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VERSION:2.0
PRODID:"-//Durham University/Events"
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:DUEVENT1907
SEQUENCE:0
DTSTAMP:20130618T235326Z
DTSTART:20070228T170000Z
DTEND:20070228T190000Z
STATUS:CONFIRMED
TRANSP:OPAQUE
LOCATION:The Al-Qasimi Building, Elvet Hill Road, Room 201
SUMMARY:'Political communication and religious popular culture:Moqtada sad
 r phenomena in Iraq'
DESCRIPTION:Dr Hesameddin Ashna is a member of the Faculty of Islamic stud
 ies, culture and communication, Imam Sadiq University, TehranBIOGRAPHY  Dr
  Hesameddin Ashna is a member of the Faculty of Islamic studies, culture a
 nd communication, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran. He received his MA in Isl
 amic Studies and Communication (1992) and his PhD in Culture and Communica
 tion (2004), both from Imam Sadiq University. The title of his thesis is U
 S Public Diplomacy in Iran 1954-1979. Dr Asha currently teaches: internati
 onal communication, cyber communication, research methods in communication
  studies, political communication and international and intercultural comm
 unication. His publications include Aggression and Culture, the Collection
  of Documents on Unveiling (1992) and From Politics to Culture: State Cult
 ural Policies in Iran 1921-1941 (2004), and numerous articles in the follo
 wing journals, where he is also a member of the editorial board: Rasaneh, 
 Sanjesh va pazhuhesh, Nameh-ye pazhuhesh-e farhangi, and Shi&rsquo;a shena
 si. Dr Ashna is a member of the International Association of Media and Com
 munication Research,(IAMCR) The Iranian society for Information Society, t
 he Iranian Society for Cultural and Communication Studies and National cen
 ter for globalization studies.   TALK ABSTRACT  Popular culture is derived
  out of people&rsquo;s culture; however, its strength and penetration rate
  is enforced not only by public culture, but via a modern technological to
 ols and communicational channels. Although utilizing the religious beliefs
  and precepts in political campaigns has a long history, the amalgamation 
 of traditional and modern channels of communication for wining religious a
 nd political battles is seemingly a new phenomenon which can be traced bac
 k to Iran&rsquo;s Islamic Revolution of 1979.  Now, in Iraq, Moqtada Sadr 
 has emerged as a charismatic religious leader for the majority of poor you
 th within Iraqi Shiites. He has based his authority from two different but
  related components. First is his family kinship and ancestral heritage an
 d second, his vigorous adversary and combating with the occupier forces. E
 ven lack of scholastic knowledge and political legitimacy could not preven
 t Moqtada Sadr of reaching out to the wider population and establishing hi
 mself as a religious and political leader. Most of his success to reach th
 is point is owed to the popular Shiite culture.   Therefore, in order to u
 nderstand better such political uprising, it is compelling to focus on pop
 ular Shiite culture within a sociological approach. In this talk we will c
 oncentrate on this issue alongside a video clip featuring Moqtada Sadr.   
   
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