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Open letter to the president elect: an example of heritage activism through the media in Iran

chapter
posted on 2016-01-01, 00:00 authored by Ali MozaffariAli Mozaffari
This chapter examines Iranian heritage activism, focussing on an example
of activists’ use of mass media to bring public focus to heritage as a
contested field and persuade authorities to take action. Studies of growing
and increasingly vocal heritage activism in Iran are scarce, although
occasionally the implications of their ideas are discussed in passing in
fields such as politics and international relations.2 This paper reinforces
and elaborates on some of the findings of a previous study on the terrain of
heritage activism in Iran,3 providing an example of activism’s
manifestation in mass media. It focuses on the analysis of an open letter to
President-elect Seyyed Hassan Rouhani, which was drafted in 2013 by
heritage activists and signed by more than 60 heritage NGOs. To
complement this examination, I also draw on field interviews (see below)
and other contextual information. Considered in its social context and
history, I argue that heritage activism is a specific instance of social
movements in which the cultural framing of activism and the changing
structure of political opportunities largely provided by the state play a
decisive part. This is particularly apparent in relation to reframing the
perceptions of collective identity and homeland of both the state and the
activists.

History

Title of book

Indian Ocean futures: communities, sustainability and security

Chapter number

2

Pagination

15 - 33

Publisher

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Place of publication

Newcastle upon Tyne, Eng.

ISBN-13

978-1-4438-9492-0

ISBN-10

1-4438-9492-3

Language

eng

Publication classification

B Book chapter; B1.1 Book chapter

Copyright notice

2016, Thor Kerr, John Stephens and contributors

Extent

13

Editor/Contributor(s)

T Kerr, J Stephens

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