It just really upsets me when entire groups of people are labeled as “barbaric” or “semi-barbaric” and “wow they built their first highway in 1900!”
Reading old copies of National Geographic (particularly the April 1921 issue centered on Iran) makes me strongly dislike National Geographic, because, like every other long-standing Western institution, it was pretty racist and Orientalist and dumb.
During the Qajar era, people would not only bequeath property in their wills, but they would include sections for their heirs to pray for different individuals from amongst their ancestors, friends, etc. They would mandate people to “recite two lines for so-and-so. recite two lines for his father, recite another two lines for…” etc.
What a beautiful concept.
what about mehr !!
I knew someone was going to mention mehr. Yes, mehr was another word for love.
Persian Lesson of the Day: Love.
عشق eshgh, popularly used for describing “love” in Persian, actually refers to an obsessive, all-consuming love.
The original root ع ش ق in Arabic refers to vines (عشقة) that climb up a tree and kill it by covering the trunk from all sides.
There other words for love in Persian, including دوستى doosti, which doubles up as “friendship” as well.
Crowds gather to listen to Khomeini’s speeches on audiocassette, Tehran, 1978. Photo courtesy of Abbas/Magnum.
From Ajam’s latest post:Crafts as Citizen Diplomacy: Slavs and Tatars on Revolutionary Media in Iran and Poland
I wonder how the Qajars would have felt if they were to hear Sasy Mankan. Would they curse it? Would they get up and dance?
People react to the question “how many followers do you have on tumblr” the way they treat the inquiries to their salaries in real life.
AKA they evade the question spectacularly
- recently
- i read things wrong
- like really badly
- someone wrote on somebody's photo
- "i wish i was there"
- I read
- "I wish i was a tree"
- and proceded to think the person was weird
SANCTIONS ON IRAN:
Let’s make a list of all the things sanctions are affecting—let me know what I’m missing:
1) Medicine shortages http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/14/sanctions-stop-medicines-reaching-sick-iranians …
2) Increased smog and pollution in Iran (and thus, a spike in deaths) http://ajammc.com/2013/01/24/seeing-through-the-haze-the-politics-of-reporting-sanctions-and-smog-in-tehran/ …
3) Cancellation of a number of flights from Europe to Iran http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/01/14/iran-airline-flights-sanctions-europe/1833757/ …
4) Iranian students’ bank accounts abroad closed downhttp://www. tcdailyplanet.net/news/2013/01/24/professors-protest-closings-iranian-students-tcf-accounts-week …
5) Denial of admissions to Iranian students at European institutions http://iranianalliances.org/latestnews/368-czech …
6) Iranians denied the ability to buy an iPad after speaking Persian in an Apple Store in the US http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/22/12344611-iran-trade-sanctions-get-personal-in-apple-stores?lite …
7) MASSIVE INFLATION IN IRAN http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/23/sanctions-are-causing-inflation-in-iran-and-harmimg-its-economy.html …
8) Starving artists, literally. The price of paper has multiplied 5x since sanctions first started. http://www.fairobserver.com/article/impact-sanctions-iranian-society-and-artists?page=2 …
