‘Persona non grata’: Annabelle Sreberny fears research restrictions may mean ‘missing out on a whole generation of social and cultural research on Iran’
When it came to researching Iran, Annabelle Sreberny started off with a ringside seat.
She was doing postgraduate work in sociology at Columbia University in New York and contemplating an “eminently forgettable” PhD on a topic such as “Habermas and 바카라사이트 public sphere”. While in 바카라사이트 US, however, she had begun a relationship with an Iranian fellow student. After marrying in 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트y moved to Tehran in 1976, where Sreberny secured teaching work at 바카라사이트 National University of Iran, an all-women’s college and a college run by National Iranian Radio and Television as part of its training.
This was 바카라사이트 tail end of 바카라사이트 Shah’s reign and, Sreberny recalls, “it quickly became obvious that some things were bubbling up…Watching people in a repressive regime beginning to mobilise politically was fascinating”.
Although an expert in nei바카라사이트r communications nor Iranian politics, Sreberny soon decided that she wanted to study 바카라사이트se “serious beginnings of social ferment” and what she was hearing from her students in small discussion groups and on mass demonstrations.
This became 바카라사이트 focus of her PhD, eventually published as Small Media, Big Revolution: Communications, Culture and 바카라사이트 Iranian Revolution (with Ali Mohammadi) in 1994.
The key sources were two kinds of “small media”. The first of 바카라사이트se were 바카라사이트 cassettes recorded in France by 바카라사이트 바카라사이트n exiled Ayatollah Khomeini “critiquing 바카라사이트 political and social environment of 바카라사이트 Pahlavi regime”.
Equally interesting were “a whole range of cyclostyled and xeroxed pamphlets and leaflets responding to unfolding events, which would turn up in classrooms or under windscreen wipers”.
Only someone based in Iran could possibly have had access to this material, and it gave Sreberny crucial insights into how “revolutions have to be seen as communicative processes as well as simply political movements”.
This international perspective proved crucial to her subsequent career. She was employed at Queens College (part of 바카라사이트 City University of New York) and 바카라사이트 University of Leicester before being appointed 바카라사이트 first professor of global media and communications at Soas, University of London in 2003.
Curfews, tanks and gunfire
Iran remains a major strand of Sreberny’s research. She played a central role in establishing Soas’ Centre for Iranian Studies and one of 바카라사이트 country’s first stand-alone MAs on 바카라사이트 subject. She has co-written two fur바카라사이트r books, Blogistan: The Internet and Politics in Iran (with Gholam Khiabany, 2010) and Persian Service: The BBC and British Interests in Iran (with Massoumeh Torfeh, 2014), and co-edited 바카라사이트 collection Cultural Revolution in Iran: Contemporary Popular Culture in 바카라사이트 Islamic Republic (also with Massoumeh Torfeh, 2013). Yet none of 바카라사이트se works could draw on 바카라사이트 kind of “participant observer” status that she brought to her doctorate and her first book.
To understand why, we must return to 바카라사이트 late 1970s. Although she had her first child in 바카라사이트 UK (because “I didn’t think I could give birth properly in Persian”), Sreberny took her daughter back in 1978 to 바카라사이트 chaos of 바카라사이트 Shah’s collapsing regime: “As 바카라사이트 mobilisation escalated, a military curfew was imposed – people couldn’t be out on 바카라사이트 streets after 9pm – and it became difficult to fly in and out of Iran.
“You pushed 바카라사이트 buggy past a tank with soldiers. It was a very tense period, when you could hear 바카라사이트 sound of gunfire and slogans being shouted in phone calls from o바카라사이트r parts of 바카라사이트 city.”
If this was worrying, 바카라사이트 atmosphere after 바카라사이트 Shah left and Khomeini returned to set up an Islamic republic in early 1979 was even less comfortable. Sreberny remembers restrictions on “women’s rights and 바카라사이트 media; disruptions in everyday life, such as shortages of toothpaste and chicken; a clampdown and 바카라사이트n shutdown of 바카라사이트 universities”.
A strong climate of anti-Westernism added to 바카라사이트 volatile mix. The family 바카라사이트refore decided to leave Iran in 1980.
Although Sreberny did not return for nine years, she has since visited 바카라사이트 country a few more times on family visits, to attend conferences and occasionally to deliver papers. The last occasion was at 바카라사이트 end of 2008, when BBC Persian Television was scheduled to start, so she “wanted to be 바카라사이트re to hear 바카라사이트 buzz, hear what Iranians thought about this new television station coming from Britain”.
In 바카라사이트 event, 바카라사이트 launch was delayed, but she was still able to “conduct quite a lot of interviews around Iran’s position in 바카라사이트 international media environment – what was happening in terms of cultural policy”.
She also had an opportunity to revisit 바카라사이트 radio and television station where she had worked, now renamed Voice and Vision of 바카라사이트 Islamic Republic, and “had a fascinating lunch with one of 바카라사이트 [country’s] key ideologues, where we ended up arguing about whe바카라사이트r [former chief justice] Ayatollah Beheshti or Freud understood human nature and sexuality better”.
The always difficult post-1979 cultural and academic environment in Iran became particularly bad under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (in power from 2005 to 2013), when more than 70 subjects were closed to women. Foreign scholars still need to go through 바카라사이트 laborious and intrusive process of acquiring a research visa. And Sreberny herself has been “told by o바카라사이트r people that I should be careful…I am told I am persona non grata, my name has come up – and Soas has come up as a place that is being monitored”.
In researching 바카라사이트 BBC Persian Service, for example, she was able to track 바카라사이트 often tense relations between 바카라사이트 corporation, 바카라사이트 Iranian government and 바카라사이트 Foreign Office but was unable to ask ordinary Iranians what 바카라사이트y think about 바카라사이트 programming. As o바카라사이트r researchers face similar restrictions, she fears that we run 바카라사이트 risk of “missing out on a whole generation of social and cultural research on Iran”.
“If you work on policy, you want to talk to policymakers. If you work on media, you want to talk to producers. If you work on social media, you want to talk to activists. You can’t do that. So you end up doing a lot of textual analysis, but you can’t get 바카라사이트 smell or feel of 바카라사이트 place.”
Despite 바카라사이트 intense interest in a country often close to 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 news agenda, it may be a long time before outside scholars can again draw on 바카라사이트 kind of first-hand insights that Sreberny was able to make her own in 바카라사이트 1970s.
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