The intellectual boundaries of heritage have developed considerably during the last half-century. The theme ‘historic urban landscape’ has replaced such older expressions as ‘monuments’, ‘historic area’, and ‘old town’, and the term ‘conservation’ has been reinterpreted as a sustainable basis for development. Despite these more flexible meanings the spatial boundaries of ‘heritage’ often remain tightly restricted to ancient monuments and sites, and nowhere is this more evident than in Iran where the preservation of outstanding monuments is constantly in tension with the spatial demand of the modern cities. Maibud provides the basis from which a new methodological approach to conservation is developed. It is a city that has a history of several millennia yet has a scale that renders it manageable as a case study with archaeological remains that range across several phases of building development. It is, arguably, an archetypal example of middle-sized Iranian cities, and affords the possibility to study the entire urban landscape and its spatial, functional and morphological iterations. Within this overall picture a methodology was developed to explore and analyse various typological elements of the city, the three key components of which are the town plan, the building type, and construction materials. The analysis combines a rigorous survey and observation of the standing structures with scarce archaeological and written sources that shed light on an interpretation of the urban fabric. The methodologies developed as the basis for a study of Maibud provide new perspectives on Islamic urbanism in general, and Islamic urbanism in Iran particularly. An analysis of the town plan illustrated a slow process of change over many centuries that contributed to the permanence of street systems and property boundaries. This durability of the town plan explains how the inherited urban nucleus of late antiquity mutated gradually in the early Islamic period and how there was concentration of development around the early mosque. The building fabric demonstrated that there existed not only commonalities between buildings of the same period, but between buildings of different periods in the same region. A gradual mutation of building form and its synchronic and diachronic progression was noted, through the identification of building typologies as characterised in the urban fabric of Maibud. Consequently, it has been hypothesised that the pre-Islamic matrix of char-suffa, a small courtyard house, gradually developed into medieval and late-medieval houses, and that this incremental development of traditional houses of the region ultimately reached its latest transformation in its modern form. A study of earthen construction and the inherent feature of mud brick has been advanced, featuring its availability, flexibility, homogeneity, sustainability, as well as its vulnerability. A detailed study of these characteristics, coupled with an ability to date the different types and sizes of mud bricks has facilitated an understanding of construction and allows researchers to meet the challenge of dating and interpreting buildings. By concentrating on the ‘laboratory’ city of Maibud and the specificities of its earthen construction, a chronological table of mud brick has been developed. A synthesis has been advanced, based on archaeological, architectural, epigraphic and textual evidence, that the streets of the town plan are the most durable feature of urban landscapes and once laid out, they change very little. Consequently, property boundaries have essentially remained fixed with most dating back to the medieval period. By contrast, buildings and particularly residential buildings were the least durable element of the urban fabric, and changed faster based still on earlier designs. It is imperative that these interrelationships − of town plan, buildings and materials – must be understood in order to formulate an approach for the management and conservation of historic urban landscapes.

Since the beginning of humankind, architecture has been a sacred source for all civilizations, and that has provided a gateway for man to reach the heavens above. In terms of concept and value, Persian art and architecture is considered as a rich source to be acknowledged. Within Persian architecture, the emphasis was placed strongly on beauty and sacred geometry; Persians calculated the proportions of heaven reflected upon them in the dimensions of buildings on the earth. Iranian culture has utilized the written word as an art form; this goes beyond normal means of communication. Iranian calligraphers produced eloquent styles and patterns through their divine talent, and this was displayed in the architecture. Parviz Tanavoli, as the greatest contemporary artist of Iran, has a strong tendency to be attracted to words and letters which has a long history in Iranian culture. Experimenting through aspects of cultural interaction in fine and applied arts has led to the understanding that when aesthetic elements of cultures are used to create a new design, it leads to both a new aesthetic creation and a fresh understanding of the cultures involved. This collection was designed and manufactured by concentrating on organic and curved forms and utilizing them in the design practice, while having a touch on cultural elements such as patterns and alphabets. The curved abstract shapes create a conceptual harmony, depicted in Persian patterns via functional three dimensional pieces.

A major question asked is whether literacy skills from a first language are able to be transferred to a second language that does not share the same writing features, grammar, graphic conventions or even the same type of writing system. The purpose of this study was to analyse the role of first language literacy in second language acquisition where languages are quite different. Specifically, it was designed to investigate the relationships between first language(Persian) writing skills and second language(English) writing performance. That is, it investigated the extent to which Iranian primary school children who were already literate in their first language drew upon literacy skills and concept knowledge of literacy from their first language to use in their second language. It was hypothesised that second language learning might be affected by both learners' and parents' attitudes and motivations. Subjects for the study were 70 Iranian students in grades 3, 4, and 5 who attended NSW state primary schools plus Persian School on Saturday and Sunday. Results of the study indicated that the first language Farsi writing skills specifically linguistic and holistic skills were transferred to the English language. Parents' influence on children's English writing skills were not found to be an important determinate in linguistic and holistic writing measures, although there was a relationship between the active parental influence variable and students' English writing technical skills. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Migration is an established phenomenon in today’s world. However, there has been only a relatively small amount of research on Iranian migrants in Australia, and in particular female Iranian migrants. By studying 15 first-generation Iranian Muslim women migrants’ perceptions of their immigration to Australia and their difficulties in adjusting to the new culture, this study addresses four objectives: first, the extent of modification in religious identity; second, attitudes towards cultural maintenance; third, attitudes towards language maintenance; and fourth, attitudes towards gender role maintenance. The present study contributes to these underdeveloped areas of study on Iranian migrant women in Australia. This research involves a questionnaire and extensive interviews with the subjects. On the basis of a quantitative analysis of the questionnaire data, and a qualitative content analysis of the interviews, the study investigates the effects of immigration and a change of sociocultural context on the attitudes of the participants towards maintaining or modifying different aspects of their identity, namely the religious, cultural, linguistic and gender aspects. In doing so, we examine, in particular, the influence of the participants’ levels of English language proficiency on their attitudes towards change in these four aspects of their identity. Berry’s Acculturation Model (1997) and its extended version, as proposed by Navasa and her colleagues (2005), are the theoretical frameworks adopted in this research. The present study tests the participants’ responses against Berry’s model. The two issues explored in this work are: a) identifying the phase in Berry’s Acculturation Model in which the participants are located, with respect to the above-mentioned aspects of their identity; and b) examining the effect of English language proficiency, which emerges as a major factor, on the acculturation process of the participants. The findings show that there is a need to review the existing acculturation models, since Berry’s original model, and its enhancement by Navasa et al., are unable to explain and/or predict the acculturation situation of the migrant women in this study. A new model is therefore proposed – the Sociolinguistically Enhanced Acculturation Model (SLEAM), based on Berry’s original model, in which the impact and significance of the role of host language proficiency as the most important factor in the acculturation of migrants is integrated into the structure of the model. The current study is broadly located at the intersection of Sociolinguistics, in so far as sociocultural issues involving language and the use of language are concerned, and Migrant Studies, since the informants are migrant women. More narrowly, the study fits within the boundaries of Sociolinguistics of Identity. By this, we mean the study of identity in a sociocultural context, primarily through the instrumentality of language. The study further relies on the literature from the two fields of Acculturation and Gender Studies. The findings of this work are relevant to the fields of Sociolinguistics, Intercultural Communication, Migrant Studies, and Gender Studies. The results of this research are designed to increase our understanding of the acculturation processes involved in the relocation and settlement of immigrants, specifically from more traditional cultures, into relatively more Western-oriented cultures.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Notre Dame, 2009. / Thesis directed by Donald B. Pope-Davis for the Department of Psychology. "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-77).

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This study focuses on the musical activities and views of Iranian immigrant artists who perform, teach, and support traditional Iranian music in Los Angeles and Southern California. This geographic area and its interconnected social networks, which I refer to as Irangeles, is part of a diaspora culture industry where music is central to everyday life, but where modern Iranian pop music dominates. Given Iran's historical negative stigma attached to entertainment-oriented music making, and the popularity of entertainment and dance-driven Persian pop in contemporary Irangeles, practitioners of traditional Iranian music express frustration and face challenges in promoting their art, what they feel is an authentic form of Iranian culture. The music they make expresses both personal and cultural values: it is a form of creative expression that presents itself as interwoven with their Iranian identity, reflecting personal and cultural ideals of character in Iranian culture. My findings highlight how Iranian immigrant artists avail themselves of the socio-cultural infrastructure of Irangeles to network with like-minded artists and strategically use satellite TV, online technology and social media to find recognition for, teach, and promote diverse genres of traditional Iranian music in this particular diaspora setting.

This thesis analyzes the unexplored space that Iranian expatriates occupy in Persian Gulf Arab States, specifically Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. It argues that culturally ascribed markers such as ethnicity, language, clothing, gender, religion, historical factors and nationality combine to produce hybrid Gulf Iranian identities among Iranian expatriates. The thesis performs an analysis of Iranian expatriate individuals' situations and conditions in the above societies and assesses the level of cross-interaction between Arabs and Iranians by building upon theories by Martinez, Hegel, Hobsbawm and Said. It concludes that studies of Iranian expatriates may not be performed in terms of Iranian or Gulf Arab identities but as a fluid synthesis of the two with sociopolitical implications for all Persian Gulf States. By understanding the Gulf Iranian expatriate community, or Gulf Iranians, we can move beyond analyses that are limited to national, ethnic and ideological lines to reevaluate Persian Gulf identities entirely.

Migration is an established phenomenon in today’s world. However, there has been only a relatively small amount of research on Iranian migrants in Australia, and in particular female Iranian migrants. By studying 15 first-generation Iranian Muslim women migrants’ perceptions of their immigration to Australia and their difficulties in adjusting to the new culture, this study addresses four objectives: first, the extent of modification in religious identity; second, attitudes towards cultural maintenance; third, attitudes towards language maintenance; and fourth, attitudes towards gender role maintenance. The present study contributes to these underdeveloped areas of study on Iranian migrant women in Australia. This research involves a questionnaire and extensive interviews with the subjects. On the basis of a quantitative analysis of the questionnaire data, and a qualitative content analysis of the interviews, the study investigates the effects of immigration and a change of sociocultural context on the attitudes of the participants towards maintaining or modifying different aspects of their identity, namely the religious, cultural, linguistic and gender aspects. In doing so, we examine, in particular, the influence of the participants’ levels of English language proficiency on their attitudes towards change in these four aspects of their identity. Berry’s Acculturation Model (1997) and its extended version, as proposed by Navasa and her colleagues (2005), are the theoretical frameworks adopted in this research. The present study tests the participants’ responses against Berry’s model. The two issues explored in this work are: a) identifying the phase in Berry’s Acculturation Model in which the participants are located, with respect to the above-mentioned aspects of their identity; and b) examining the effect of English language proficiency, which emerges as a major factor, on the acculturation process of the participants. The findings show that there is a need to review the existing acculturation models, since Berry’s original model, and its enhancement by Navasa et al., are unable to explain and/or predict the acculturation situation of the migrant women in this study. A new model is therefore proposed – the Sociolinguistically Enhanced Acculturation Model (SLEAM), based on Berry’s original model, in which the impact and significance of the role of host language proficiency as the most important factor in the acculturation of migrants is integrated into the structure of the model. The current study is broadly located at the intersection of Sociolinguistics, in so far as sociocultural issues involving language and the use of language are concerned, and Migrant Studies, since the informants are migrant women. More narrowly, the study fits within the boundaries of Sociolinguistics of Identity. By this, we mean the study of identity in a sociocultural context, primarily through the instrumentality of language. The study further relies on the literature from the two fields of Acculturation and Gender Studies. The findings of this work are relevant to the fields of Sociolinguistics, Intercultural Communication, Migrant Studies, and Gender Studies. The results of this research are designed to increase our understanding of the acculturation processes involved in the relocation and settlement of immigrants, specifically from more traditional cultures, into relatively more Western-oriented cultures.