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Soundscape, Sonic Experience, and Sonic memory in Iran: Jewish and Muslim Cultural Identity in Udlajan, Tehran

  • Author / Creator
    Pakravan, Mahsa
  • This dissertation explores the impact of everyday soundscape on cultural identity formation by considering the experiences of one neighborhood of Tehran, Iran before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Being home to a majority of Jews before the Revolution, Udlajan is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tehran. Through interviews with a select group of its current and past Jewish and Muslim residents, this research considers changes to the everyday soundscape of the neighborhood in order to examine the role of sounds and silences in the social construction of space. This dissertation proposes that sonic experiences are closely related to the ways people make sense of their cultural identity. By narrating sound memories along with other ones, people express their understanding of space, communications with other residents, sense of identity, self and otherness, norms of inclusion and exclusion. Their narratives as well as the sound observations made in the neighborhood help to create a sonic map and the sonic changes Udlajan has gone through in the past several decades. This thesis argues that through the sonic memories, the residents are able to share their thoughts and feelings about their Jewish and Muslim neighbors and manage to express their sense of identity as members of a religious community or citizens of Udlajan.
    Udlajan Sonic Visual Map supplementary files are located here: https://doi.org/10.7939/R3PR7MX1B

  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Graduation date
    Fall 2016
  • Type of Item
    Thesis
  • Degree
    Doctor of Philosophy
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/R3K35MR1V
  • License
    This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.