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By
Hossein Godazgar (Source:
The Middle East Institute)
Dr. Hossein Godazgar, apart from teaching at the University of East
London, has worked at the University of Tabriz as an Associate Professor
in sociology of religion. He is currently an Honorary Visiting Fellow in
Politics at the University of York, UK. |
Iranian universities are undoubtedly experiencing their hardest period since the
Cultural Revolution of 1980-1982.[1] All this is taking place in the name of
"Islam" or "religion," with little attention paid to the complexities of their
definitions, nor indeed to those of "non-religion," "non-Islam," or
"secular."[2] This is perhaps because what has ruled Iran since 1979 is not
"Islam" as a "religion," but "Islamism," a political ideology, which cannot
escape from its essential character of selectivity, generalization, and, as a
result, simplicity and simplification.[3] However, this ideology did not simply
favor "traditionalism."[4] That is, through the Islamic Revolution of 1979,
Iranian Islamists "did not seek to turn the clock back."[5] The Islamic Republic
maintained more or less the same modern institutions, but attempted to mix their
modernity with Islamic tradition and Iranian culture. This mixture, which I
refer to as "cultural nationalism," emphasizes the superiority of the Iranian
nation based on ideas of traditional culture, which present a different face of
modernity.[6]
After the
1979 revolution, Iran did not replace modern universities with the traditional
seminary schools of hawzehs or madrasahs. It maintained the same
modern universities, but attempted to add a flavor of Islamic tradition to them.
This essay focuses on attitudes towards the Internet - an example of high
modernity - in a major Iranian university and examines views of modernity in an
Islamist context and to what extent they differ from the rest of the world.
Attitudes towards the
Internet
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The Iranian Revolution at 30
Source: The Middle East Institute
www.mideasti.org
This wide-ranging mega-collection of more than 50 original
essays is the first of a series of six similar publications
commemorating the events of 1979.
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My findings were shaped by
participant observation and interviewing 30 post-graduate students and seven
academic staff from different faculties of the University of Tabriz, situated in
northwest Iran, in the spring of 2002. The main variables were as follows: the
Internet as a value system; the necessity of the Internet; causes of Internet
establishment; the pleasant parts of the Internet; access to the Internet; and
the effects of the Internet. The six main implications of my findings follow.
First, with reference to the question
of "Internet as a value system ,"
none of my informants had absolute negative attitudes towards the Internet.
But although the majority of them (59%) viewed the Internet positively and as a
provider of easy and convenient access to scholars, scientific resources, and
communications, some others (41%) described it as a hybrid phenomenon. They had
no doubt that the Internet was useful, and indeed necessary for the development
of science and knowledge in the present world. But, in their view, the Internet
also contained some negative aspects with respect to culture and morality.
Nevertheless, only a few of them wanted to regard it in the context of an
ideological contest that could pave the way for the "penetration of the strange
culture" (nofuz-i farhang-i biganeh), usually signifying Western culture.
In the opinion of some others, this "penetration" could be a positive aspect of
the Internet, bringing Iran to "universalism and humanism."
Second,
all my interviewees confirmed the "necessity of the Internet," while some of
them regarded universities as being "nothing without the Internet." They offered
the following reasons for this assessment:
-
access to up-to-date academic
books and journals;
-
the desperate need for
acquaintance with the world's scientific development;
-
the necessity of communication
and avoidance of isolation.
My informants regarded the Internet
as a new technology that has widely replaced the traditional methods of
acquiring information, such as university libraries.
Third, globalism was mainly regarded
as a major "cause of establishing the Internet" in Iranian universities. For
them,
Iran had no choice other than
"imitating universal phenomena, such as the Internet." In this regard, they
raised two key points:
-
after more than 20 years of
ideologically oriented policies, "it was time to take science into account"
to tackle the country's social, cultural and economic problems; and
-
the society was exhausted of
'being isolated from the rest of the world.'
Fourth, a
large majority of my interviewees (89%) mentioned that the availability of
scientific resources and papers was the most "pleasant part of the Internet."
Only a few of them said that they also enjoyed using the Internet for leisure
and news. Not surprisingly, my informants did not trade, advertisement, and sex
in response to this question. (Use of the Internet for the latter purpose is
illegal in Iran, and use of the Internet for trade is highly inconvenient, given
the scarcity of credit cards in Iran.)
Fifth,
all of my informants suggested that they had the capability "to access the
Internet." However, they complained about the lack of continuous access. They
attributed this problem to the ignorance of the university authorities about the
significance of the Internet; the lack of understanding by the government of the
status of the Internet in Iranian society and among Iranian families; financial
shortcomings for adequate service and/or misuse of the budget for ideological
purposes rather than educational purposes; the lack of training courses for the
use of the Internet; insufficient attention to the humanities and hence less
access by humanities and social science students to the Internet; restricting
access to the Internet to daytime owing to the fear of immoral interactions
between male and female students during vacations and nights; and censorship of
certain sites for both political and moral reasons.
Finally, apart from one respondent,
all viewed the "effects of the Internet" as positive and its use for academic
purposes as very useful and necessary. The impact of the Internet on scientific
production in the university, particularly in postgraduate studies, was
emphasized repeatedly. However, when asked about the non-academic uses of the
Internet, the respondents offered differing views, as was clear from their
comments on the "Internet as a value system."
Conclusion
Islamic ideology, particularly the
lack of a clear definition for what has come to be known as making universities
"Islamic" (islami kardan-i daneshgah-ha) and ambiguous aims such as "the
Unity of Seminary and University" (vahdat-i hawzeh va daneshgah) have
caused uncertainty and complexity in the post-revolutionary life of Iranian
universities. Indeed, various post-revolutionary Islamic authorities have, with
differing degrees of emphasis, tried to act as a "switchman" to direct the
"vehicle," in Weber's terminology, of social institutions, particularly
universities, towards Islamic particularism and cultural nationalism. But, as
this research shows, and the current President Mahmud Ahmadinejad admits, this
objective is not easily achievable. Nevertheless, according to the findings of
this research, post-revolutionary university staff and students, at least with
reference to those of the University of Tabriz, welcomed both communication and
information technologies and presented concerns regarding the restriction of
access to these technologies. Through these technologies, they appreciated the
value of science and universalism in the sense of feeling interconnected with
different cultures and societies. In brief, post-revolutionary Iran has
certainly modernized its society, but it has done so in a way that challenges
the way that modernity is perceived in the West.
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One
hundred and nine university professors have protested Ahmadinejhad's
policies on universities in an open letter to him, citing three major
concerns: a) disregard for the principle of the 'independence of
universities' and the endangering of the position of institutes of higher
education by authorizing the interference of non-higher educational
institutions in higher educational affairs; b) transformation of university
culture and functions by imposing non-democratic and non-scientific
procedures and policies on universities; c) reduction of professors' and
students' participation in university life by forcing 'prominent professors'
to retire and appointing non-elected chancellors. PDEN (Political Department
of Etemad Newspaper). "Negarani dar bareye ayandeye daneshgah"
["Concerns about the Future of Universities"], Rouznameye Etemad: Onvan
[Etemad Newspaper: Headline], October 15, 2008,
http://www.etemaad.com/Released/87-07-24/default.htm.
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In
the early days of his presidency, Mahmud Ahmadinejad addressed a gathering
of socalled "young scientists" thus: "Today students should protest and
shout at the President, asking why some liberal and secular professors are
still present in the universities ... Colonialism is seeking the spread of its
own secular system." While he admitted that it was not easy to change this
system, he said: "Such a change has begun." "Ahmadinejad: daneshjou bayad
az hozour-e ostad-e secular dar daneshgah faryad bezanad" ["Ahmadinejad:
A Student Must Shout [at the President] due to the Presence of a Secular
Professor in a University"], Rouznameye Shargh: Sotun-e vizheh [Shargh
Newspaper: Special Column], October 15, 2006, http://www.sharghnewspaper.ir/850615/html/news.htm.
-
L.B.
Brown, Ideology (London: Penguin Education, 1973), p. 11.
-
S.A.
Arjomand, "Traditionalism in Twentieth-Century Iran," in S.A. Arjomand, Ed.,
From Nationalism to Revolutionary Islam (Albany: SUNY Press, 1984),
pp. 195-232.
-
S.
Bruce, Fundamentalism (Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2000),
p. 54.
-
H.
Godazgar, The Impact of Religious Factors on Educational Change in Iran:
Islam in Policy and Islam in Practice (Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter:
The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008), pp. 67-75.
... Payvand News - 02/12/09 ... --
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