The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran
This essay investigates three methods for reading topical events, in this case events in Iran in 2009. Timing, as in music, is part of the trick of Iranian (as also other) politics, In Part I, breaking news is read in terms of historically and structurally informed social theory, with an eye to how...
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| Format: | Article |
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Society for Cultural Anthropology
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116117 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2871-5943 |
| _version_ | 1826208244750614528 |
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| author | Fischer, Michael M. J. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Anthropology Program |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Anthropology Program Fischer, Michael M. J. |
| author_sort | Fischer, Michael M. J. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This essay investigates three methods for reading topical events, in this case events in Iran in 2009. Timing, as in music, is part of the trick of Iranian (as also other) politics, In Part I, breaking news is read in terms of historically and structurally informed social theory, with an eye to how civil society and public spheres are structured. There is an aesthetics to these spheres, not simply a calculus of interests or a space where rational debate can be abstracted from the civil society into a political public sphere. The (dis)harmonics of the Karbala Paradigm and the Islamic and pre-Islamic reference system of the 1979 revolution have been rescored in the aftermath of the June 2009 elections. Part II draws out the technical infrastructure, both low tech and hi tech, within which social and cultural action happens and civil society is restructured. It calls attention to the way in which the Green Wave was a confluence of civil society movements of women, labor, students, and journalists, among others. Iran is seen as a key test bed for struggles over the control of the Internet, as state control becomes more flexible, targeted, and pervasive. Part III plays with a futuring method - like the scenario methods used in industry and the simulation techniques used in the sciences - to plan for and evaluate alternative social logics that can play out in uncertain and underdetermined futures. The scenario method, to be used iteratively with several axes, helps clarify where there is need for better mapping of the networks of the players and their "small worlds" ("six or two degrees of difference") cross-faction relationships. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:02:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/116117 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:02:48Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Society for Cultural Anthropology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1161172022-10-01T18:49:36Z The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran Fischer, Michael M. J. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Anthropology Program Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society Fischer, Michael M. J. This essay investigates three methods for reading topical events, in this case events in Iran in 2009. Timing, as in music, is part of the trick of Iranian (as also other) politics, In Part I, breaking news is read in terms of historically and structurally informed social theory, with an eye to how civil society and public spheres are structured. There is an aesthetics to these spheres, not simply a calculus of interests or a space where rational debate can be abstracted from the civil society into a political public sphere. The (dis)harmonics of the Karbala Paradigm and the Islamic and pre-Islamic reference system of the 1979 revolution have been rescored in the aftermath of the June 2009 elections. Part II draws out the technical infrastructure, both low tech and hi tech, within which social and cultural action happens and civil society is restructured. It calls attention to the way in which the Green Wave was a confluence of civil society movements of women, labor, students, and journalists, among others. Iran is seen as a key test bed for struggles over the control of the Internet, as state control becomes more flexible, targeted, and pervasive. Part III plays with a futuring method - like the scenario methods used in industry and the simulation techniques used in the sciences - to plan for and evaluate alternative social logics that can play out in uncertain and underdetermined futures. The scenario method, to be used iteratively with several axes, helps clarify where there is need for better mapping of the networks of the players and their "small worlds" ("six or two degrees of difference") cross-faction relationships. 2018-06-05T18:36:31Z 2018-06-05T18:36:31Z 2010-07 2018-06-04T13:24:50Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0886-7356 1548-1360 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116117 FISCHER, MICHAEL M. J. “The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran.” Cultural Anthropology 25, 3 (July 2010): 497–543 © 2010 American Anthropological Association https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2871-5943 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2010.01068.x Cultural Anthropology Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Society for Cultural Anthropology American Anthropological Association |
| spellingShingle | Fischer, Michael M. J. The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran |
| title | The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran |
| title_full | The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran |
| title_fullStr | The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran |
| title_short | The Rhythmic Beat of the Revolution in Iran |
| title_sort | rhythmic beat of the revolution in iran |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116117 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2871-5943 |
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