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Re-considering Environmental Activism in Iran: Materiality and Social Histories of Nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2025

Satoshi Abe Open the ORCID record for Satoshi Abe [Opens in a new window]
Satoshi Abe*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Faculty of Regional Sciences, Tottori University, Tottori, Japan
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Environmental problems have become increasingly evident in post-revolutionary Iran. As a result, the field of environment has come to be a focus of research studies and technical management in the country. The recent proliferation of scientific analyses of the so-called environment indicates that the schemes of modern science are developing to combat the problems therein. Research findings also suggest, however, that environmental discourses and practices are not entirely reducible only to the terms of the natural sciences; distinctively, differing ideas of “nature” are drawn on to conceptualize differing schemes of environmental activities. This article explores how the materiality of national symbols brings to light particular social histories that reflect on and unfold through environmental discourses and practices encountered in Tehran.

Keywords

animalsenvironmental activismmaterialitynational flagnationhoodsocial histories of nature
Type
Article
Information
Iranian Studies , First View , pp. 1 - 12
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Association for Iranian Studies

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