https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/8741 Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:19:13 GMT 2026-04-23T15:19:13Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9012.2 Narrating the Unspeakable Aras, Maryam Tue, 08 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9012.2 2021-06-08T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9011.2 On Past, Present and Calamity Wustmann, Gerrit Tue, 08 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9011.2 2021-06-08T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9010.2 The Role of Modern Audio-Visual Media in the Construction of Iranian National Identity Abbasian, Kaveh This paper sheds light on a less explored aspect of the modern construction of Iranian national identity. It investigates the role of modern audio-visual media including cinema, radio and television in this modern construction. Although the study of Iranian national identity has developed well beyond the orthodox romantic nationalist approach dominant during the 20th century, not enough attention has been given to the study of modern audio-visual media. While the printing press had an important role in the construction of what Benedict Anderson calls an ‘imagined community’ of Iranians, it was the emergence of cinema, radio and television that crucially contributed to the spread of the Persian language as the national language of Iranians. I also argue that these media were essential in the propagation of the nationalist ideology of the Pahlavi dynasty. Another widely overlooked area in Iranian media studies is the importance of the 1979 Revolution in further popularization of audio-visual media. I investigate recently published data from research conducted in 1974 in order to show that despite the availability of these media, many Iranians refrained from using them, mainly due to religious reasons. The 1979 Revolution and the subsequent Islamization of the audio-visual media, however, changed this dynamic and accelerated the popularization of these media even among the hardliner religious population. This contributed to further construction of an Iranian national identity. Tue, 08 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9010.2 2021-06-08T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9001.2 Trucking with Time Anyadike-Danes, Chima Michael How do time, space, and movement interpenetrate to shape the life choices of Mongolian men living in Los Angeles? In this article I contribute to an ongoing scholarly debate about how Mongolian lives have been affected both by socialism’s ‘end’ and encounters with capitalism. While attention has been directed to Mongolians remaining in Mongolia, I extend the debate in this article by scrutinizing the experiences of Mongolians who embraced the new forms of mobility that capitalism ushered in; specifically of those who migrated to Los Angeles in search of the opportunity to lead, what they deemed, better, more fulfilling lives. These Mongolian immigrants encountered new and completely foreign regimes of time discipline that sought to structure their lives in ways that were heretofore unimaginable to them. Throughout this article I demonstrate the all-pervasiveness of these encounters which occur in both public and private life, and in areas as varied as people’s apartments, public parks, offices, and nightclubs. I also explore how a subset of Mongolian men responded to what they regarded as a profound imposition; how they sought employment opportunities in the logistics sector that allowed them to exert some agency over time and to pursue their own ethical goals. Long-distance trucking, the area of the logistics sector these men entered, might seem a puzzling choice because it has routinely been derided by scholars of logistics as akin to working in a sweatshop. However, I argue, in examining this final puzzle, that the choices these men make complicate scholarly assumptions about contemporary capitalism’s workings. Tue, 08 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/9001.2 2021-06-08T00:00:00Z