Contested notions of national identity, ethnic movements and democratisation in Iran

Since the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, successive regimes in Iran promoted competing conceptions of Iranian national identity. However, the policy of promoting nationalism as a state-sponsored ideology that excludes Iran's ethnic and religious diversity remained unchanged. Competing discourses around nation building and identity strikingly intersect with the struggle for democratization in Iran. Since the Islamic Revolution, the pro-democracy movement in the country takes place on two fronts: the confrontation between the conservatives and the reformists, and the challenge posed by the ethnic movements towards the offi cial denial of the ethnic and religious diversity of Iran. This article argues that be they reformist or conservative, successive governments in Iran have refused to recognise the multi-ethnic structure of Iranian society and the legitimate rights of the ethnic groups. Therefore, a regime change would be unlikely to alter the social and political status of ethnic and religious minorities unless the ethnic movements and the pro-democracy opposition collaborate. Formation of a common discourse on the question of "Iranianness" is the primary condition for this to be accomplished

We should remain sceptical of the UK’s approach to migration during COVID-19

We should remain sceptical of the changes to the UK’s approach to managing migration during the COVID-19 crisis, writes Buse Ozum Dagdelen (Lancaster University)

Super-Gain Optical Parametric Amplification in Dielectric Micro-Resonators via BFGS Algorithm-Based Non-Linear Programming

The goal of this paper is to show that super-gain optical parametric amplification can be achieved even in a small micro-resonator using high-intensity ultrashort pump waves, provided that the frequencies of the ultrashort pulses are tuned to maximize the intracavity magnitude of the wave to be amplified, which we call the stimulus wave. In order to accomplish this, we have performed a dispersion analysis via computational modeling of the electric polarization density in terms of the non-linear electron cloud motion and we have concurrently solved the electric polarization density and the wave equation for the electric field. Based on a series of non-linear programming-integrated finite difference time-domain simulations, we have identified the optimal pump wave frequencies that simultaneously maximize the stored electric energy density and the polarization density inside a micro-resonator by using the Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) optimization algorithm. When the intracavity energy and the polarization density (which acts as an energy coupling coefficient) are simultaneously high, an input wave can be strongly amplified by efficiently drawing energy from a highly energized cavity. Therefore, we propose that micrometer-scale achievement of super-gain optical parametric amplification is possible in a micro-resonator via high-intensity ultrashort "pump wave" pulses, by determining the optimal frequencies that concurrently maximize the stored electric energy density and the polarization density in a dielectric interaction medium

High-Fidelity Harmonic Generation in Optical Micro-Resonators Using BFGS Algorithm

Harmonic generation is an attractive research field that finds a variety of application areas. However, harmonic generation within a medium of micron-scale interaction length limits the magnitude of nonlinear coupling and leads to poor harmonic generation efficiency. In this study, we present a constrained non-linear programming approach based on the Quasi-Newton Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) algorithm to obtain high-fidelity harmonic generation in optical micro-resonators. Using this approach, one can achieve high-intensity harmonic generation in a simple Fabry-Perot type optical micro-resonator. The generation of super-intense harmonics at a typical ultraviolet (UV)-ablation frequency of 820 THz and at pure yellow-light (515 THz) is investigated in particular. Moreover, we achieved more than 98% accuracy compared to well-known theoretical results. Our approach enables the design of highly efficient microscale harmonic generators to be used in integrated photonic devices

Contested Notions of National Identity, Ethnic Movements And Democratization in Iran

Since the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, successive regimes in Iran promoted competing conceptions of Iranian national identity. However, the policy of promoting nationalism as a state-sponsored ideology that excludes Iran’s ethnic and religious diversity remained unchanged. Competing discourses around nation building and identity strikingly intersect with the struggle for democratization in Iran. Since the Islamic Revolution, the pro-democracy movement in the country takes place on two fronts: the confrontation between the conservatives and the reformists, and the challenge posed by the ethnic movements towards the official denial of the ethnic and religious diversity of Iran. This article argues that be they reformist or conservative, successive governments in Iran have refused to recognize the multi-ethnic structure of Iranian society and the legitimate rights of the ethnic groups. Therefore, a regime change would be unlikely to alter the social and political status of ethnic and religious minorities unless the ethnic movements and the pro-democracy opposition collaborate. Formation of a common discourse on the question of ‘Iranianness’ is the primary condition for this to be accomplished

Rethinking the National Question: Anti-Statist Discourses within the Kurdish National Movement

Why and under what conditions have the Kurds become agents of change in the Middle East in terms of democratization? Why did the Kurds’ role as democratic agents become particularly visible in the 1990s? How does the Kurdish movement’s turn to democratic discourse affect the political systems of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria? What are the implications of the Kurds’ adoption of “democratic discourse” for the transnational aspect of the Kurdish movement? Since the early 1990s, Kurdish national movements in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have undergone important political and ideological transformations. As a result of the Kurds’ growing role in shaping the debates on human rights and democratization in these four countries, the Kurdish national movement has acquired a dual character: an ethno-cultural struggle for the recognition of Kurdish identity, and a democratization movement that seeks to redefine the concepts of governance and citizenship in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The process transformation has affected relations between the Kurdish movements and their respective central governments in significant ways. On the basis of face-to-face interviews and archival research conducted in Turkey, Iraq and parts of Europe, the present work challenges the current narrative of Kurdish nationalism, which is predominantly drawn from a statist interpretation of Kurdish nationalist goals, and argues instead that the Kurdish question is no longer a problem of statelessness but a problem of democracy in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The main contributions of this work are three fold. First, the research unfolds the reasons behind the growing emphasis of the Kurdish movement on the concepts of democracy, human rights, and political participation, which started in the early 1990s. Second, the findings challenge the existing scholarship that explains Kurdish nationalism as a problem of statelessness and shifts the focus to the transformative potentials of the Kurdish national movement in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria through a comparative lens. Third, this work explores the complex transnational coordination and negotiations between the Kurdish movements across borders and explains the regional repercussions of this process

Beckett: the loss of distinction between the body and language

This thesis discusses how the corporeality (physicality and materiality) of language makes it untenable to view the body and language as entirely distinct categories, particularly in drama. When language is made to act instead of mean, the distinction between the body and language is removed. Schizophrenia is a good example to illustrate what is meant by the effacement of the boundary between the body and language, because it is the inability to coordinate between materiality and signification. Materialization of the fragmented body and subject through the physicality of language is where the distinction between the body and language gets lost. I think it is at this point that theatre attempts to free itself from the constraints of representation. Instead of dealing with metaphors, symbols and analogies, a text is put into action through the materiality and physicality of language. The poststructuralist deconstruction of the unified subject and subjectivity, especially in relation to the constructive and performative aspects of language casts light on an important dimension of the move away from the classical representational paradigm and why theatre seeks to be nonrepresentational to find its own voice. Beckett is one of the writers who questioned and blurred the boundary between the body and language. In this thesis, I discuss the possibilities Beckett created in terms of freeing theater from the constraints of representation and meaning through the plays Not I, Act Without Words II, What Where, and Play

Comparison of Different Surgical Options in the Treatment of Pilonidal Disease: Retrospective Analysis of 175 Patients

Pilonidal sinus disease is a benign disorder with an unidentified etiology and is observed mainly in young adults. It is an important health problem because it causes work loss. Although various nonsurgical treatment options have been tried up to date, there is a consensus on surgical intervention to treat the disease today. The optimal surgical method should be simple, associated with short hospital stay and low recurrence rates. In this study, patients who have undergone different surgical treatment methods due to pilonidal disease were retrospectively analyzed. The medical records of 175 patients who were operated on between 2002 and 2005 at the General Surgery Departments of Gaziosmanpasa University Medical School and Bartin State Hospital for pilonidal disease were reviewed for treatment option, postoperative complications, hospitalization time, work-off periods, and recurrence rates. The patients consisted of 150 (85.3%) males with a mean age of 26.47 ± 7.78 years. Marsupialization was applied to 82 (46.9%), unroofing to 20 (14.7%), primary closure to 29 (16.6%), and Limberg flap to 44 (25.1%) patients. The longest hospitalization period of 3.61 ± 1.08 days was observed in the Limberg flap group. The longest return to work period (20.12 ± 5.1 days) was observed in the marsupialization group. Both differences were significant. The highest complication rate was observed among the primary closure group (31%) followed by the patients treated by Limberg flap technique (15.8%). In the primary closure group, infection was detected in five (17.2%) and wound dehiscence in four (13.8%) individuals. The highest complication rates (31.03%) and recurrences (13.8%) were observed in the primary closure group. Various operative methods utilized in the treatment of pilonidal disease are associated with a number of advantages and disadvantages. Postoperative complication rates of unroofing and marsupialization are low, but require long wound care. In our study, we did not observe any recurrence among the patients treated by unroofing, but experienced a high recurrence ratio among subjects treated by marsupialization. In addition, there were high complication rates in the primary closure and Limberg flap groups. So, the best option is to explain the advantages and disadvantages of the available surgical methods and respect the patient's decision

Transformations of self in surviving cancer: an ethnographic account of bodily appearance and selfhood

textThis study focuses on the transformations of self in some breast cancer survivors, particularly as related to changes in bodily appearance (due to radiation, chemotherapy or surgery.) Analyzing various discourses of cancer survivors (such as excerpts of talk from interviews, journal entries, photographs and public presentations), I study the ways in which selves are reconstituted in relation to a change in physical form due to medical treatment (such as, hair loss or having one or both breasts removed.) The lived experiences of individuals create the basis for understanding appearance as a bodily experience rather than mere image or representation. Using ethnographic methods, I explore the viewpoints of the women who suffered through cancer treatment and the meanings of appearances they constructed in social interaction with others. By integrating symbolic interactionist and phenomenological approaches to the study of physical body and self, this study locates the self in the body as a reflective process emerging through social interaction. I emphasize appearance as bodily experience in terms of its visual and tactile aspects and examine its implications on women’s selves, self-presentations and social interactions. Using Goffman’s (1959, 1963) concepts of self-presentation, stigma and interaction order I show the ways in which my participants experienced “stigmatization” due to temporary or permanent bodily changes. Furthermore, I demonstrate that stigma management not only pertains to public life but also intimate contexts. Observing the inseparability of appearance and self as a common theme in the discourse of survivors, I argue that appearance is more than just an expression of self but it constitutes the self, or a part of self. It is in some way through our looks, along with the responses of others to it that we grow up with, that we come to recognize ourselves as who we are. Breast cancer survivors interviewed in this study reported a “loss of self” as a result of a change in physical appearance which they attributed to their inability to integrate their altered physical appearance as a part of themselves. While some survivors accepted the way they look and made it a part of their selves, others resisted the change and managed their image to restore their selves. This shows us that the role of the individual in shaping the definition of the self is evident, “through the little ways in which we resist the pull” (Goffman, 1961), as opposed to the notion of self as a fluid product of others imputations. Despite their different choices, survivors showed an effort to maintain the coherence of the self in moments of change and uncertainty. This active and autonomous view of self challenges the characterization of appearance and beauty practices as oppressive and thereby challenges the understanding of women as passive and manipulated by cultural ideologies.Communication Studie