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
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Oral History of 40 Years
One of the main hypotheses regarding the reason for the growth and expansion of oral history in the modern era relates to the fact that oral history is the best tool for addressing lesser-known topics of contemporary history. Topics that, particularly because little information is available about them, have received less attention.Omissions in the Editing of Oral History
After the completion of interview sessions, the original recordings are archived, the interviews are transcribed, proofread, and re-listened to. If the material possesses the qualities required for publication in the form of an article or a book, the editing process must begin. In general, understanding a verbatim transcription of an interview is often not straightforward and requires editing so that it may be transformed into a fluent, well-documented text that is easy to comprehend.100 Questions/8
We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The names of each participant are listed at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week. The goal of this project is to open new doors to an issue and promote scientific discussions in the field of oral history.The Role of Objects in Oral Narrative
Philosophers refer to anything that exists—or possesses the potential to exist—as an object. This concept may manifest in material forms, abstract notions, and even human emotions and lived experiences. In other words, an object encompasses a vast spectrum of beings and phenomena, each endowed with particular attributes and characteristics, and apprehensible in diverse modalities.
