Iran is much in the news the past few days as the nation struggles to sort out the results of its recent presidential election, as chronicled in this excellent BBC overview. Many Americans may not have any clear conception of a country that for so many years has been associated in their minds with extreme political rhetoric, nuclear energy and hostage taking.
Library Resources
The library has a new online resource that can help you get a handle on Iran, as well as any other country in which you may have an interest. ABC-CLIO's World Geography is a database that provides detailed information about different countries, from standard geographical features to contemporary issues as well as etiquette and customs. (You'll have to use your DACC user i.d. and password to log in from off campus.) In the same suite of resources, the ABC-CLIO World History resources, both Ancient and Medieval and Modern offer lots of interesting entries related to the region.
Political Liberalization
For an interesting analysis of the revolutionary potential for political liberalization in Iran, check out the article in Al-Jezeera English. Two of the driving forces in the move to liberalization are Iran's young people, as profiled in this CBS piece, and technology, which resists the Iranian government's attempts at control, especially the rapid spread of the twitterverse. (Speaking of which, did you know that the library is now on Twitter? Follow dacclibrary here. The library twitters more than just "library stuff", but interesting facts, news, and relevant info.)
Women in Iran
The crucial role women play in the current election is epitomized by Zhara Rahnavard, the wife of candidate Hossein Mousavi, who is the nation's first top-ranking female university professor and also an artist and has been actively campaigning by her husband's side. Women's role in this election marks a sharp contrast from their expressed dissatisfaction in 2004 with the direction in which the country was headed. The situation of women in Iran and other mideastern countries is frequently referenced in conversations about the mideast, but all too often it is done without the voices of those women themselves, or in oddly skewed representations. This is the argument presented by Fatemeh Keshavarz in an interview about her book Jasmine and Stars. Keshavarz contends that the similarities between Iranian (and mideastern culture in general) and the West are much greater than most people think, and that women in Iranian society are more powerful agents than they are credited with being.
Iranian History
To put current events in Iran in context, it's useful to be reminded about some significant events in the country's past. Americans probably first think about the 1979 revolution when 52 Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, a situation that effectively ended Jimmy Carter's presidency. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library contains a diary by one of the hostages, part of which can be read online. Here is a BBC piece that provides interviews with one of the hostage takers and one of the hostages. Probably another moment in post-revolutionary history that sticks with Westerners was the declaration of a fatwa against Salman Rusdie for his book, The Satanic Verses. Far fewer people think of the devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran in 2003 that killed more than 26,000 people, much less its rich past. But Iran is one of the oldest nations in the world, and this timeline does a good job of demonstrating its ancient cultural history. For more in depth history and some really interesting information on mythology and access to great images, check out ParsTimes History page. The ParsTimes site offers a collection of some of the best links to information about Iran available on the web. If you are looking for a quick definition of any term related to the country or its culture, check out Encyclopaedia Iranica, a multidisciplinary project.
Persian Food
And because I know that many of you like to experiment with different kinds of foods, it would be remiss not to include some references to some of the excellent foods that originate in Iran. Here is a selection of delicious dishes from Chowhound and here is another larger selection from Astray Recipes. And last, but hardly least, a recipe for a dessert popular throughout the mideast, halvah.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Car Talk!
With the recent federal bailout of GM and Chrysler, it seems like a good time to take a look at America's love affair with the automobile. One thing about this subject, it offers a good way to introduce one of the library's newest, coolest resources Pop Culture Universe. This new database lets users explore all the fascinating facets of popular culture--past and present. (You can use the database off campus by logging in using your DACC user i.d. and password.) PCU lets you explore such varied aspects of car culture as travel and recreation, how it affected personal relationships, how it changed the way towns developed and what car design and customization revealed about our dreams and fears.
U.S. Automakers Today
BusinessWeek offers a number of stories and analyses that do an excellent job of putting the crises at Chrysler and GM in perspective. Written over time, these stories follow the road to GM's bankruptcy as well as looking closely at causes and impacts of these corporate failings, putting them in the context of other large-scale business failings. One thing that you hear less of on the news are the stories about areas where the U.S. auto industry is not suffering. Reuters examines the case of the southern foreign auto plants, which have handled the economic downturn with much less stress on their workforce.
Automotive History
Who invented the automobile? That question is actually more complicated than it sounds because in the beginning there were so many different types of automobiles. Arguably, a case can even be made for Leonardo Da Vinci, who was drawing independent transport vehicles in his sketchbooks in the fifteenth century. (Here is a second design, this one for an armored car.) The Library of Congress offers this page of answers to this problem, noting that Karl Benz comes closest to earning single credit for the automobile as we think of it today. The Museum of Automobile History offers online visitors the opportunity to look at billboards, plaques and pictures of of its exhibits, hundreds of images covering the range of automotive history. You can also view online videos, send e-cards, or take an automobile history quiz. To look at a range of automobiles owned by an enthusiast who can truly afford to indulge in maintaining a living history of vehicles, check out Jay Leno's Garage. As the site makes explicit, Jay's collection isn't a museum. All of his vehicles are intended to be driven. The site includes a wealth of other car-related material, from video and articles on related topics to a featured visitor's vehicles section.
Vanished Brands
Should either GM or Chrysler disappear entirely, they would enter a special area of automotive culture. Automotive history is littered with famous and infamous vanished vehicle brands. For example, the Tucker, featured in a film starring Jeff Bridges, was a much-anticipated vehicle of which only 51 models were ever ever actually produced. The extent to which Tucker's car was a victim of bureaucratic wrangling as opposed to a deliberate effort on the part of the big three automakers to eliminate a possible competitor remains a point of contention. Another automobile with a storied past is the Edsel. Named for a son of Henry Ford's who had passed away, the Edsel was actually a line of automobiles Ford intended to be premiere vehicles. But as the article from the Washington Post makes clear, nothing about the production of the car, from the selection of its name to its design to the pony promotion used to seduce test drives (yes, they were real ponies), was well thought out. And the Edsel would go on to become a synonym for commercial failure. It also became a pop culture icon. Finally, given the success of the recent film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, it seems only appropriate to give a nod to the film's iconic automobile, the Yugo. More properly, the Zastava Koral but sold in the U.S. as the Yugo, this automobile entered the U.S. market as an incredibly inexpensive alternative to all other vehicles on the market (only $4500 in 1985), got excellent gas mileage and came with an extended warranty. The car soon got a reputation for being of poor quality however, although some contest this saying that the type of engine requires regular maintenance to perform and cannot withstand owner negligence in the way other types of vehicles can.
On the Track
If you are a motorsports fan, then you'll want to hit Motorsport.com for information on all the different varieties. F1 fans will find statistics of all kinds at ChicaneF1, which lets you delve in Formula1 in all different arcane ways, while F1.com provides all the latest news, video and information about the sport. For NASCAR fans, besides NASCAR's home page, there's Catchfence.com, which includes news, interviews, race information and fan commentary. Want to check out what's going on locally? Check out Vermilion County Speedway's web site.
U.S. Automakers Today
BusinessWeek offers a number of stories and analyses that do an excellent job of putting the crises at Chrysler and GM in perspective. Written over time, these stories follow the road to GM's bankruptcy as well as looking closely at causes and impacts of these corporate failings, putting them in the context of other large-scale business failings. One thing that you hear less of on the news are the stories about areas where the U.S. auto industry is not suffering. Reuters examines the case of the southern foreign auto plants, which have handled the economic downturn with much less stress on their workforce.
Automotive History
Who invented the automobile? That question is actually more complicated than it sounds because in the beginning there were so many different types of automobiles. Arguably, a case can even be made for Leonardo Da Vinci, who was drawing independent transport vehicles in his sketchbooks in the fifteenth century. (Here is a second design, this one for an armored car.) The Library of Congress offers this page of answers to this problem, noting that Karl Benz comes closest to earning single credit for the automobile as we think of it today. The Museum of Automobile History offers online visitors the opportunity to look at billboards, plaques and pictures of of its exhibits, hundreds of images covering the range of automotive history. You can also view online videos, send e-cards, or take an automobile history quiz. To look at a range of automobiles owned by an enthusiast who can truly afford to indulge in maintaining a living history of vehicles, check out Jay Leno's Garage. As the site makes explicit, Jay's collection isn't a museum. All of his vehicles are intended to be driven. The site includes a wealth of other car-related material, from video and articles on related topics to a featured visitor's vehicles section.
Vanished Brands
Should either GM or Chrysler disappear entirely, they would enter a special area of automotive culture. Automotive history is littered with famous and infamous vanished vehicle brands. For example, the Tucker, featured in a film starring Jeff Bridges, was a much-anticipated vehicle of which only 51 models were ever ever actually produced. The extent to which Tucker's car was a victim of bureaucratic wrangling as opposed to a deliberate effort on the part of the big three automakers to eliminate a possible competitor remains a point of contention. Another automobile with a storied past is the Edsel. Named for a son of Henry Ford's who had passed away, the Edsel was actually a line of automobiles Ford intended to be premiere vehicles. But as the article from the Washington Post makes clear, nothing about the production of the car, from the selection of its name to its design to the pony promotion used to seduce test drives (yes, they were real ponies), was well thought out. And the Edsel would go on to become a synonym for commercial failure. It also became a pop culture icon. Finally, given the success of the recent film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, it seems only appropriate to give a nod to the film's iconic automobile, the Yugo. More properly, the Zastava Koral but sold in the U.S. as the Yugo, this automobile entered the U.S. market as an incredibly inexpensive alternative to all other vehicles on the market (only $4500 in 1985), got excellent gas mileage and came with an extended warranty. The car soon got a reputation for being of poor quality however, although some contest this saying that the type of engine requires regular maintenance to perform and cannot withstand owner negligence in the way other types of vehicles can.
On the Track
If you are a motorsports fan, then you'll want to hit Motorsport.com for information on all the different varieties. F1 fans will find statistics of all kinds at ChicaneF1, which lets you delve in Formula1 in all different arcane ways, while F1.com provides all the latest news, video and information about the sport. For NASCAR fans, besides NASCAR's home page, there's Catchfence.com, which includes news, interviews, race information and fan commentary. Want to check out what's going on locally? Check out Vermilion County Speedway's web site.
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