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Esmaeil Alipoor
Abstract
European travelogues about Iran are invaluable sources for Iranian Studies, offering insights into aspects of Iranian culture often overlooked or ignored by Iranian historians. However, these works may include exaggerations, subjective opinions, inappropriate generalizations, and biased political perspectives. ...
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European travelogues about Iran are invaluable sources for Iranian Studies, offering insights into aspects of Iranian culture often overlooked or ignored by Iranian historians. However, these works may include exaggerations, subjective opinions, inappropriate generalizations, and biased political perspectives. This study critically examines the portrayal of Iranian culture in Beyond the Caspian Sea by Arthur Christensen, a Danish orientalist and mythologist. Using a descriptive analytical approach grounded in imagology, the article explores the travelogue’s depiction of Iranian culture. Imagology, a comparative literature method, investigates the representation of the “self” through the “other” or vice versa, aiming to understand the reasons and mechanisms behind such cultural reflections. As an interdisciplinary approach, imagology intersects with cultural studies. The central question is why certain manifestations of Iranian culture and literature, observed during Christensen’s journey at the end of the Qajar era, gain prominence in the travelogue. Findings reveal that Christensen’s perspective is Eurocentric, shaped by inductive reasoning, stereotypes, and political biases. By emphasizing negative aspects of specific individual and environmental elements, he attempts to generalize them to the entirety of Iranian culture. This study underscores the importance of critically analyzing travelogues to better understand embedded biases and cultural reflections. It highlights the need for caution when approaching such sources, considering the influence of the author’s background, motivations, and perspectives. Ultimately, while Beyond the Caspian Sea offers valuable insights into Iranian culture, its potential biases necessitate a critical approach
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omid vahdanifar; esmaeil alipoor
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to examine Iranian Culture in the travelogue Droville, a military adviser to FatAli Shāh. In the present study, the first reports of the French author are classified into three levels: "Positive Paradigms", "Negative Paradigms" and "Neutral Paradigms". Then below each ...
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The purpose of this article is to examine Iranian Culture in the travelogue Droville, a military adviser to FatAli Shāh. In the present study, the first reports of the French author are classified into three levels: "Positive Paradigms", "Negative Paradigms" and "Neutral Paradigms". Then below each class, has been analyzed the images presented on the basis of the components of homogeneity, contradiction, generalization, holism and magnification, which are the characteristics of the "imagology approach". Imagology, which is one of the approaches of comparative literature, has an interdisciplinary nature and is therefore linked to cultural studies. The application of this approach in reading travelogues is important in that it can be viewed in terms of "native" culture from the perspective of "other". So there are two main questions in this article: what aspects of Iranian Culture in the Qājār era have been the focus of a French military adviser? How are these cultural images reflected in the above travelogue? This study has been done with a descriptive-analytical method based on imagology approach in comparative literature. The findings of the study indicate that cultural elements were not reflected in the original form in this travelogue. In fact, these images are the transformed form of the author's early data, which has gone through the channel of different ideologies. The cultural imagology of Drouville is sometimes influenced by Western-European ideas and Intertextual relations and often derived from the class cultural geography of the Qājār era society that he interacted with them.Keywords: Imagology, Travelogue, Droville, Iranian Culture, Qājār eraImagology of Qājār era Iranian Culture in travelogue DrovilleThe purpose of this article is to examine Iranian Culture in the travelogue Droville, a military adviser to Fath-Ali Shāh. In the present study, the first reports of the French author are classified into three levels: "Positive Paradigms", "Negative Paradigms" and "Neutral Paradigms". Then below each class, has been analyzed the images presented on the basis of the components of homogeneity, contradiction, generalization, holism and magnification, which are the characteristics of the "imagology approach".
Behrouz Afkhami; Zeynab Khosravi
Abstract
The Persian garden is one of the most prominent cultural phenomena of Iran. According to the historical documents and archeological evidence, the first Persian gardens were constructed in the Achaemenid period. This paper seeks to answer the question that which cultural and social meanings the Persian ...
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The Persian garden is one of the most prominent cultural phenomena of Iran. According to the historical documents and archeological evidence, the first Persian gardens were constructed in the Achaemenid period. This paper seeks to answer the question that which cultural and social meanings the Persian garden represents. The theoretical framework of the research is based on heterotopia theory of Foucault. Multiple meanings and functions of the Persian garden are discussed in this paper; the first is related to the removal of human constraints and the dominance of the Iranians living culture over the geography of their land, which appears in the landscape of the garden; the second is that the political entity utilizes the garden or its symbols in creating a sense of power and legitimacy; and the third is the harmony, integrity, and order of the natural phenomena. The Persian garden’s order created peace, and possibly a sense of closeness to God. The multiple and dense functions of the Persian garden have become part of the collective unconscious of the Iranians, and the garden becomes a central place in their culture; therefore, it has been constructed continuously during the history of Iran.
Somayeh-sadat Tabtabei; Alireza Hosseini
Abstract
Abū-Helāl ʻAskari, is a scholar with Iranian root, who was born in the fourth century A.H. in Xūzestān. He, like many other Iranian authors of his age, chose to write his works in Arabic. Al-avāʼel is the title of his historic - literary book on ethnic groups, and its ninth chapter is dedicated ...
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Abū-Helāl ʻAskari, is a scholar with Iranian root, who was born in the fourth century A.H. in Xūzestān. He, like many other Iranian authors of his age, chose to write his works in Arabic. Al-avāʼel is the title of his historic - literary book on ethnic groups, and its ninth chapter is dedicated to the "ʻajam", with outstanding reports on pre-Islamic -specifically the Sassanid- era. His Iranian origin and acquaintance with the Persian language, led to valuable considerations on the meaning and origin of some words such as Mehmān and Mehregān. Al-avāʼel, including valuable unique accounts on Iran, outranks other literary and historical works in Persian or Arabic. According to the studies, researchers' unfamiliarity with Al-avāʼel has resulted in its oblivion; therefore, in this paper firstly Abu-helāl is introduced, then those accounts of the book which are related to Iran are translated, studied, and explained.
