Young and defiant in Tehran / Shahram Khosravi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Khosravi, Shahram.

Series:

Contemporary ethnography

Contemporary Ethnography

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Youth--Iran--Tehran.

Youth.

Ethnology--Iran--Tehran.

Ethnology.

Popular culture--Iran--Tehran.

Popular culture.

Islam and politics--Iran--Tehran.

Islam and politics.

Islam and culture--Iran--Tehran.

Islam and culture.

Group identity--Political aspects--Iran--Tehran.

Group identity.

Tehran (Iran)--Social life and customs.

Tehran (Iran).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (239 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

With more than half its population under twenty years old, Iran is one of the world's most youthful nations. The Iranian state characterizes its youth population in two ways: as a homogeneous mass, "an army of twenty millions" devoted to the Revolution, and as alienated, inauthentic, Westernized consumers who constitute a threat to the society. Much of the focus of the Islamic regime has been on ways to protect Iranian young people from moral hazards and to prevent them from providing a gateway for cultural invasion from the West. Iranian authorities express their anxieties through campaigns that target the young generation and its lifestyle and have led to the criminalization of many of the behaviors that make up youth culture. In this ethnography of contemporary youth culture in Iran's capital, Shahram Khosravi examines how young Tehranis struggle for identity in the battle over the right to self-expression. Khosravi looks closely at the strictures confronting Iranian youth and the ways transnational cultural influences penetrate and flourish. Focusing on gathering places such as shopping centers and coffee shops, Khosravi examines the practices of everyday life through which young Tehranis demonstrate defiance against the official culture and parental dominance. In addition to being sites of opposition, Khosravi argues, these alternative spaces serve as creative centers for expression and, above all, imagination. His analysis reveals the transformative power these spaces have and how they enable young Iranians to develop their own culture as well as individual and generational identities. The text is enriched by examples from literature and cinema and by livid reports from the author's fieldwork.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Note on Transliteration and Dates

Preface

Introduction

1. Cultural Crimes

2. The Aesthetics of Authority

3. A Dissident Neighborhood

4. A Passage to Modernity: Golestan

5. The Third Generation

6. Culture of Defiance

Conclusion

Coda

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781283896306

1283896303

9780812206814

0812206819

OCLC:

794702290