepublic of Iran (IRIB), the state broadcaster, is an extensive organisation with multiple radio and television channels, including foreign language channels and extensive holdings in publishing and film. State-supported events are publicisedwithstreetposters;colourfulflagsthatdenotesignificanteventsline majorroadwaysandarechangedregularly;andreligiousfigures,warmartyrs andothersreceiveduerecognitioninwallpaintingsandotherimagery.The *All photographs in this Introduction by Annabelle Sreberny, Tehran, November 2008.
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