Gholam Khiabany | Goldsmiths, University of London (original) (raw)
Papers by Gholam Khiabany
Routledge eBooks, Jul 1, 2016
European journal of cultural studies, Mar 10, 2024
European Journal of Communication, 2015
Press freedom and free speech have again become central questions in discussions of democracy and... more Press freedom and free speech have again become central questions in discussions of democracy and power. A whole range of events have called into question the role of the press in the democratic process in today’s combined context of economic crisis and the free reign of market forces. From the publication of the racist cartoons in Denmark, to the Wikileaks witch hunt, to the Leveson inquiry in Britain, the rhetoric of press freedom is revealed as a universalizing concept that masks political and class interest – free expression is not treated universally, but is tied to questions of social, political and economic power. This article argues, however, that it is not the case that liberal democracy has latterly been corrupted or impaired. Instead, the significant limits of liberalism, highlighted by the above instances, stem from the historical conditions which gave rise to it; mass revolution and reaction in the 19th century resulted in constitutional democracies which established th...
Media and Mapping Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, 2021
Digital Middle East, 2018
All developments in relation to the Internet and cyberspace in Iran have occurred in a highly pol... more All developments in relation to the Internet and cyberspace in Iran have occurred in a highly politicized post-revolutionary environment. Yet the central issue is not the obvious and crude divide between a ‘traditional’ and ‘religious’ state and ‘modern’ technology, since that very state has adopted new information technologies. There are two more subtle lines of tension running through Internet development and digital activism in Iran. The first is the centralizing state’s desire to control expression in a ‘new technology’ environment that is highly conducive to widespread and popular participation. The second is the centralizing state’s desire to orchestrate and manage the slow development of the private sector and the inhibitions placed on entrepreneurial ICT activity in a field that has made net millionaires in other parts of the world. This chapter examines the relationship between the internet and politics in Iran. It engages with the possible lessons of digital activism, exa...
Media and Mapping Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, 2021
Three powerful spatial dynamics are at work in the analysis of a country’s political orbit. One i... more Three powerful spatial dynamics are at work in the analysis of a country’s political orbit. One is the classic remit of the international relations between states. The second is the mainstream remit of political analysis, the national dialogue – sometimes open, often constrained – between the state and its inhabitants. In addition, the third is the cross-border space between the state and its citizens who – as diaspora, exiles, and migrants – live in other countries. Too often, each is analysed in isolation, part of the intellectually unedifying division of academic work. In this chapter, we explore where contemporary Iranian politics exists and how it is played out through each of these political geographies.
By exploring topics such as the Internet, print press, advertising, satellite television, video, ... more By exploring topics such as the Internet, print press, advertising, satellite television, video, rock music, literature, cinema, gender, religious intellectuals, and secularism, this unique and wide-ranging volume explains Iran as a complex society that has successfully managed to negotiate and embody the tensions of tradition and modernity, democracy and theocracy, isolation and globalization, and other such cultural-political dynamics that escape the explanatory and analytical powers of all-too-familiar binary relations. Featuring contributions from among the best-known and emerging scholars on Iranian media, culture, society, and politics, this volume uncovers how the existing perspectives on post-revolutionary Iranian society have failed to appreciate the complexity, the paradoxes and the contradictions that characterize life in contemporary Iran, resulting in a general failure to explain and to anticipate its contemporary social and political transformations.
In recent years, the Middle East’s information and communication landscape has changed dramatical... more In recent years, the Middle East’s information and communication landscape has changed dramatically. Increasingly, states, businesses, and citizens are capitalising on the opportunities offered by new technologies, the fast pace of digitisation, and enhanced connectivity. These changes are far from turning Middle Eastern nations into network societies, but their impact is significant. The growing adoption of a wide variety of technologies in everyday life has given rise to complex dynamics that beg for a better understanding. Digital Middle East sheds a critical light on the continuing changes closely intertwined with the adoption of information and communication technologies in the region. Drawing on case studies from throughout the Middle East, the contributors explore how these digital transformations are playing out in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, exposing the various disjunctions and discordances that have marked the advent of the digital Middle East.
Television and Public Policy, 2009
... Jame-Jam broadcasts programming in Farsi (and some in English) in three channels. In addition... more ... Jame-Jam broadcasts programming in Farsi (and some in English) in three channels. In addition to these three channels, there are also two Sahar (Dawn) channels, broadcasting programs in English, French, Arabic, Kurdish, Urdu, Azari, and Bosnian. ...
When we are told so regularly that we live in a ‘post truth’age and are surrounded by ‘fake news’... more When we are told so regularly that we live in a ‘post truth’age and are surrounded by ‘fake news’, it can be tempting to think of politics as primarily mediated. Discussion and analysis of public affairs is preoccupied with the power and reach of platforms or the passion and rage of social media exchanges. As important as these issues may be, a focus on the communicative risks downgrading the political. Media, Democracy and Social Change puts politics back into political communications. It shows how even within a digital media ecology, the wider context of neoliberal capitalism remains essential for understanding what political communications is, and can hope to be. Tackling broad themes of structural inequality, technological change, political realignment and social transformation, the book explores political communications as it relates to debates around the state, infrastructures, elites, populism, political parties, activism and social movements, the legacies of colonialism, and...
Ever since 9/11, Muslims and Islam have dominated the headlines in the UK. In this important book... more Ever since 9/11, Muslims and Islam have dominated the headlines in the UK. In this important book, several leading media commentators examine the phenomenon of ‘Islamophobia’ and ask how we can tackle it. Charting recent media controversies, from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments on Sharia law to the veil ‘debate’, the book argues that media hostility to Islam alienates Muslims and undermines efforts to combat extremism. With interviews from Muslim journalists and examples of press-fuelled myths about Islam in Britain, this is a captivating insight into how Muslims are depicted in the West.
Routledge eBooks, Jul 1, 2016
European journal of cultural studies, Mar 10, 2024
European Journal of Communication, 2015
Press freedom and free speech have again become central questions in discussions of democracy and... more Press freedom and free speech have again become central questions in discussions of democracy and power. A whole range of events have called into question the role of the press in the democratic process in today’s combined context of economic crisis and the free reign of market forces. From the publication of the racist cartoons in Denmark, to the Wikileaks witch hunt, to the Leveson inquiry in Britain, the rhetoric of press freedom is revealed as a universalizing concept that masks political and class interest – free expression is not treated universally, but is tied to questions of social, political and economic power. This article argues, however, that it is not the case that liberal democracy has latterly been corrupted or impaired. Instead, the significant limits of liberalism, highlighted by the above instances, stem from the historical conditions which gave rise to it; mass revolution and reaction in the 19th century resulted in constitutional democracies which established th...
Media and Mapping Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, 2021
Digital Middle East, 2018
All developments in relation to the Internet and cyberspace in Iran have occurred in a highly pol... more All developments in relation to the Internet and cyberspace in Iran have occurred in a highly politicized post-revolutionary environment. Yet the central issue is not the obvious and crude divide between a ‘traditional’ and ‘religious’ state and ‘modern’ technology, since that very state has adopted new information technologies. There are two more subtle lines of tension running through Internet development and digital activism in Iran. The first is the centralizing state’s desire to control expression in a ‘new technology’ environment that is highly conducive to widespread and popular participation. The second is the centralizing state’s desire to orchestrate and manage the slow development of the private sector and the inhibitions placed on entrepreneurial ICT activity in a field that has made net millionaires in other parts of the world. This chapter examines the relationship between the internet and politics in Iran. It engages with the possible lessons of digital activism, exa...
Media and Mapping Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, 2021
Three powerful spatial dynamics are at work in the analysis of a country’s political orbit. One i... more Three powerful spatial dynamics are at work in the analysis of a country’s political orbit. One is the classic remit of the international relations between states. The second is the mainstream remit of political analysis, the national dialogue – sometimes open, often constrained – between the state and its inhabitants. In addition, the third is the cross-border space between the state and its citizens who – as diaspora, exiles, and migrants – live in other countries. Too often, each is analysed in isolation, part of the intellectually unedifying division of academic work. In this chapter, we explore where contemporary Iranian politics exists and how it is played out through each of these political geographies.
By exploring topics such as the Internet, print press, advertising, satellite television, video, ... more By exploring topics such as the Internet, print press, advertising, satellite television, video, rock music, literature, cinema, gender, religious intellectuals, and secularism, this unique and wide-ranging volume explains Iran as a complex society that has successfully managed to negotiate and embody the tensions of tradition and modernity, democracy and theocracy, isolation and globalization, and other such cultural-political dynamics that escape the explanatory and analytical powers of all-too-familiar binary relations. Featuring contributions from among the best-known and emerging scholars on Iranian media, culture, society, and politics, this volume uncovers how the existing perspectives on post-revolutionary Iranian society have failed to appreciate the complexity, the paradoxes and the contradictions that characterize life in contemporary Iran, resulting in a general failure to explain and to anticipate its contemporary social and political transformations.
In recent years, the Middle East’s information and communication landscape has changed dramatical... more In recent years, the Middle East’s information and communication landscape has changed dramatically. Increasingly, states, businesses, and citizens are capitalising on the opportunities offered by new technologies, the fast pace of digitisation, and enhanced connectivity. These changes are far from turning Middle Eastern nations into network societies, but their impact is significant. The growing adoption of a wide variety of technologies in everyday life has given rise to complex dynamics that beg for a better understanding. Digital Middle East sheds a critical light on the continuing changes closely intertwined with the adoption of information and communication technologies in the region. Drawing on case studies from throughout the Middle East, the contributors explore how these digital transformations are playing out in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, exposing the various disjunctions and discordances that have marked the advent of the digital Middle East.
Television and Public Policy, 2009
... Jame-Jam broadcasts programming in Farsi (and some in English) in three channels. In addition... more ... Jame-Jam broadcasts programming in Farsi (and some in English) in three channels. In addition to these three channels, there are also two Sahar (Dawn) channels, broadcasting programs in English, French, Arabic, Kurdish, Urdu, Azari, and Bosnian. ...
When we are told so regularly that we live in a ‘post truth’age and are surrounded by ‘fake news’... more When we are told so regularly that we live in a ‘post truth’age and are surrounded by ‘fake news’, it can be tempting to think of politics as primarily mediated. Discussion and analysis of public affairs is preoccupied with the power and reach of platforms or the passion and rage of social media exchanges. As important as these issues may be, a focus on the communicative risks downgrading the political. Media, Democracy and Social Change puts politics back into political communications. It shows how even within a digital media ecology, the wider context of neoliberal capitalism remains essential for understanding what political communications is, and can hope to be. Tackling broad themes of structural inequality, technological change, political realignment and social transformation, the book explores political communications as it relates to debates around the state, infrastructures, elites, populism, political parties, activism and social movements, the legacies of colonialism, and...
Ever since 9/11, Muslims and Islam have dominated the headlines in the UK. In this important book... more Ever since 9/11, Muslims and Islam have dominated the headlines in the UK. In this important book, several leading media commentators examine the phenomenon of ‘Islamophobia’ and ask how we can tackle it. Charting recent media controversies, from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments on Sharia law to the veil ‘debate’, the book argues that media hostility to Islam alienates Muslims and undermines efforts to combat extremism. With interviews from Muslim journalists and examples of press-fuelled myths about Islam in Britain, this is a captivating insight into how Muslims are depicted in the West.
As the world looked on in horror at the Paris terror attacks of January and November 2015, France... more As the world looked on in horror at the Paris terror attacks of January and November 2015, France found itself at the centre of a war that has split across nations and continents. The attacks set in motion a steady creep towards ever more repressive state surveillance, and have fuelled the resurgence of the far right across Europe and beyond, while leaving the left dangerously divided. These developments raise profound questions about a number of issues central to contemporary debates, including the nature of national identity, the limits to freedom of speech, and the role of both traditional and social media.
After Charlie Hebdo brings together an international range of scholars to assess the social and political impact of the Paris attacks in Europe and beyond. Cutting through the hysteria that has characterised so much of the initial commentary, it seeks to place these events in their wider global context, untangling the complex symbolic web woven around 'Charlie Hebdo' to pose the fundamental question - how best to combat racism in our supposedly ‘post-racial’ age?