A Series of Symposia on Iranian Cultural History at New York University
Iran: Animating the Archive
October 2015-March 2016
2015-11-29
Archives are integral in offering insights into a society’s social, political, cultural, and economic past, but what happens when political upheaval results in the scattering of archives, both official and unofficial, personal and public?
Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, some official archives were destroyed for ideological reasons, others for espousing “improper culture,” and some simply to change the historical narrative. Nearly four decades after the Iranian Revolution, a new generation of Iran scholars are now researching the socio-cultural history of Iran in the years leading up to and following the Revolution, and are faced with a haphazard selection of resources.
Animating the Archive presents a series of symposia to gather together artists, archivist, academics and researchers to re-imagine archives of Iranian history. Discussions activate and animate a variety of archival practices by examining processual and compositional elements through which archives are created and made available. The symposia pose a number of questions regarding what the archive can offer, such as:
- What happens to archives after moments of national upheaval and ideological disagreements?
- What role do disaggregate archives play?
- What roles do these archives play and what culture do they keep? What culture is missing?
The goal of this series is to encourage debate and the opportunity to rethink how official and unofficial archives can offer publics valuable resources into Iranian history and can reanimate provocative retellings of Iranian cultural history.
The series is organized by Narges Bajoghli and Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi, both PhD candidates in Sociocultural Anthropology at New York University.
The series is generously supported and sponsored by the following centers, departments, and initiatives at New York University:
- Iranian Studies Initiative
- The Center for Media, Culture, and History
- Visual Arts Initiative, NYU Arts Council
- Department of Anthropology
- Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies
- Grey Art Gallery, NYU
Community Sponsors:
Number of Visits: 17010
The latest
- Spraying Poison in Prison
- Operation Beit al-Moqaddas and Liberation of Khorramshahr
- The 367 Night of Memory – 2
- Memoirs of Ali-Asghar Khani, Commander of the Karbala Battalion in the Ali ibn Abi Talib Division
- The Embankment Wounded Shoulders – 8
- Unveiling of the book "Qasem" narrated by Morteza Sarhangi
- The Study Journey of Hypocrites
- Memoirs of Hujjat al-Islam Reza Motalebi
Most visited
- The Embankment Wounded Shoulders – 7
- Memoirs of Hujjat al-Islam Reza Motalebi
- The Study Journey of Hypocrites
- The Necessity of Receiving Feedback in Oral History
- Unveiling of the book "Qasem" narrated by Morteza Sarhangi
- The Embankment Wounded Shoulders – 8
- Memoirs of Ali-Asghar Khani, Commander of the Karbala Battalion in the Ali ibn Abi Talib Division
- The 367 Night of Memory – 2
A narration from the event of 17th of Shahrivar
Early on the morning of Friday, 17th of Shahrivar 1357 (September 17, 1978), I found myself in an area I was familiar with, unaware of the gathering that would form there and the intense reaction it would provoke. I had anticipated a march similar to previous days, so I ventured onto the street with a tape recorder I had brought back from my recent trip abroad.A Review of the Book “Brothers of the Castle of the Forgetful”: Memoirs of Taher Asadollahi
"In the morning, a white-haired, thin captain who looked to be twenty-five or six years old came after counting and having breakfast, walked in front of everyone, holding his waist, and said, "From tomorrow on, when you sit down and get up, you will say, 'Death to Khomeini,' otherwise I will bring disaster upon you, so that you will wish for death."Tabas Fog
Ebham-e Tabas: Ramzgoshayi az ja’beh siah-e tahajom nezami Amrika (Tabas Fog: Decoding the Black Box of the U.S. Military Invasion) is the title of a recently published book by Shadab Asgari. After the Islamic Revolution, on November 4, 1979, students seized the US embassy in Tehran and a number of US diplomats were imprisoned. The US army carried out “Tabas Operation” or “Eagle’s Claw” in Iran on April 24, 1980, ostensibly to free these diplomats, but it failed.An Excerpt from the Memoirs of General Mohammad Jafar Asadi
As Operation Fath-ol-Mobin came to an end, the commanders gathered at the “Montazeran-e Shahadat” Base, thrilled by a huge and, to some extent, astonishing victory achieved in such a short time. They were already bracing themselves for the next battle. It is no exaggeration to say that this operation solidified an unprecedented friendship between the Army and IRGC commanders.
