Cultural Anthropology

"WASHINGTON POLITICIANS AND THE PRESS have cultivated, among Americans, the impression that Iran is a “theocracy” with no democratic institutions. Ignorance grows as the conflict in Iraq escalates, and the Bush administration continuously looks to blame Iran for U.S. failures. Larry Diamond, a scholar at the Hoover Institution who advised the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq (CPA), told the Inter Press Service that the Mahdi Army of young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and other Shia militias (which, at the moment are giving Coalition forces a very hard time in Iraq) are being armed and financed by Iran with the aim of imposing “another Iranian-style theocracy.”1 Diamond’s comments were reiterated by another Coalition Provisional Authority Advisor, Michael Rubin.2 The story was echoed by influential New York Times conservative columnists William Safire and David Brooks, further compounding the misinformation.3 The claim is simply untrue. No official body in Iran is supporting al-Sadr and the idea that al-Sadr could ever dream of imposing an “Iranian-style theocracy” is absurd. Nevertheless, the impression that Iran has nothing even resembling democratic institutions makes the neoconservative claims more believable to many Americans, who know nothing of Iran and who are fearful of Islamic attacks on Western culture.

The very appellation “theocracy” is in itself misleading and shows a poor understanding of the governmental structure that was set up following the Iranian revolution of 1978-1979. Moreover, contrary to neoconservative implications, the original government of the Islamic Republic of Iran was not “imposed” by anyone. It was established through an electoral process following the Iranian Revolution. Iranians may regret having ratified the constitution they did, but they follow its provisions assiduously. Every election in Iran in the last twenty years has been free, and has followed the prescribed electoral process to the letter. The problems that have arisen in the country are related to the fact that half of the institutions in the Iranian government are unelected, and these institutions have veto power over the elected institutions. Furthermore, the army and the judiciary are both controlled by these unelected bodies. However, this would not be a problem, except for the fact that those occupying positions in these unelected bodies are by and large the most conservative religionists in Iran. Therefore, problems with government in Iran stem not from the system of government, but rather from the political bent of those that occupy positions of power in the government.

An accurate picture of Iranian electoral institutions helps in assessing both their strengths and weaknesses, and puts aside the notion that Iran is some kind of theocratic dictatorship. Consequently, I present here a sketch of the Iranian electoral procedure, the main governmental institutional bodies in Iran, and some of the underlying dynamics of political life in Iran today.
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""In recent years, street art has become embedded in popular culture and received growing attention from the art market and art institutions. Work by street artists has entered galleries, auction houses and museums, and some artists have been given the opportunity to create large-scale sanctioned public art projects. Simultaneously, widespread photographic documentation of street artworks and the circulation of images online have provided artists with a potentially global audience.

Based on studies of everyday interaction among artists, gallerists, collectors, bloggers and street art enthusiasts, The Street Art World investigates the often contradictory attitudes within the street art community towards art history and the institutions of art. The book also deliberates on street art’s connection to the art market and public art. It considers street art’s potential to affect the viewer’s perception of public space, and the possible challenges the increasing digital mediation of street art may pose to bringing this potential to fruition.

Peter Bengtsen is an art historian and sociologist. He has been writing about street art since 2006.
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Sport annually mobilizes millions of people across Europe: as practitioners in a wide variety of competitive, educational, or recreational contexts, and as spectators, who are physically present or following events through the mass media. This book presents original research into modern sport funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Its aim is to examine the distinctive contribution made by this complex phenomenon to the construction of European identities. Attention is focused on sport's social significance, as a set of mass-mediated practices and spectacles giving rise to a network of images, symbols, and discourses. The book seeks to explore, and ultimately to explain, the processes of representation and mediation involved in the sporting construction, and subsequent renegotiation, of local, national, and, increasingly, global identities. It offers a survey of key developments in sporting Europe - from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, and from the Atlantic to the Urals - presenting findings by acknowledged international experts and emerging scholars at the level of individuals, communities, regions, nation-states, and Europe as a whole, in both its geographical and political incarnations. Its focus on representation offers a broadly conceived, and consciously inclusive, approach to issues of 'Europeanness' in modern and contemporary sport.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we learn of the call of Levi/Matthew (Mtw. 9:9-13, NRSV), a sinful man who is touched by Jesus, and who would one day achieve sainthood, inspiring a myriad of others to follow in his footsteps.  When questioned by his disciples as to the reason for convening with a man considered ritually and spiritually unclean, Jesus responded regarding the universal call to sanctification, stating: “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (Mth. 9:13).  Servant of God Dorothy Day was a woman who many considered to be unclean, due to her sinful nature, in her pre-conversion to Catholicism (e.g. she was a Socialist who wrote for Communist newspapers, and had an abortion).  However, Day ultimately experienced a deep conversion, which was inspired by such saintly figures as Peter Maurin, Teresa of Avila, and Thérèse of Lisieux.  She certainly bore evidence of all three of Bernard Lonergan’s Methods of Conversion (i.e. Intellectual, Moral, and Spiritual), and her witness encompasses greater evidence of a saintly chain of causality (assuming she is canonized) wherein the life of one saint affects the conversion of another.  Although there are numerous examples of one saint leading another to sanctity (e.g. St. Francis Assisi on Clare, and St. Teresa of Avila on John of the Cross), I choose to focus upon Day as an example from modernity.  This paper will first offer a brief reflection upon Matthew 9:9-13, before examining Lonergan’s Methods of Conversion.  Events from the life of Day will be illustrated, to offer proof that she experienced conversion under each method.  In my conclusion, I will show how we can view the power of sainthood in the life of Day, and how we can absorb this power of greater sanctification into our own lives.