Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture, and the Iranian Revolution - Hardcover

Sreberny-Mohammadi, Annabelle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0816622167 ISBN 13: 9780816622160

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, 1994

Synopsis

To most Westerners, the Iranian revolution was a shocking spectacle, a distant mass upheaval suddenly breaking into the daily news. It was, in fact, a revolution of the television era, as this book clearly demonstrates. The first account of the role of culture and communication in the Iranian revolution, this is also the first book to consider revolution as communication in the modern world. Co-authored by participants in the revolutionary upheaval, this study reflects an unusual breadth and depth of perspective. Drawing on 10 years of research, the authors show how the processes and products of modernization actually helped to undermine the very foundation of modernity in Iran. Their work reveals how deeply embedded cultural modes of communication, coupled with crucial media technologies, were able to mobilize a population within a repressive political context. Tracing the use of small media (audio and video cassettes) to disseminate the revolution, the authors challenge much of the theory that has dominated international communication studies - and in doing so, question the credibility of the established media. This book also examines the dilemmas of cultural policy-making based on Islamic principles in a media-saturated domestic and international environment.

About this title

About the Author

Annabelle Sreberny is a professor of international media at the school of Oriental and African studies at the University of London. Chris Patterson is a former TV journalist who now teaches in the media department at the University of San Francisco.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816622167
• ISBN 13: 9780816622160
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256