فصلنامه مطالعات فرهنگی اجتماعی خراسان
سال سوم شماره 3 (پیاپی 12، بهار و تابستان 1388)

Globalization in the 21st century has brought about gross changes to the educational system through its three dimensions (economical, political, and cultural). Therefore, identifying the characteristics of this procedure from the perspective of opportunity or threat is a necessity for any educational system including the Iranian educational system. The theoretical framework of this article will primarily discuss the characteristics and outcomes of globalization from three dimensions (economics, politics, and culture) on the educational system. The economic outcomes focus on the application of vocational education and the wide usage of information technology, the political outcomes focus on weakening the supervision and dominance of government on the educational system, the cultural aspects of globalization also emphasis on the advancement of the Western culture, the weakening of local characteristics, and threatening the national identity and religious values in the school curriculum in Iran. According to these parameters the author tries to find the answers to the questions of this article regarding the threats and opportunities of globalization in the Iranian educational system. The opportunities facing Iran in the globalization procedure are achieving the easy application of the most up-to-date information in order to enhance the quality of its education, cultural universality, electronic education, and the fission of the closed rings of knowledge. Globalization threatens Iran by damaging religion in this country, influencing the Persian language and its teaching, bringing about cultural elitism and multi cultural classes. Hence by identifying these threats and opportunities we will be able to preserve our cultural inheritance and improve our educational system on our way to globalization.

The press and documentary archive of the central Astan Ghods Razavi library is enriched with valuable collections regarding historical incidents. One of these interesting collections is the military collection, which geographically encompasses the whole country. Among these documents there is a unique document named the manual on Khorasan in which the military budget of the province of Khorasan including Ghayenat in the year 1282 AH is indicated. One of the outstanding facts about this document is that it includes a complete chart of the whole structure of the Ghayenat Infantry in that year. This chart is adjusted according to the military hierarchy from the highest ranks to the lowest ones; and is the only document which refers to the structure of the Ghayenat infantry. This article tries to analyze parts of this document which include information on Ghayenat, and while introducing the structure of this infantry tries to include some complimentary information like the amount of wages, the type of uniform, the arms and combat gears as well. Therefore the article takes advantage of documents related to that year and years close to that, it also makes use of published material as well. This article could help researchers to better understand the military condition of Ghayenat.

Paying attention to the weather and ecological conditions in choosing plant species for green space has practical and theoretical applications. Due to its dry climate and its higher evaporation in comparison to its rain, Southern Khorasan needs to understand and apply these facts in all its policy makings, management and planning of green spaces. Therefore, paying attention to plants that do not require frequent irrigation and the usage of local plants and bushes is necessary. Naturally the weather conditions of this region (dry climate, high temperature difference, low and inconsistent rain and humidity) requires that the development of green spaces within and outside the city be based on planting trees and shrubs that in addition to their beauty and verdure are able to bear the temperature changes without requiring much irrigation.Thus this paper is attempting to introduce an ordinary type of seedless barberry to be planted and used in green spacing in Southern Khorasan.

The fast and every day development of mass media and public education has brought with it ignorance to the oral culture of people in different regions. That is why some who care about the culture of people try to gather and classify these materials in each region in order to promote their usage and to preserve them as well. The author of this article presents a summary of his field studies on apothegms which he has gathered for about two decades and presents the results of his comparisons between those apothegms and three thousand local sayings. While categorizing the stories the author found out that the roots of a great number of famous axioms are fictions and ancient tales which were told by people to especially their children for educational and moral purposes. As time passed those stories were forgotten and only some phrases of them were left which gradually turned into famous and widely used sayings.

National survival is the inconvertible goal of all countries. This goal is considered the frontispiece of national interests by all governments in their domestic and foreign policies. This subject is influenced by the national security as well. Even though in the primary years of the 21st century the strategic atmosphere around the country is evolving politically and geopolitically every day and while studying the national atmosphere of the country is a problematic issue, there are many topics brought about on the subject of the influence of ethnic and strategic regions on the national security of the country. The geopolitical analysis of the above mentioned issues on the national security of the country and its national integrity is an inevitable necessity. The atmospheric cohesion of the Eastern parts of the country with similar groups in provinces like Khorasan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sistan Baluchestan, has undeniable consequences on the security and geopolitics of our country, especially after the political changes occurring in the mentioned countries. This article tries to illustrate an outlook from the security challenge in this region and analyze the security and geopolitical issues of this region and its influence on the national security of our country. These analysis show that considering the recent changes in Afghanistan and the formation of unstable numerous governments, this region has turned into a new center of national threat against our country; which requires our decision makers to pay attention to the security consequences of these changes.

Sagartians are the fourteenth Achaemenid satrap and the fifth tribe named in the Behistun Inscription, their name also appears beside the Chytrah Icon and the Persepolis. Since they are mentioned both as eastern and western tribes of Iran, this paper tries to find the roots of this tribe and understand their position during the Achaemenids. This article attempts to understand the Sagartians as residents of the Achaemenid territory either as Easterners or Westerners. It is understood from different texts that the Sagartians were both in eth east and the west, but of course each section of this tribe acted independently from others. The eastern Sagartians were more famous and their name is seen in Persepolis engravings due to their contribution in building the eastern staircases to Apadana. The western Sagartians are referred to in Darius’s inscriptions in Behistun. They have left traces of their presence in the east from the 3rd and 4th century with the name of Akrad.

Birjand is an old city which is located in an environmentally inappropriate area. This inconsistency to surroundings is why most residential are built in high altitudes or on wide hillsides; hence populating uneven land. These factors along with the wrath of nature have forced people to extract water by digging wells in sand hills which made life much harder and away from freshness and verdure. This article explores the different methods used to reach drinking water in Birjand considering the limitations imposed by nature. The statute of the “Birjand Water Charity Board” is also taken into consideration later in the paper.