Table Of ContentAnnabelle 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
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Copyrightq2013AnnabelleSrebernyandMassoumehTorfeh
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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.
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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.
