مطالب

This paper takes a broad and novel approach to analysing the Iranian Jewish community of Iran, both as a distinct group and as a constituent part of Iran’s wider population sharing its national culture. The goal was to find a new way of addressing the topic, avoiding many ambiguities, and bringing all discourse back to its starting point: Iranian identity. If we identify Persian roots as the focus and the heart of our investigation, and we establish that a cultural study of the Iranian Jewscannot be separated from Iranian identity itself, we not only shift attention to a common denominator that links a variety of topics, but raise new questions, new issues, and new considerations. The aim was to identify an analytical tool through which we could interpret and relate various outlooks on Iranian identity: the analysis led us to consider religion as the source of a common sense of belonging, in contrast to most scholars whose work is predicated on the dichotomy of “secularism vs religion.” Instead, the Iranian identity discourse that emerges from this paper finds connections and affinities across the common dividing lines represented by religion, ethnicity, and geography. Reinforcing an Iranian discourse through the Jewish experience can constitute a valid response to the deep crisis of the Iranian national question and the enhancement of national, economic, and religious alliances. This paper employs a qualitative approach to the framework ofnational identity, based on the idea of its progressive character and related to the concept of identity as socially constructed. The theoretical assumptions expressed throughout this paper have found their empirical explanation in fieldwork that the author conducted in Iran in 2019.

Security is one of the most important needs of people after basic needs. Due to the unnecessary developments in cities and the lack of identifying elements as well as the decrease in the sense of attachment to new neighborhoods, it has created problems, such as reduced levels of security. Therefore, the most necessary action to achieve a sense of security at the residential level is to strengthen and enhance the sense of attachment to the neighborhood. The purpose of this present study has to analyze the feeling of security by emphasizing the influence of sense of place attachment in Elahieh neighborhood of Mashhad. The research method is descriptive-analytical and library-documentary sources and questionnaire distribution among residents of Elahieh neighborhood used for data collection. Sample size estimated to be 397 according to the neighborhood population using PASS software. The results of the study show that the feeling of security is low in the neighborhood of Elahieh and there is a weak sense of belonging among the residents. In this regard, measures affecting the sense of attachment to increase the sense of security in the neighborhood have been analyzed and ranked by Friedman test. Finally, measures of neighborhood boundary status, reminiscences and participation of residents, as well as neighborhood identity, are effective in reducing neighborhood security.