The BBC Persian Service and the Islamic Revolution of 1979

This paper is the second part of a work in progress that examines the impact of seventy years of BBC Persian broadcasts to Iran. The Persian Service, established in December 1940, was originally set up by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as one of thirty-eight language services broadcasting to strategically important areas of the world during World War Two. The first piece of research looked at three historic moments when the influence of BBC Persian broadcasts was hotly debated: the toppling of the pro-German Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, in 1941; the late 1940s, when Iran's nationalist leader, Mohammad Mossadeq, championed oil nationalization and challenged the rights hitherto enjoyed by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company; and the US-led coup of 1953 that returned the young Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the throne. The present research focuses on a period that many Iranians consider the most influential in terms of all BBC broadcasts to Iran. The BBC Persian Service (BBCPS) became a household name during 1978, the year leading up to the revolution of 11 February 1979. Many Iranians at home and abroad tuned in to hear the latest news and developments, even as the Shah of Iran accused the BBC of fomenting revolution, an argument echoed thirty years later in the responses of the Islamic Republic to the launch of the new Persian television channel in January 2009. The research shows clearly how difficult it had become for the FCO to uphold the independence of the BBC and support their closest friend in the region when he believed that the British government must be in charge. There was indeed heated debate and discussion inside the Foreign Office as to whether Britain was sacrificing its long-term interests by allowing the BBC to continue its broadcasts when even the British ambassador in Tehran was suggesting the service should be closed down

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis study adopted an interpretive/qualitative methodology to explore the issues and challenges of developing and maintaining Persian/Farsi as a heritage language in homes and neighborhoods for second-generation Iranian-American youth living in a major US metropolitan area with a sizable concentration of Iranian immigrants. The purpose of the research was to analyze the interplay of various socio-psychological and socio-institutional/political factors, which affected the relationship between a majority/minority language and culture in a geographically multilingual/multicultural setting, by relating them to learners‘ linguistic experiences. The findings were based on data collected through three semistructured interviews with 22 second-generation Iranian-American college students residing in the states of New York and New Jersey. The research showed that the choice to maintain Persian was not necessarily easy, nor was it straightforward; it was further complicated given the underlying linguistic ideologies and the status and power relations between majority/minority languages in the US, specifically when an ethnic group, language, and/or culture was vilified and negatively represented. The research showed that for Iranian-American second-generation, the process of identification with Iran was especially complex when their country of origin was so very Othered. Politically, religiously and ethnically, these young people were up against powerful forces from both worlds that made identification with Iran and Persian language a special challenge. For these reasons, they found it necessary to strategically align themselves with different aspects of their identity at different times and spaces, depending on their audience and the effect they hoped to achieve. I looked at the process of Othering through the lens of world-as-real constructed by contemporary Orientalism and demonstrated how negative representations of Iranians affect Iranian-American students‘ decisions on which aspects of their identities to perform, including whether to speak Farsi at home or in public. While the research showed that second-generation heritage language loss is a grim reality complicated by major obstacles for the Farsi-speaking population in America, this researcher hopes that by unveiling some firsthand stories of the people whom this phenomenon affects, she has sowed some fresh ideas in the minds of researchers and policy makers who can take action to stanch the bleeding

Assistance across Borders: American Academic Libraries in Afghanistan and Qatar

A recent outreach project brought together the American University of Afghanistan and four world renowned US universities with branch campuses in Qatar’s Education City. Librarians in Qatar often collaborate with each other, but this unusual effort was the first time their collaboration reached across international borders to extend assistance to another country. The experience became a cultural exchange that brought together these dramatically different worlds. By utilizing technologies that make connecting and collaborating so easy these days, four librarians with backgrounds in public and technical services worked together to share their expertise, culminating in a learning visit by an AUAF library assistant to Doha. The sharing of skills and knowledge was a wonderful experience on many levels and made a distinct difference in a part of the world that needs and wants so much to change

A special relationship? American and British soft power in Iran, 1953-1960

This thesis examines Britain and the United States’ use of cultural diplomacy and propaganda in Iran between 1953 and 1960. It identifies why British and American policymakers placed so much importance on cultural ties with Iran, how officials from both countries used these initiatives to attract Iranians to their respective ways of life and the extent to which they perceived these policies to be successful. This PhD considers how Britain and the United States sought to strengthen ties with Iran at an elite and popular level. It explores how the UK Foreign Office and the US State Department forged links with their Iranian counterparts to instruct them on the production and dissemination of propaganda. The project proceeds to explore the role played by government-affiliated institutions at a non-state level to promote British and American cultures, norms, values and ways of life in Iran. These include the British Council, the Iran-America Society and the United States Information Agency (USIA). The analysis of British and American soft power in Iran between 1953 and 1960 makes three key contributions to the literature on this topic. First, it views Anglo-American relations with Iran through the prism of soft power. This is an original take on the topic. Previous research has emphasised economic and military interactions between the UK, US and Iran. Second, the thesis explores how Britain and the United States responded to the changes in their respective global positions. During this period, the UK was a declining power, crippled by the financial cost of the Second World War and was in the process of relinquishing most of overseas colonies. The US, in comparison, was a booming superpower, talking a greater interest in the struggle against Communism in regions such as the Middle East. Finally, it highlights the tensions and competitive element of Anglo- American relations in the Middle East. Both countries, while collaborating in many fields, had similar aims but different regional priorities. The project points out the ways in which they cooperated and competed with one another for regional supremac

IRAN’S REGIONAL POLICY IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: CASE STUDIES OF RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLICS OF AZERBAIJAN & ARMENIA

The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of Iran’s foreign policy and behaviour, roots of continuity and factors of change in the regional context of the South Caucasus, using the case studies of its relations with two important neighbouring countries, the Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan. To offer a picture of regional geopolitical context in which the subject is examined, the study will discuss the importance of South Caucasus in the international system, introducing the existing challenges and opportunities in the region, as well as important regional and international players involved, their goals and policies towards those goals. The study will also provide a review of Iran’s foreign policy in different periods and discuss factors resulting in different approaches undertaken in each period. The implication of these policies will then be examined further in the context of the Middle East, as well as South Caucasus. That is to demonstrate the specific strategies Iran has taken in each of these regions, and to explain differences between the Middle East policies and that of the South Caucasus. Case studies will provide a more detailed picture of how regional policies work and what factors shape the bilateral relations

LANGUAGE ATTITUDES OF FIRST AND SECOND GENERATION AFGHAN-AMERICANS AND IRANIAN-AMERICANS TOWARD DARI AND PERSIAN

The goal of this study is to investigate the current language attitudes of first and second generation Afghan and Iranian-Americans toward the two varieties Dari and Persian of the Indo-Iranian language Farsi. Research on this subject can facilitate future endeavors toward heritage language maintenance efforts in order to preserve a linguistically diverse America and address an unprecedented need for government professionals who are skilled in languages that are currently in demand such as Dari. Based on the sociopolitical context of both immigrant groups, the hypothesis is that Afghan and Iranian-Americans consider Persian more overtly prestigious and that each ethnic group attributes higher group solidarity traits to their own dialect guise. It is further hypothesized that the second generation from both immigrant groups will hold the same language attitudes as their parents. The primary method of investigation for this study was a modified version of Lambert et al.s (1960) matched guise design, which collected both quantitative and qualitative data. There is strong evidence to suggest that the Persian variety is considered more covertly and overtly prestigious than Dari by first and second generation Afghan and Iranian-Americans. Although the biases between the first and second generation aligned similarly, there is an indication that there is a generational difference in language attitudes toward Farsi in general. The overt and covert stigmatization of Dari coupled with the disparity between the first and second generations\u27 language attitudes toward Farsi may partially explain the unsuccessful language maintenance program thus far in the Dari speaking community in Fremont, California. Future language maintenance efforts may benefit by fostering a stronger sense of heritage and pride within the speech community and especially in the youth

The influence of translation on Shakespeare's reception in Iran: three Farsi Hamlets and suggestions for a fourth.

The study consists of three parts. Part 1 defines the development of translation in Iran over almost fifteen centuries -from the reign of King Anowshiravan (53 1-79), who commissioned the first translation ever made from Sanskrit into Middle Persian (Pahlavi) to the year 2000. This part traces Iran's eventful history from the Arab invasion and the establishment of the Caliphate (642), through the Moghul takeover and the fall of the Caliphate (1258), to the founding of Dar al-fonoon (1852) and the rise of translation to significance, onto W.W. II and the state-wide replacement of French by English as the most important foreign language, resulting in a reinvigoration of translational activities, and finally to the Islamic Revolution (1979) and the end of the twentieth century. Part 2 looks into Shakespeare'sr eception in Iran. Given Shakespeare's profound influence in literary and theatrical activities across the world, the attention he has received in Iran is not commensurate with his high global standing. This part endeavours to find out the circumstances of this comparative neglect The linguistic, prosodic and cultural problems that typically an Iranian translator of Shakespeare may encounter are immense. The French and English in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, never enjoyed anything other than the status of foreign languages, learnt or taught as auxiliaries. Therefore, bilingualism in whose lap scholarly proficiency can be born and bred, has never existed in modern Iran. Individual bilingual scholars who may have attained their proficiency through a painstaking pursuit of knowledge at home or abroad, have either been too few or too involved in other activities to make a strong impact on translation. Thus it might be that shortcomings in some of the translations of Shakespeare may be responsible for his reserved reception in Iran. The inclusion in Part 2 of a few glimpses of Shakespeare's global significance are felt to provide a useful contrast. Part 3 is the main course of the study. It examines Farzad and Behazin's translations both made for the page, as well as Rahimi's adaptation for the stage. Rahimi's Hamlet has been subjected to an appropriation aimed at making it culturally innocuous. It has one act and twenty-one scenes, with a lot of deletions and occasional additions. Each scene has been properly examined and the appropriations made for cultural considerations have been specified. The research concludes with brief remarks on the major findings of the study

THE IRANIAN MARITIME CHALLENGE

Iran is the leading challenge to the United States and its partners and allies in the Middle East. Nowhere is this challenge more pronounced than in the maritime domain, where Iran’s naval power continues to dwarf that of its neighbors in the Persian Gulf. This thesis explores the threat Iran poses by examining the extensive maritime capabilities of its two navies, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy (IRGCN) and the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN), and how those forces have employed their capabilities in past aggressive behavior. The thesis highlights three primary cases to that end: Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping during the Tanker War, the brief hostage-taking of U.S. Sailors near Farsi Island, and the repeated use of harassment tactics and sabotage operations. Through those cases studies, a broader assessment is made regarding the degree of Iran’s ability to use its capabilities to close the Strait of Hormuz for an extended period and its ability to effectively employ kinetic swarm attacks against the U.S. Navy. This study concludes with some recommendations for the U.S. Navy on ways to better plan for, and counter, Iran’s likely tactical pathways of aggression at sea.Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Learning to innovate collaboratively with technology: exploring strategic workplace skill webs in a telecom services firm in Tehran

This thesis explores innovation and learning within the context of an entrepreneurial new technology based firm (NTBF), operating in the creative sector of telecommunications valueadded services located in Tehran, Iran, along with a partner in London, UK. Whilst backgrounding the socioeconomic and geopolitical characteristics of the operating environment, and historical antecedents of independence and self-sufficiency, plus chronic sanctions within the economy, the argument focuses on the interplay between intermediated learning via strategic ‘skill webs’ leading to innovation. Drawing on innovation and workplace learning corpus, collaborative innovation with technologies is organised as a competitive action in an unstable and unpredictable market: learning and skill enhancement in firms provides the stabilisers to remain and compete in the market. It is the juxtaposition of learning and innovation in service-innovation/-delivery design, while utilising pervasive and emerging telecoms technologies that provides the empirical base for this research. Conceptually, an emergent type of distributed learning, entitled as ‘DEAL’ (Design, Execute, Adjust and Learn) model, by enabling knowledge brokerage facilitated by ‘skill webs’, is identified and explored. This then acts as an analytical tool to examine the empirical elements which are in the form of longitudinal organisational ethnography on site visit waves, spanning 2004 to 2013, focusing on project learning breakthroughs and cul-de-sacs as observed by learning episodes, often utilising informal networks and skill webs in technical and non-technical tasks. The case study findings within a conceptual model has implications for learning and education policy, and upskilling in firms located where regional clustering is not apparent. Furthermore, extrapolating on the theoretical and empirical inquiry and exploring policy vistas, emphasising the hybridised and socio-cultural nature of the innovation processes in transitional economies, the thesis highlights the paramount nature of NTBFs’ inquiry-based learning capabilities, and distributed interprofessional judgement formation evolving in an incremental and contextdependent manner, duly shaping the sustainability of learning to innovate