مطالب

During the first decades of the 20th century, Iran underwent a transformative phase spurred by the emergence of local periodicals. Intellectuals and modernists in the country, drawing inspiration from the social and cultural developments in Europe, actively engaged in defining and supervising cultural and artistic modernism in Iran. One such influential journal was Irânšahr, which, much like its foreign counterparts, sought to mirror the progress and advances in the European world. Irânšahr set itself apart by initiating a literary competition to deepen its engagement with European literature. This competition invited Iranian authors to create new literary works based on extracts from Western literary pieces. This article specifically analyzes a publication resulting from this initiative, namely “Qalb-e mâdar”, a poem by Iraj Mirza, recognized as one of his best creations. Our analysis commences with a detailed examination of Iraj’s poem and the foreign sources that inspired it. Subsequently, we conduct a comparative study between the two texts. The objective is to uncover how the Iranian poet, Iraj Mirza, not only drew inspiration from Western literature but also managed to recreate the text in a way that seamlessly aligned with the poetic and cultural conventions of the Iranian language. This exploration aims to shed light on the processes through which the Iranian poet skillfully adapted the text to cater to the preferences of his Iranian readers. However, it is essential to approach this assessment with caution. While acknowledging the prowess of the Iranian poet in adapting foreign influences, deeming his work a universal model for literary modernization may pose challenges.

In a multicultural and multilingual country like Iran, where minority languages have undergone a degree of assimilation into Persian, certain cultural aspects of these minority languages, such as the Kurdish calendar for Kurdish people, have been ignored. This descriptive study tends to revitalize the overlooked calendars of Central (Sorani) and Southern (Kalhori, Feyli, Laki) Kurdish dialects by investigating the conceptual metaphors utilized in these dialect-specific calendars. To do so, the calendars of these Kurdish dialects have been sourced from reliable references. Subsequently, the names of the Kurdish months are analyzed using Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) conceptual metaphor model. The findings reveal that these Kurdish calendars exhibit ontological, structural, and orientational metaphors that conceptualize abstract time as a concrete entity through "physical experiences," including rituals and road blockages; "natural events"; and "spatial orientation," represented by the vertical movement of Kurdish people and leaves as well as the horizontal displacement between the months.

This article delves into the cultural invasion faced by Islamic society following the Islamic Revolution, focusing on how Western powers have strategically attempted to undermine indigenous cultures through materialism and cultural hegemony. The primary research question of this study is, what factors have contributed to the cultural penetration of Western values in Iran, and how can these influences be resisted in line with the perspectives of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei? The hypothesis suggests that cultural infiltration is not merely a historical issue but a modern tactic used by Western forces to weaken Islamic ideals and revolutionary movements, especially in the post-revolutionary context. Through a content analysis of Ayatollah Khamenei's speeches and writings, the study identifies the key components of cultural resistance, such as the need for a solid intellectual foundation, an in-depth understanding of the enemy's tactics, and an active presence in the digital and cyberspace spheres. The research highlights that these elements are essential for developing an effective strategy against cultural domination. Moreover, the study reveals that public participation and solidarity, while important, are less critical in countering cultural infiltration than a stronger ideological framework and intellectual empowerment. This suggests that the focus should shift towards strengthening the cultural and intellectual defenses of society, with particular attention to the role of education, media, and critical thinking in resisting foreign cultural pressure. The study concludes that in order to safeguard cultural security in Iran, it is imperative to activate public diplomacy, promote cultural assimilation based on resistance, and establish an Iranian-Islamic progress plan that emphasizes self-reliance and the preservation of indigenous cultural values. These strategies are not only crucial for maintaining cultural sovereignty but also for reinforcing the broader ideological and political independence of Iran.