A Thematic Analysis of Graffiti on the University Classroom Walls - A Case of Iran

Abstract

The present study positions a research to analyze the university students' graffiti on classroom walls to make a thematic analysis of the graffiti used in the Iranian higher education context. It is an attempt to investigate how university students voice their opinions and express themselves using graffiti on the university classroom walls. The study is based on the documentation and classification of more than 200 pieces of graffiti on university classroom walls in Isfahan, Iran. The analysis suggests different themes such as love and hatred, politics, religion, poem, class notes, signature, presence, date, complaint/despair, self-expression, drawings, etc. It is believed that this study is not only a sociological analysis of graffiti in the university context, but it may also be interesting to a wider audience like educators, administrators, teachers and parents.

An Exploration of Graffiti on University’s Walls: A Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis Study

“…Graffiti have received a great attention from scholars as they have been considered a vital cultural phenomenon for many years (Trahan, 2011;Divsalar & Nemati, 2012;Zakareviciute, 2014;Farnia, 2014;El-Nashar & Nayef, 2016). Culture according to Hofstede (2005) is the discernible practices of the society.…”

“…Although there are extensive contemporary researches on graffiti in many disciplines, such as linguistics, cultural studies, politics, art, and communication (Pietrosanti, 2010;Farnia, 2014;Oganda, 2015), there are few studies exploring graffiti on classrooms' walls in higher education milieus (Farnia, 2014). To the best knowledge of the researchers, very few studies were done on the Jordanian context (e.g.…”

“…This phenomenon is visible on almost every possible surface in Jordanian schools, parks, universities, and public restrooms. Farnia (2014) explained what motivates and drives people to put down such inscriptions on the walls they pass by. She claims that graffiti are people's channels through which they represent their voice in either public or secluded places to express their annoyance, prompt thoughts, affection, personal announcement, political declaration, or even their outcry.…”

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AbstractGraffiti have received a great attention from scholars as they have been considered a vital cultural phenomenon for many years (Trahan, 2011;Divsalar & Nemati, 2012;Zakareviciute, 2014;Farnia, 2014;El-Nashar & Nayef;. Although there are extensive contemporary researches on graffiti in many disciplines, such as linguistics, cultural studies, politics, art, and communication (Pietrosanti, 2010;Farnia, 2014;Oganda, 2015), there are few studies exploring graffiti on classrooms' walls in higher education milieus (Farnia, 2014).

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Graffiti As An Example Of Conformity/Non-Conformity Toward Organizational Values

“…Graffiti are also communication tool for political groups (Pietrosanti, 2010); and tool to challenge the authority (Farnia, 2014); and expression which transforms the political meaning of Berlin Wall (from Ferrell, 1995: 34;Waldenburg, 1990);and -As Ferrell (1995: 37) quoted from his interviewsa way "means (to say) I'm here" when facing with organizations.…”