نشریه مطالعات ملی
سال بیست و ششم شماره 1 (پیاپی 101، بهار 1404)

Today, national identity and its relationship with sub-national and transnational identities has become a problem for many societies and the nations, so that it is generally referred to as a crisis. With Iran's entry into the modern era, identity has become a problematic issue. One of the important factors that have had a significant impact on the identity formation of Iranians is the discourse of Orientalism. Oriental studies are the main source of producing ideas and concepts about the nature of oriental societies, including Iran, and are more or less used to identify and analyze these societies. Orientalism and its technical tools such as linguistics and archaeology, brought out some forgotten dimensions of pre-Islamic Iranian civilization and culture from the dust of time and history and presented its achievements in the form of historical narratives. This article, with the method of historical analysis, seeks to answer the question, what has been the function of Iranian studies discourse in historical self-awareness and modern Iranian identity construction? The findings of the research indicate that in the modern era, the modern identity of many ancient Iranian buildings was redefined by Orientalism. Relying on Greco-Roman, Persian-Arabic works and sources, archeological excavations and reinterpretation of ancient lines, the grand historical narratives flourished in the context of this discourse and became a basis for the historical self-awareness and identity formation of Iranians.

The most important and obvious commonality between the countries of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan is the Persian language and poetry has created a solid bridge between us and the glorious history and culture of our past. Poetry, which is considered one of the important and constructive elements of the culture of every country and its people, reflects the collective spirit and national aspirations of that society and it is for this reason that the role of poets in culture building and consequently in national identity and self-awareness becomes important. The main problem of this research is to analyze and investigate the elements of Iranian identity and nationality in the poetry of Layeq Shirali, one of the most prominent national representatives of contemporary Tajik poetry. The writers with analytical and descriptive methods in the context of social romanticism have classified these elements under lost language (importance of mother tongue), homeland (geographical homeland), historical poetry (remembering Iranian culture and history), Rakhsh soul (inspired by the Shahnameh) and cultural homeland (Samarkand and Bukhara). The results of the research indicate that the poet strongly considers himself to be related to the common culture with Iran and the Iranian world and constantly tried to reflect it in his poetry.

Proactive geopolitical engagement is a strategy for achieving success at the regional level and fostering favorable relations with neighboring countries. This research examines Iran's steps in this framework based on Jean Gottmann's theory of the 'spirit of the nation,' with components of 'iconography' and 'circulation'. The authors emphasize myths as one manifestation of the national spirit, specifically focusing on five mythological concepts related to Iranian geography. The research method is applied and developmental in terms of purpose, qualitative in data nature, and non-experimental (documentary and case study) in data collection. While symbolizing Iranian foreign policy, the myths under consideration place special emphasis on distinguishing between good and evil and can demonstrate the country's goodwill in regional interactions and Iran's neighborhood policy. The enduring flow conveyed through the circulation of mythological themes has no aim other than to transmit a message of friendship and good neighborliness. Therefore, the foreign policy apparatus of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in light of these themes, can engage in dignified diplomacy through constructive interaction and multifaceted convergence to achieve success in its neighborly policy through logical persuasion. The emphasis on myths for the symbolic transmission of a message of friendship and the continuous flow is the main goal of this research, which, if realized, will lead to peace and stability in the turbulent geopolitics of the Middle East.

The education system in any society has numerous functions, one of which is the effort to realize and strengthen national identity. This research aims to represent and analyse teachers' lived experiences of how national identity is institutionalized in elementary school students. The design of this research is qualitative and uses a phenomenological method. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The participants in this study were eight elementary school teachers in Tehran who were selected through purposive sampling and the interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached. The interviews were analysed using the Colaizzi model. By analysing the teachers' lived experiences of how national identity is institutionalized in elementary school students, 29 basic themes were initially identified and categorized. These basic themes were then grouped into a more general category of first organizing themes (cultural, historical, geographical, educational, religious, Persian language and literature, and social dimensions). Based on the study of identity in this study and an in-depth analysis of teachers' lived experiences, various factors influence the institutionalization of students' national identity, some of which include creating measures to prevent absorption into a foreign culture, familiarity and creating a sense of belonging to the country's history, attention to innovation and creativity in strengthening national identity, attention to teaching commitment and conscientiousness, the need to pay attention to the attractive presentation of Persian culture and literature, cooperation and participation of other social institutions, and the influence of the media.

This study compared national identity among Arab, Lor-Bakhtiari, and other (Dezfuli, Shushtari, Behbahani, etc.) students from the four districts of Ahvaz using a quantitative approach and survey method among the statistical population of male and female students in the second grade of secondary school in the academic year 2022-2023. A sample size of 385 individuals was determined using Cochran's formula, and cluster random sampling was employed for data collection. The research instrument was a national identity questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which were confirmed. Data analysis was performed using the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test in the Spss 26 software environment. The findings indicate that national identity among students (Arab, Lor-Bakhtiari, and others) was above average, but between the six dimensions, significant differences were observed in the linguistic-cultural dimension and the historical dimension of national identity.

Religious adherence and commitment, along with an understanding of religious principles and etiquette, positively influence both individual and social life. This study aims to examine the relationship between school life quality, religious identity, and religious commitment among Monji international high school students in Qom, Iran. The research employed a survey-based correlational design, with a sample of 222 participants selected through a census sampling method. Students responded to the Wellington et al. (2003) religious commitment questionnaire, the Anderson and Brook (2000) school life quality questionnaire, and the Bull (2005) religious identity questionnaire. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to measure the relationship, and multiple regression analysis was employed to test the main hypothesis. The results indicate that school life quality and religious identity have a significant and positive relationship with religious commitment, with religious identity demonstrating the highest impact at 42.5%. Path analysis further reveals that school life quality directly and indirectly influences religious commitment, and religious identity directly impacts religious commitment.

In the contemporary age, diplomatic diplomacy and the geoeconomic approach enjoy a special role and importance in increasing national authority and upgrading Iran's position in regional and international economic and political equations. There is a deep and unbreakable relationship between economic diplomacy, economic development, and globalization. Accordingly, Iran's foreign policy requires adoption of a suitable approach suitable for the geoeconomic approach and for new conditions and developments in the age of ever increasing economic globalization. As Iran's most important geoeconomic capacities, the energy resources and reserves are of particular importance today in the age of economic globalization. The main purpose of this research is to answer the question "What change in approach is required to take advantage of Iran's geoeconomic position on the geoenergetic axis by the end of the first half of the 21st century?" Therefore, the research hypothesis is "A change of approach and the transition from traditional diplomacy to economic diplomacy are needed for utilization of Iran's geoeconomic position based on tapping geoenergics by the end of 2050. This is an applied study in terms of its purpose and a descriptive-analytical one with respect to its nature. SPSS, T-Test, and multivariate regression were used to analyze the 34 questionnaires completed by professors and experts on the subject of the research. Considering Iran's rare geoenergy position and capacities on the one hand, and the trend of transitioning from fossil fuels to clean and renewable sources of energy by the end of 2050 on the other hand, the inferential results and findings of this study indicate the need for a change of approach from traditional diplomacy to economic diplomacy.