The news of month: June 2020

Oral history; slowly and steadily

Compiled by: Iranian Oral History website
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2020-6-30

Note: According to Iranian Oral History's website, "The News of Month" is the title of a series of reports on the website. These reports take a look at news related to the subject of the website in written and cyber media. In the following, you will read some news about the month of June 2020.

► In an interview with Iran's Book News Agency (IBNA) about the studies plan for oral history of sacred defense of Khorramshahr, Fazel Bani-Asad, who is Khuzestan's Director of Documents and Research of the General Directorate of Preservation of and Publication of Sacred Defense Values, said: "The implementation of the first phase of the studies plan for the oral history of sacred defense of Khorramshahr city is one of projects in General Directorate of Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Values. He also added that the first phase of the Khorramshahr’s studies plan for oral history studies is to work from the time of Iran's Islamic Revolution victory to the end of Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas. This plan is a study and research project based on the collection of resources through interviews and dialogue, and the content approach of the project is to pay attention to popular resistance, the role and presence and influence of the people in sacred defense.

►Coinciding with the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr, a ceremony was held to unveil a sacred defense book at the Center for Preservation of and Publication of Kermanshah's Sacred Defense Values. This book, entitled "This Snowman Will Remain Forever", deals with the oral history of people of Kermanshah during the time of Sacred Defense.

►An agreement was signed between the Academy of Arts and Iranian-Islamic Arts of Farshchian[1] for the preparation, registration and publication of the "Oral History of Traditional Iranian Arts". This agreement, which is aimed at using the existing capacities and capabilities in preparing, recording and publishing the oral history of traditional Iranian arts in order to developing scientific, educational, cultural, artistic cooperation, was signed at the Academy of Arts with the presence of Alireza Ismaili, head of the Academy of Arts, and Bahman Namvar Motlagh, head of the Azad university, unit of Iranian-Islamic Arts of Farshchian, on the morning of Tuesday, May 26^th in 2016.

► Bahman Namvarmotlagh, head of the Islamic Azad University, Iranian-Islamic Arts unit of Farshchian, spoke with Islamic Azad University's news agency about the steps taken to record the oral history of Corona Virus by  Secretariat of  Oral History of Art, unit of Farshchian. She said that the Secretariat of Oral History of Art and Events at the Islamic Azad University, Iranian-Islamic Arts unit of Farshchian is taking various measures and has various parts that one of them is "Memoir-Making". In this section, people go to the hospitals and write down the memories of patients and medical staff to be turned them into text, books, and artwork. Another part of for the Secretariat of Oral History of Art is called "Memoir-Finding "; holding a "memorial website" in cyberspace is the third task in the Secretariat of the oral history of art, and "Memoir-Searching" is the fourth task to be done in Iranian-Islamic Arts unit of Farshchian.

►"Reflection" is the title of Jamaran's[2] oral history program, which was recorded by the Imam's Cultural Center with the participation of "Arasbaran Cultural Center" and "Imam Khomeini's Center for the Promotion of Imam Khomeini's Thoughts and Works of Tehran Municipality" in the presence of Jamaran’s residents, non-political figures and Imam's neighbors in the form of short film and minimalist reports that will be available online.

Due to the importance of oral history in neighborhoods, this program aims to develop the ethics of citizenship and explain the life and lifestyle of the Imam and also to collect the history and vague memories of the people of Jamaran through the neighbors who were living near Imam Khomeini, with an explanation for simple life of Imam Khomeini among the citizens, is produced and published in cyberspace as a media report. The first product of this program will be published on the occasion of Imam Khomeini's death and will continue in the coming months until the Decade of Victory.

► Seyyed Kamil Mousavi, the head of Islamic Propaganda Office in Varamin City, said that the commemoration of those who were martyred in Khordad 15^th (June 4) caused the memories be kept alive in the days, months and years after that time. One of the important programs of the Islamic Propaganda Office in Varamin that we are planning for it is to collect oral history of those who were the neighbors of martyrs  of Khordad 15^th(June 4). We have many magnanimous and noble persons who witnessed the event of Khordad 15^th, 1342 (June 4, 1963), were among the fighters in those days. We must collect the oral memories of these loved ones so that, God forbid, if we lose them in the next years, we won't keep this treasures in the feature.

► According to the report of Public Relations of channel "Ofogh Sima", during the imposed war, in addition to the army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), there was a mobilization of people from different cities and villages of Iran who were able to establish the Ba'athist army on many fronts; A force that Saddam and his supporters ignored, but ultimately led to their defeat. In the first part, the documentary "For History" deals with the popular mobilization of Iran during and after sacred defense. In this documentary, which can be considered as oral history of revolution, we will watch conversations with the officials of that time in different periods about the subject under discussion.

► Publication "Khaneye Ketab" (book house) has published the fifth book in the series "Oral History of Contemporary Iranian Publication" entitled "Publishing Rights: Conversation with Publishing Lawyers". The series "Oral History of Contemporary Iranian Publication", which has previously published and marketed the books "Edition", "Book Distribution", "Bookstore" and "typesetting", has dedicated its fifth book to " Publishing Rights " and talks about publishing. This book has been compiled and edited by Mohammad Hashem Akbariani, Secretary of Oral History of Contemporary Iranian Publishing, and has been published with a an introduction written  by Niknam Hosseinipoor, CEO of Book House Institute.

► The book "From Faizieh to Al-Rasheed", a free oral history of sacred defense of Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Hassan Jamshidi, was published in 8 chapters by Payam Azadegan Publications. The research and writing of this book has been done by Seyed Hossein Valipoor Zarumi.

► The gallery "Aknon", show oral history of contemporary Iranian culture and art in collaboration with gallery "Aria" and "Art Box" through "Manuscripts". The "Manuscripts" exhibition of oral history of contemporary Iranian culture and art is about 22 artists who supported this national project by donating 22 images of their most beautiful works to print silk screens in a limited number.

► A group of Bojnourd’s teenagers introduce and promote some good books in order to promote the culture of reading books and get acquainted with the oral history of the Islamic Revolution in friendly and family gatherings. In this cultural event, organized by a publishing house in North Khorasan Province, concerned teenagers in a friendly atmosphere will read books on the history of Islamic Revolution and become more familiar with the role of adolescents in the formation of the Islamic Movement.

► On the occasion of the day of Heroic culture and zoorkhaneh[3] sport, "The Oral History Plan and World Wrestling Armband of Takhti[4]" was unveiled. Due to the historical, political and social importance of zoorkhaneh sports and the fear of losing the information of the elders and veterans, the oral history section of Ganjineh Razavi has put the project of oral history of wrestling and zoorkhaneh sports on the agenda since late 2015. This plan continued until the end of 2016, during that time, 148 hours of interviews with 54 people were conducted in 120 interview sessions related to this issue.

► Shahrzad Kurdbacheh, Secretary of the Oral History of Iran's Sports Policy Council, said about the 17th meeting of the Oral History Policy Council: "This meeting was chaired by Dr. Salehi Amiri, Chairman of National Olympic Committee and Chairman of Policy Council, with the aim of reviewing on ongoing projects of Iranian sport's oral history was held in the presence of members of the Policy Council and the implementers of the ongoing projects.

► Saeed Parsa, the director of the historical context of Semnan’s Municipality, pointed out the need to compile the oral history of Semnan, and emphasized:" One of the important activities of this center is to compile a collection of oral history of Semnan and start the project of giving identity to the historical-shaped neighborhoods of this city.

► Seyed Mohammad Tabatabai, in the project "Fortune Hour; Meeting with Veterans of Art» went to meet with Abdul Wahab Shahidi, The veteran musician and singer. Explaining the oral history of art, which will be done by Veteran Artists Institute and the Art Credit Fund, he said:" We hope that a volume of the books, about artists' memoirs in the Oral History of Art project, will be dedicated to his memories with the cooperation of Professor Abdolvahab Shahidi and his family.

► Gholamreza Kharkouhi, the author of book "Oral History of Jihad of Construction" said about his new book: "After compiling book "Oral History of Jihad of Construction", I reviewed and prepared it for publication. Then, I delivered it to publisher and it will be published by Islamic Revolutionary Documentation Center in the next few months.

► The documentary " Kashan’s Carpet-makers " has recorded a part of the oral history of Kashan's native art that is  researched, directed and produced by Faraneh Madani. This documentary was broadcasted on the Documentary channel on Thursday, June 19, at 8:00 PM.

► Mohammad Poorhelem, the cultural deputy of Gilan Art Center, described sustainability literature as one of the base works of this institution in the form of oral history, and then he said: 54 works, in the field of oral history, have been published by this institution so far. He pointed out: Gilan Art Center is holding an oral history workshop, which is the deadline for registration on July 11th.

► The history of cinema in the city of Torbat-e Heydariyeh has many oral views and points of view, and in this regard, the manuscripts and written works are insignificant and do not even have any comprehensiveness. Accordingly, the Islamic Republic News Agency, in a cultural bulletin, has explored the oral history of Khorasan Razavi’s cinema.

►Kamal Jahanbakhshi, who is responsible for publishing the works and values of the clergy's participation in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, referring to the role of the clergy in sacred defense era, said:" To record this role and transfer it to future generations, compiling an oral history of the province's militant clerics is on the agenda."