This paper examines a partnership between the British Council and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) that emerged in March 2001 as a result of their shared aspiration for collaboration in scientific, academic and cultural arena. The alliance came as a surprise because after twenty-three years of antagonism on the part of the government of the IRI, the hostile attitudes were put aside virtually overnight to reunite with an old adversary for a mutual collaboration. The present qualitative study examines the reasons behind the start of the partnership, the domains within which the British Council was permitted to operate in Iran, and the reasons behind the end of the partnership. The data were gathered from various sources, including field-notes, policy documents analysis, personal interviews, and various online sources. The findings reveal that the duration of the partnership was closely intertwined with the rise and fall of the reformist administration, under President Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005). The partnership began mainly due to efforts made by the reformist administration to take the IRI out of its international isolation and thus became inactive not long after the reformist administration, and eventually came to an end in January 2009, under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Wandering between two worlds.. . With nowhere yet to rest my head Like these, on earth I wait forlorn. Matthew Arnold, 'Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse', 1855 This book is the story of English, the language of the 'enemies', the United States of America, a.k.a. 'the Great Satan', and its closest ally, the United Kingdom, in post-revolutionary Iran or what has become known as the 'Islamic Republic' of Iran (IRI) following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It is primarily based on the data I collected through a year of fieldwork (2007-2008) in Tehran. The preface intends to provide an account of the internal and external circumstances of the country at the time of my fieldwork as well as the fieldwork dilemmas I encountered while collecting data in the field. When I left New York City for Tehran in late August 2007 for the purpose of data collection, there was hardly any trace left anywhere in the country of the principles of 'freedom of expression', 'tolerance', 'respect for diversity' and having a 'dialogue among civilizations'-values that had been advocated, at least at the discourse level, by the previous reformist president, Mohammad Khatami and his administration, during the reform phase (1997-2005) of the IRI in the country. In fact, since August 2005, with the ascendancy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency, it seemed that such liberal values have faded away and been replaced by profoundly anti-Western and ideopolitical sentiments, and the aspiration for 'the revival of the early revolutionary values', which meant, among many things, combating the 'Western cultural invasion'. The intensity of antagonism towards the West-the United States, in particular-seemed to be like that of the early years of the 1979 Revolution. The country's politicians were constantly concerned about the invisible traces of a 'velvet/soft revolution' within the nation, which was said to be supported by 'external forces', having their Preface xv Preface xvii of this project from the very beginning, and Sarah Williams, Production Manager and her team for help with the editing and production of this book. And lastly, I owe a monumental debt to my family, to my parents, in particular, who were instrumental in my education and intellectual growth. I am equally thankful to my husband, Dr Habib Borjian, whose inspiration and constructive feedback were indispensable to the project from its very outset. His scholarly input can be seen throughout this manuscript.
The expanding role that English, and English education, has played in the world has received much scholarly attention. Despite the critical work on the impact of English on local people, cultures and languages, spearheaded by Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, English continues to make inroads and to gain speakers. Globalization and its neo-liberal economic policies have spread English even further, but there has been resistance to these forces not only from individuals and groups, but also from entire nationstates. One of the most prevalent cases of countering global forces and Westernized versions of modernity and development today is the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), the subject of Maryam Borjian's book.This book studies the role that English has played in the modern history of Iran, and of the linguistic flows that have accompanied moves towards indigenization to internalization and back again. Although the focus is on the role that English has played in Iranian history, its contribution here goes beyond English and Iran. Blending scholarship on sociolinguistics and critical applied linguistics, but also on comparative education and educational policy, this multidisciplinary study delivers a broad treatment of the role that English and English education play in the life of Iran. The focus is not solely on language and education, but the multi-level analysis is grounded in the political economy of the context.The organization of the book into Iranian historical periods makes it evident that positions on language education shift according to political motives. Sometimes those reasons have to do with sociopolitical and economic changes in the country itself, while at other times they have to do with external forces that impinge on the country's evaluation of its own performance. The author's multi-level analysis also makes it apparent that historical periods are not monolithic, and that supranational, subnational and national forces interact and are often in tension, even within one historical period. That is, individuals have agency to accept, resist or negotiate policies. Finally, within each historical period there are different flows that have to do with the stage of the language
Two decades of research and development in language and literacy education have yielded a broad, multidisciplinary focus. Yet education systems face constant economic and technological change, with attendant issues of identity and power, community and culture. This series will feature critical and interpretive, disciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives on teaching and learning, language and literacy in new times.Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters,
The texts published here are in an eastern Mazandarani dialect spoken in the Caspian littoral in northern Iran. The informant is a rural woman who recollects the supernatural deeds of her father-in-law, revered like a saint after his death. The stories are narrated in a most intimate manner, something rarely published previously in Iranian dialect documentations. The folkloric songs typify those sung in Caspian rice paddies by women, who traditionally have a dominant role in the rural economy. The stories and songs provide both linguistic and ethnographic data for this poorly studied but important province with its unique culture among the Iranian-speaking groups in Iran.
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