نشریه جامعه شناسی هنر و ادبیات
سال چهاردهم شماره 2 (پاییز و زمستان 1401)

 Portraying the subaltern has always been one of the contradictory notions in the field of art, and dealing with the urban poor is considered an important issue in critical claim. But the main issue here is that the mere inclusion of urban poor as a content in an artwork cannot have critical characteristics, even if the author claims so. The main issue is about the form in which the poor is depicted, and the critical features of a work should be sought in its depiction or narration forms and not necessarily in the represented content. Therefore, if we consider how the urban poor is represented in a general sense and in cinema in specific, we can speak of patterns that establish different relationships with the life of the poor. These representational forms can be evaluated and their relationship with the current situation can be revealed by showing the origins of their emergence.  The present study was conducted with the aim  of analyzing the narrative mechanisms of the so-called "Social Genre`" in Iranian cinema. For this purpose, by focusing on a range of popular Iranian movies in the last decade (2011-2021) and analytically studying the narrative structures of these films, an attempt was made to present a categorization of these imaging systems. This classification goes beyond description and its eventuality has been investigated through a conceptual order centered on the notion of "poverty of experience" in Walter Benjamin`s works.  This study is a qualitative research and it was compiled in a mixed methodology. Utilizing the method of Semiotics in the study of Iranian cinema, this research tries to adopt a new approach on social studies. For this purpose, 19  Iranian films between 2011 and 2021 were selected. To analyze the discourse of Iranian journalism in the face of the urban poor in the same period, archives of eight selected newspapers including (Donyaye Ekhtesad, Iran, Keihan, Aftab Yazd, Jame Jam, Resalat, Sharq and Vatan Emoraz) along with online databases related to the press including (Fars, Tasnim, Mehr, Isna, Etemad Online, etc.) were searched with a targeted encounter. In the search for keywords such as poverty, marginalization, day laborer, street hawker, homelessness, and social harm among the mentioned documents,and through the logic of discourse analysis the patterns of representation of urban poor were discussed.  Based on the narrative cores of these films, it was depicted that this narrative order serves a conceptual purpose which we call "dramatizing the life of the urban poor". In close relation to the journalism focused on social harms, which was examined through discourse analysis, the process of dramatizing demonsrates itself in three main strategies: the sanctification, marginalization and condemnation-crimination of the urban poor. This is how the Iranian "Social genre`" confronts the daily life of the urban poor in cinema and journalism and it eventuates as something that serves the desire of the consumer society. In other words, in the articulation of the existing situation, a transformation and a distortion occurs, which indicates the filmmaker's deliberate effort to represent a flawed construction of reality or a dramatized image of everyday  life of the urban poor. Therefore, the film loses the social and critical features that claims to reflect and in the final instance it becomes a kind of mere consumer good

So far, Iranian carpet studies have mainly focused on "economic" and "artistic" dimensions. The first one considers the carpet as a commercial commodity, while the latter has concentrated on the aesthetic forms of the carpet, such as the motifs, patterns, colors, threads, visual effects, symbols, signs, weaving techniques, etc. These two approaches pay attention to the distinctions of carpet designs in different regions of the country from economic and artistic aspects. Thus, in the conventional historiography of Iranian carpets, primarily "economic matter" and "aesthetic matter" have been at the center of attention.In the mentioned studies, the social history of carpets has usually less paid attention to. One of these areas is related to the lives of carpet laborers in carpet workshops. Women and children can be considered the weakest worker layers in the hierarchy of carpet producers. They can be acknowledged among the main subalterns of the carpet production system. The subalterns whose daily life situation is not clear on the edge of the Iranian carpet production system. The purpose of this article is to know some dimensions and characteristics of the inferiority of women and children in Qajar carpet weaving workshops. To pursue such a goal, the question was asked about the situation of carpet weaving women and children from the point of view of issues such as double work at home and in the workshop (for women). What were the age-sex ratios, working health conditions, and finally the amount of wages and working hours?This study was done from the theoretical and methodological aspects according to the point of view of Edward Palmer Thompson and using the bottom-up approach to the history of Iranian carpets. For this purpose, the lived experience of carpet- weaving women and children, especially their position and role in the Iranian carpet production system, was examined from a social point of view.The scope of the investigation was the Qajar period and the necessary data were collected from the travelogues of this period. Thus, the present study was conducted with a qualitative approach and historical method.The results showed that carpet weaving by women and children was common in urban, rural, and nomadic homes in different regions, and the payment of wages to women and children in the domestic weaving sector was eliminated, because domestic work, including carpet weaving at home, is not considered a "job". became.Regarding age and gender, most of the weavers were women or child girls. Of course, in some parts of the country, boys were also assigned to work as carpet weavers. However, the employment of women and children in the carpet weaving workshop outside the home has contributed to the family's livelihood.Moreover, the present study showed that the weavers in the carpet weaving workshops suffered from physical injuries such as bone deformities due to the inappropriate conditions of the structure as well as the lack of health and hygiene conditions, and some diseases were common among the weavers. These injuries were caused by working very long hours for meager wages that did not support daily life.In short, the results of the present investigation in all mentioned investigated areas indicate that women and children in the workshops were in inferior positions compared to men. Interestingly, the women of the upper classes were also involved in carpet weaving, but in any case, such activities were not included in the framework of paid work. In other words, the employment of women in carpet weaving was almost universal and, in this respect, there was not much difference between the women of the upper classes in the village and the nomads.

The development of literary theories at the beginning of the 20th century cannot be separated from the emergence of genetic structuralism as one of the critical methodologies of the 20th century. At the time, structuralism (which emphasizes the independence of literary works) and sociology literature (which emphasizes the relationship between literary works and factors outside the literary work, such as authors, society, and historical context) were in conflict. As a result, genetic structuralism arose to serve as a link between them. Sociologist Lucien Goldman, from France, created genetic structuralism. In his proposal, Goldman explains not only the theory but also the procedure for analyzing literary works. In this article, utilizing the theory of Lucien Goldman, we examine the themes of social reflection and the writers' worldview in the Holy Defense novels of the 80s and 90s (Atash Be Ekhtiar, Jamhaye Showkaran, Da, Soran Sard, Man Zende Am, and Fasle Javani). The mentioned novels were discussed. The Holy Defense novel's events were analyzed using a qualitative method and a library study, from a holistic perspective and from the writer's point of view. It was determined that the works of the Holy Defense authors, regardless of their attitude, are a product of the society in which the authors live. Additionally, their products are produced by society. The literary works of the period of the Holy Defense represent the general thoughts of society, thereby revealing the author's particular worldview, the representation of popular culture, the existence of differing perspectives on the war and the cultural affairs of the Holy Defense, and the condition of the entire society during the war. The behavior of each character in the novels reflects the entire society.

One of the main axes of the Islamic Revolution’s discourse, is the achievement of justice, and Ibrahim HatamiKia, as a film maker emerging from this discourse, has always presented social justice as his main concern. This research has also been done to interpret HatamiKia's movies on the issue of justice relying on the concepts arising from the theory of John Rawls, Jasso and Wagner. In this way, this research is in line with Rawls's belief that a just society is considered to have just institutions and the people of that society also think that the institutions act justly; Also, the people of that society have the same perception of justice. The second point is that all people have an equal right to achieve the basic goods that society has provided for them. Good things such as income, wealth, prosperity, health, political positions.

This research was analyzed through the method of narrative analysis with a structuralist approach. In this approach, we are faced with the question of how to organize the events and actions of the story. The theories of Chatman and Labov were combined together to analyze the story and the discourse of chosen movies. The theory of Labov was used to extract narrative transfer structure in Chatman model. Three movies of The Glass Agency (1996), Low Heights (2001), and Exodus (2019) were selected by purposive sampling method.

In the three reviewed movies, three common characteristics are considered for rewardees. The first feature is that in all three movies, the class from which the justice seekers came from is the lower class of society and belongs to small towns and non-metropolitan cities. The second characteristic is the strong influence and leadership of these characters in the story process. The third and most important feature is that the rewardees of each story are somehow connected to the issue of the Iran-Iraq war. Therefore, the justice seekers in these three films belong to the lower class, have the personality of leaders and war fighters. In all three movies, the rewardees are clearly looking for economic justice. In the film "Glass Agency" the rewardee needs money to cover the cost of travel and treatment, in the film "The Low Height", the rewardee cannot support his living expenses due to the lack of jobs and facilities, and in the film "Exodus", the farmers' agricultural products is gone and they are looking for compensation to compensate for their loss; But as soon as the act of justice takes place and the rewardees tries to regain his lost right, economic justice takes a turn to political justice from the point of view of the Allocators.

The findings suggest that the discourse of these three movies is represent the Iranian society as an unjust society in which all the economic demands of the justice seekers are viewed with a political-security lens. Therefore, the relevant institutions have been used to re-establish security. Allocating institutions interpret the process of seeking justice with the fear of the foreign enemy and the internal enemy. From this point of view, justice-seeking action does not bring an end to the downfall for justice-seekers. The death of the rewardee and the failure of the realization of justice, the fall of the actors and the ambiguity in the realization of justice and the failure of the journey are examples of this downfall.

Nowruz is one of the oldest rituals left from ancient Iran, which has always been a suitable platform for the growth and preservation of cultural and artistic elements. The role of poetry and music in the permanence of Nowruz rituals is going to be examined in this research, and it attempts to establish a mutual view of the interaction between poetry and music in Nowruz rituals. This process is measured with the theoretical foundations of social memory and the factors of life and transfer of culture and identity, in order to identify the effects of poetry and music on the life of Nowruz rituals. It will try to answer these questions in this way: What factors are involved in the survival of Nowruz rituals? What role does the association of poetry and music play in the life of rituals of a culture?

The purpose of research:

The purpose of this research is to emphasize the role of poetry and music as two important and effective foundations in the permanence of Nowruz rituals from ancient times up to today.

The method of research:

The current research has investigated the subject in a descriptive-analytical way and collected information in the form of library and field interviews.

The main discussion has been about the two foundations of Nowruz and social memory. The first basis of Nowruz is an oral tradition that has its own special performance rituals, while these rituals, that are the basis of Nowruz, have influenced on Persian literature that made unique works related to Nowruz, and has been influenced by literature. It caused that the welcoming spring rituals, which are known as Nowruz rituals, to be divided into two parts:  The verbal rituals, and non-verbal rituals. The second basis is related to Maurice Halbwachs’s social memory theory discussion, in which he talks about two important parts, these two parts are: 1) the factors that create social memory; 2) the tools for transferring social memory. 

In Halbachs’s theory, things such as ritual, language and commemorative practices are listed among the factors of creating social memory, which have many similarities with Nowruz rituals. Nowruz can be proven that is a ritual, from the fact that it has both timeliness and a relationship with myths and unique practices; These ceremonies are held at a specific time, which is between the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and the spring couriers of various tribes, each of which is somehow related to mythological features, such as Haji Firouz, is a proof of the connection with mythology. Finally, the unique ceremonies and practices of Nowruz are the same rituals that are in Persian culture is specific to Nowruz, such as setting Haft Sin Table, Fireworks Wednesday, etc. The second factor is the language, which the role of language in Nowruz rituals has been clearly examined in the verbal rituals of Nowruz. The third factor is the commemorative ceremonies and practices that can be seen in ceremonies like pilgrimage of the dead people on their graves, cleaning the house, etc. on the last days of the year. After it was determined that Nowruz contains all the factors of creating social memory, in the next part, the memory formed among the members of the society must be transferred from each generation to the next generation through transferring tools, which includes music, pictures, narratives, and some practices which are familiar for the society.  The music which is used in Nowruz chants and by spring couriers, can be cited and interpreted in the musical section in this regard. Anyway, the images and performances that spring couriers have and are only related to them, can be cited and interpreted in the picture section, while the poems of Nowruz chants and the poems used by Nowruz couriers, which are often like stories and tell about the passing of winter and the coming of spring, can be cited and interpreted in the narrative section.  The familiar practices of the community, such as festival shopping, also has many examples in Nowruz.

According to the obtained results, poetry and music are effective tools in transferring social memory, and they caused Nowruz to be survived in the minds of society. Also, poetry and music cause penetration in the social memory of people to be accompanied by each other, and it is possible that the presence of each of the two elements of poetry and music alone shows a result other than the result of their association.

This essay is Reflecting on the novel genre in general and the Persian novel of the 1340s in particular, this essay intends to evaluate the relationship between the two according to the internal logic of the novel genre from Bakhtin's point of view. Therefore, at the beginning, by reflecting on the problem of the novel and its possibilities, we go through a path that shows concepts such as: "epic-novel", "continuity", "chromotrope" and "ending" in the utterance novel, which shows an independent world for the novel. A new and forward-looking world that contains the concept of movement and infinity. The genre of the novel and its storied world is a creation of a complex and intertwined relationship of various different elements, such as: the real world as a source of representation, the world of representation of the literary work, the author and the audience in different times and places that They can be called as the continuation of the novel. This issue in the novel shows that language and different consciousness in a novel is not a neutral issue; Rather, there is a continuity that imagines everything in a real, integrated and unfinished historical world, which is distinguished from the world represented in the text by a definite and definite distance. Such a pattern is always related to historical time; In this sense, every voice or consciousness responds to the statements before it and semantic patterns and awareness before it and always waits for an answer. The expectation that takes the form of Bakhtin's language: the novel has a kind of indeterminacy and unfulfilledness within it, which creates an endless present by creating a dynamic relationship with the unfinished and still evolving contemporary reality. The study of this research is based on some specific Persian novels in the 1340s, such as: " Showhar-e Ahou Khanom" by Afghani, " Savushun" by Simin Daneshvar, and " Hamsayeh-ha" by Ahmad Mahmoud; The different semantic aspects of these novels become important for us in various socio-historical contexts. In this way, the meaning of a text finds different directions from one context to another, from one social condition to another, and from one generation to another. These different directions find meaning for us in the ending and how these novels end. Therefore, according to the aspects of the form that we formulated at the end of these novels, we realize that the concept of movement as one of the most important characteristics of the genre of the novel, which is combined with the concepts of infinity and indeterminacy and the ending is in an endless now, at the end of these novels it turns into stillness. This issue is related to the real social-historical context which is considered as the source of storied representation of these novels, to the social context in which the mentioned novels narrate the narrative of this representation and after that they are read in different times it is a reminder of the repetition of specific historical patterns in different clothes in a given and determined circle, which do not indicate extrication, salvation  and metamorphosis, nor do they have the ability to draw a new and future world. In this way, if we consider the story of Seyed Miran, Zari and Khaled as an allegory of a social-historical period, the world represented by the These novels in the 1340s shows the ending of movement, return and stillness that is shown at the end of the novel. ending and a return that perpetuates the ending of consciousness and a certain voice in the unfinished contemporary history. The continuity of this novel from the real world as the source of its representation to what it represents in the 1340s, and the re-creation and reconstruction that is always done by its audience in the unfinished contemporary history, ending the movement, returning and standing at a point; It will be safe and complete.

"Global patriotism" is coexistence in a society while respecting each other's differences. Unlike provicialism, which seeks to assimilate and subvert differences, cosmopolitanism welcomes diversity and plurality in society.

Aims, significance, and questions:

The reason for choosing three children's picture books with the common theme of "patriotic peace" from three writers from Madagascar (a society with a history of colonization), Britain (a society with a history of colonialism) and Iran (a society with a history of sacred defense) is that by studying them, the effect of differences the cultural structures of societies are revealed on the difference of representations of a common theme. the present research seeks to answer how the historical-social structure of the writers' nationality is related to the aesthetic structure of their stories. In this regard, the questions of the present research are:a) How does the difference in the aesthetic structure of each of the three mentioned stories lead to the difference in the representation of the concept of cosmopolitanism? b) How does the worldvision structure of the author of each of these works, as three representatives of different socio-cultural classes, relate to the aesthetic structure of their literary work?

This research was carried out with the analytical-comparative method and according to Goldmann's genetic struturaism approach, and its data was collected by library method. The sample group is selected by "targeted sampling" method.

In the plot of all three stories, the problematic character wants "permission to enter" a place like a house or a club and seeks to coexist with others.Ruillier, as a transpersonal agent, in the small and insignificant square (Ruillier, 2014), criticizes those in power who consider the condition of social acceptance and coexistence of the defeated minority to be assimilation and melting into the dominant culture. As one of the minorities who immigrated to France, Rouillier is left between the dilemma of preserving his cultural identity (the African country of Madagascar) and assimilating with the dominant French culture; In order to create the maximum awareness possible, he has displayed the conflict of an immigrant's worldview with the dominant culture of the society beyond in the form of a heterogeneity of a square with a circular door of a house whose gate is designed based on its own circular citizens.Kelly, the English author of the story Can I join your club? (Kelly, 1400), shows his otherness to all the societies of the world (especially the eastern countries) in the duck metaphor. Duck is a problematic character who does not have any common characteristics with the members of any of the clubs. The mentioned story considers each of the clubs to represent a society with a different culture, which rejects the duck as a cultural other. In fact, clubs are a metaphor for societies that do not have the slightest commonality with British culture, like the countries of the East. The choice of characters represents eastern societies (clubs of lions, elephants and snakes) as bigoted, wild, uncivilized and violent, and western societies as harmless and oppressed ducks.In Crazy House (2017), the house is not a geographical place; Rather, it is a discursive space. Each and every pet wants to enter the space of universal discourse (enter home); But the house does not allow any of them alone. That is, none of the animals can experience globalization alone; But when they form a coalition against the foreign common enemy (wolf); The atmosphere of cosmopolitan discourse is realized.

The generality of all three stories is the same in terms of content; But in terms of form, each one is different from the other. The dissimilarity of the aesthetic structures of the text causes the difference in the representations of the common concept of "cosmopolitan" and these representations are consistent with the culture and nationality of their authors.Every writer is a transindividual subject who reproduces the possible and ideal world of his nation in his artistic work. As a transindividual subject of the diaspora class (immigrants), Rouillier seeks globalization. On the opposite point, Kelly, as a transindividual subject and a representative of a colonialist society, seeks to globalize other societies. Mohammadreza Shams as a transindividual subject of a country that had a history of holy defense, although it claims cosmopolitanism; But in reality, it still hasn't separated from traditional nationalism (which is rooted in Iranian culture and in stories, the Shahnameh, etc.) and hasn't accepted border demarcation.

Problem Statement:

 The opening page of any book is important for entering text with illustrated versions, which used to be prepared according to the request of the shoppers or the rulers of the time. The initial pages of the book or Astaneh were allocated to the feast and fight of the kings; it is supposed that presenting the images of the kings or the rulers of the time and showing their glory in the opening pages of the Shahnameh, could bring them the same glory as the kings of the book.This style of book preparation continued until the beginning of the Safavid era, as from this time onwards, it began to decline, as later eras also lacked such characteristics. From the Qajar time onward, with the popularization of pictorial carpets, images quickly entered other arts, especially in carpets with images of ancient and contemporary kings at a large scale.This collection consists of 26 carpet works, among them 22 works have pictures or visual text except for the farewell page (Badragheh), Of the remaining four carpets, two of them have the written text and one has the image of the author of Shahnameh, Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi and the other represents the identification of the collection. The first carpet, as the identification of the work, has been analyzed in this research as an initial text or Astaneh. Therefore, this research aims to answer the creation of the Shahnameh collection of Mousavi Sirat, based on the initial carpet (Astaneh) and the role of government foundations in introducing this work.

The research aims to clarify the influence of the initial text on interpreting the whole text and its effect on other texts. The other research objective is to study the carpet as a social production, the role of social foundations in society, and the way an artist is recognized.

The collected library data were analyzed by the descriptive-analytical method. The case study deals with the initial carpet or Astaneh out of the mentioned collection, as the identification of the work and essential part for entering the main text according to the research purpose.

The research outcome showed that the recognition and support of the most influential foundations in the field of carpets have played an effective role in improving the position of Mousavi Siret as an outstanding artist who has regenerated the Shahnameh of Baisangari in carpets between 2003-2006, which are not an exact reproduction of Shahnameh of Baisanghari according to this study with a great difference in terms of style and subject. This recreation of an artistic masterpiece could have played a significant role in the recognition of Mousavi Sirat as an outstanding artist and his artistic position.Therefore, considering the central role of government foundations in representing the individual's position, their support highly influences his recognition. Moreover, the ruling capitalist system provided conditions for huge works and significant expensive collections that used to be produced by rulers before it. According to this concept, all works make sense under the ideology of power. This hypothesis is supported by knowing that the Astaneh carpet is the identification of the work and has a great influence on the interpretation of other carpets, as different epithets and indications have been used to express and introduce Musavii Sirat.Moreover, this dominance can be seen in the composition and coloring of the work as well. Despite that all the motifs are abstract and there is no indication of a realistic style, the portrait of Mousavi Siret in Astaneh represents a realistic image of him. Its position on the first carpet of the Shahnameh collection can be an implication of a position similar to the kings of Shahnameh which represents his power.Finally, the findings show many factors have a great impact on the recognition of this artwork and turning a person into an artist, in addition to the aesthetics aspects, like form and composition of the work, and the influence of various political, economic and social foundations in the society, so besides the work of Mousavi and its identification in representing his supremacy over others with distinct expressions, the government foundations have also supported him to express his capabilities by appreciating him and exhibiting his work in the Museum.

Persbook event has been active in Iran's art scene for more than a decade. This article, using Fairclough's critical discourse analysis method with a focus on ecofeminism, intends to study this event, especially the works of female artists participating in the fifth to tenth periods of the Persbook event. The most important question of this research is: How has the Persbook event interacted with the discoursive atmosphere of the decades of 1380 and 1390 AH  and the appearance of ​​ecofeminism? The results of this article show that Iran’s discoursive space in this period provided a basis for critical approaches in art that allowed attention to marginal narratives, including feminism in art, and subsequently, events such as Persbook with ecofeminist tendencies has emerged. Contemporary Iranian female artists in the context provided by events such as Pressbook, by challenging the ideal definitions of art and focusing on that part of women's work that was considered insignificant, have tried to give value and credibility to women's art and to establish a link between women, the earth and the ecosystem; and thus bring marginal narratives to the center and draw the audience's attention to the inequalities that go against women and the earth. Setting up annual press book events in the form of installation or environmental art and the use of media such as natural materials, crafts, strings, fabric, tapestry and abstract representation of female organs, gives the artworks a feminine-earthly meaning; a sign that both women and land have always been marginalized and oppressed by the patriarchal system.

Sociological criticism is a well-known practice in the domain of literary criticism. It focuses on the mutual relationship of literature and society so as to evaluate the reflection of social features in literary works. The focus is mainly placed on novel, which, among the literary genres, is the most consistent with real modern world. This study seeks to sociologically analyze the novel Booklessness by Mohammadreza Sharafi Khabooshan as a selected contemporary work of narrative literature. The aim is to assess the structural complexity of the novel in relation to the social matrix where it was written. To this end, references are made to the concept of object worship and the process of book degradation into a merely ornamental object. Moreover, certain subcultural features, such as booklessness, are discussed. As the case is, they first slip through social systems and then are practiced repeatedly enough to turn into a sort of habit. This habitus proceeds to be gradually ingrained and rest in dormancy. Years later, however, a certain social occasion awakens the dormant habitus and puts it back on the track. This issue is dealt with by the explanation of the sociology of literature and its theoretical fundaments. The historical events that underlie the novel Booklessness are also brought up to narrate the Qajar royal library robbery. The study sheds light on the depiction of the society in the novel by referring to the meaningful structures of the story as well as the character development under the influence of the circumstances in which the book was written.