World Literature in Iranian Persian Literature Textbooks
Keywords:
world literature, content analysis, Iranian Curriculum, AdabÄ«yyÄt-i FÄrsÄ« (Persian Literature) textbooksAbstract
This article analyzes the inclusion/exclusion of works of world literature in the Iranian national curriculum. To investigate the status of world literature, five AdabÄ«yyÄt-i FÄrsÄ«, i.e. Persian Literature, textbooks are selected from Iranian high school curriculum. Content analysis is administered to explore the status of world literature in these textbooks. The results convey that the share of world literature is slim and its inclusion follows a systematic procedure in line with State ideological and doctrinal principles. This systematic procedure is further explained with recourse to its various causes and consequences. The books’ homogenizing, ethnocentric, androcentric and heterosexist attitudes; their national, religious, and linguistic chauvinism; their cultural traditionalism and conservatism; as well as the role of educational system as an Ideological State Apparatus are among factors that cause this curriculum blindness. But the neglect of world literature as an essential element in the curriculum of contemporary education or a selective approach toward it has its aftermath. Accordingly, different studies have treated Iranian textbooks as hanging threats against international peace.
However, due to their powerful rivals which work against them and can resist and subvert their ideological intentions, Iranian textbooks are not thoroughly successful in interpellating all subjects in accordance with their intentions, although it might initially seem that they are promoting a monologic and totalitarian order which aims at the exclusion of others and expansionism. In the end, it is suggested that school curricula should dedicate a fairer part to the just representation of others through world literature.
Â
Â
References
AhmadÄ«, Ahmad et al., eds. AdabÄ«yyÄt-i FÄrsÄ« 3, Tehran, The General Bureau for Textbooks Printing and Distribution, 2010.
Belcher, Stephen, “Panchatantraâ€, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales, Volumes 1–3. Ed. Donald Haase. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. 723-5.
Bhabha, H. K. The Location of Culture, London and New York, Routledge, 2007.
Choo, S. S. “On Literature’s Use(ful/less)ness: Reconceptualising the Literature Curriculum in the Age of Globalizationâ€, Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 43, pp. 47-67, 2011.
Crocco, M. S. “Teaching Shabanu: the Challenges of Using World Literature in the US Social Studies Classroomâ€, Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 37, pp. 561-582, 2005.
Damrosch, David. What Is World Literature? Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003.
Damrosch, David. “World Literature, National Contexts†Modern Philology, vol. 100, pp. 512-531, 2003.
DÄvÅ«dÄ«, Husayn et al., eds. AdabÄ«yyÄt-i FÄrsÄ« 2. Tehran: The General Bureau for Textbooks Printing and Distribution, 2010.
Groiss, Arnon and Nethanel (Navid) Toobian. “The Attitude to ‘The Other’ and to Peace in Iranian School Books and Teacher’s Guides.†CMIP, 2006. <http://www.impact-se.org/docs/reports/Iran/Iran2006.pdf>
“Iranian Textbooks: Content and Context.†Mclean, Virginia: SAIC, 2007. <http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/irantext.pdf>
Kadir, D. “To World, to Globalize: Comparative Literature’s Crossroadsâ€, Comparative Literature Studies, vol. 41, pp. 1-9, 2004.
Kadir, D. “Comparative Literature in a World Become Tlönâ€, Comparative Critical Studies, vol. 3, pp. 125-138, 2006.
Leitch, V. B. “Globalization of Literaturesâ€, in V. B. Leitch, Living with Theory, Malden, Blackwell, pp. 124-138, 2008.
Moretti, F. “Conjectures on World Literatureâ€, New Left Review, vol. 1, pp. 54-68, 2000.
“NigÄhÄ« bi KitÄbhÄyi DarsÄ« AdabÄ«yyÄtâ€, KitÄbi MÄhi AdabÄ«yyÄt, vol. 80, pp. 95-101, 2013. http://ketabmah.ir/MagazinePdf/13-75.PDF
PÄrsÄ Nasab, Muhammad et al., eds. ZabÄn va AdabÄ«yyÄt-i FÄrsÄ« (General) 1&2. Tehran: The General Bureau for Textbooks Printing and Distribution, 2010.
Pizer, John, “Teaching World Literatureâ€, The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies, eds. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and Tutun Mukherjee, New Delhi: Cambridge UP India, pp.75-87, 2013.
Puchner, Martin, “Teaching Worldly Literatureâ€, The Routledge Companion to World Literature, eds. Theo D’haen, David Damrosch and Djelal Kadir, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 255-63, 2011.
SarÄbÄ«, IrshÄd et al., eds. AdabÄ«yyÄt-i FÄrsÄ« 3 (Stream of Literature, Humanities and Islamic Theology), Tehran, The General Bureau for Textbooks Printing and Distribution, 2009.
Slaughter, S. “Class, Race and Gender and the Construction of Postsecondary Curricula in the United States: Social Movement, Professionalization and Political Economic Theories of Curricular Changeâ€, Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 29, pp. 1-30, 1997.
Spivak, Gayatir Chakravorty, Death of a Discipline, New York, Colombia University Press, 2003.
Sturm-Trigonakis, Elke, “Comparative Cultural Studies and the New Weltliteraturâ€, The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies, Eds. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and Tutun Mukherjee. Cambridge University Press [forthcoming].
TÄkÄ«, Mas‘ūd et al., eds. AdabÄ«yyÄt-i FÄrsÄ« 1, Tehran, The General Bureau for Textbooks Printing and Distribution, 2010.
Zekavat, Massih, “World Literatures in Secondary School Curricula in Iranâ€, CLCWEB: Comparative Literature and Culture vol. 16, no. 6, 2013. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol15/iss6/10
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
- Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
- It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
- The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
- The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
