Seyyed Mehdi Abtahi reports on “Memory Night” in provinces

First step, subject identification

Maryam Karim Bakhsh
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2017-1-7

Seyed Mehdi Abtahi is the expert of the Provincial Office of Culture and Stability Studies in Art and in charge for organizing Memory Night programs in the provinces. According to the content of Memory Nights and its pertinence to oral history, the Correspondent of Oral History conducted an interview with him which follows.

We were informed that Memory Night Program is held in provinces. Please tell us when these programs started?

The Office of Culture and Stability Studies in Art was commissioned officially in 2009. Headquarter of this bureau is in the central office and each provincial capital has a cultural and stability study center just like any other unit. One of the duties of this office along with other activities including interviews in the field of oral history was to arrange Memory Nights. However, since the bureau was newly established and collecting memoirs and conducting interviews were prioritized, during the first years, Memory Night was not considered a priority. One or two years later, some of the provincial offices took measures to arrange and organize special events which were mostly in collaboration with special institutions for specific occasions; for instance, Fajr celebrations, Holy Defense Week, Third of Khordad[1] (24 May 1982) among others; other activities were in the form of book launches.

Since early 2016 we made efforts to pursue Memory Nights in a systematic manner. Within the second semester of the year, systematic short, mid and long term planning for the event took place and notified and the offices started their activities. The first step was to identify subjects and content for the program and notification of the headquarters which is in process now. So far, eight provinces have successfully organized this program with their respective Governor’s Office. We hope that other provinces will manage to organize the program within the remaining couple of months of the year[2].

So the process requires notification of the headquarters and then launch?

Yes. It is an administrative process to document activities.

How frequent is the program?

We have to have quarterly programs in the next year. Some provinces enjoy higher capacity and capable to organizing more frequent events; such as annual programs in collaboration with various institutions including MOE, Students’ Institutions, Cultural Groups within provinces.

Have there been requests by other provinces for this program?

Yes. There is abundant request. Different groups of audience are eager to hear the stories of the Holy Defense. However, the programs were not sustainable and failed to properly communicate with the audience. In most cases one person would appear in the program and deliver a speech on different content. One of the objectives of Bureau of Art for different units is to create examples. We were trying to have a sample of a standard and effective program which properly connects with the audience. Effective connection and communication has always been the main concern. Hence we involved various units in the activities of the headquarters and the result was Memory Night; there are many events involved in this program one of which is subject identification. Once the event is organized, we hear the memoirs of different people and then oral history interviews and studies are conducted with them. In many cases, such activities result in publication of books or production of art series such as scenarios, plays, documentaries.

How is the reception? Have you achieved your goal or time is required?

It certainly requires time. The first step was the endeavor and program implementation and further it goes we will be able to identify weaknesses and to modify any shortfalls. One other activity is program screening. We ask provinces to submit films and voice recordings of their programs. Once we have a systematic archive and a strong databank of different events we can screen them and advise any particular province in their next program to promote quality. It is a friendly monitoring process.

Has there been request from provinces in the north or west?

Gilan province is very active in the field of oral history and organizing events. Mazandaran province will probably have an event in collaboration with the Navy by the end of this year. Bijar County in Kurdistan has had one Memory Night event. One other program will hopefully organized by Office of Culture and Stability Studies and a program will be held by Hormozgan art division in collaboration with the Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 1 January 2017 on the deck of Jamaran Destroyer in first marine of Bandar Abbass.