Good Iranian,Bad Iranian: Representations of Iran and Iranians in Time and Newsweek (1998–2009)

This article analyzes the ways in which Iran and Iranians are represented in Western news media sources. Through detailed textual analysis of articles in Time and Newsweek between 1998 and 2009, it demonstrates that journalistic representations of Iran and Iranians are not simply efforts aimed at describing the real Iran, but rather form the basis of what Said refers to as a powerful “community of interpretation” that often reflects and reproduces certain xenophobic stereotypes of non-Western foreign subjects. While some shifts in Western media representations of Iranians have occurred in the thirty years since the revolution, the underlying ontological assumptions of these representations have remained remarkably durable. That is to say, the dominant representational discourse found in these newsmagazines depicts the political behavior of Iranians on the basis of essentialized notions of Persian and/or Islamic civilization, while very often emphasizing the taken for granted superiority of the West. Earlier Orientalist discourses focus on the difference of non-Western foreign subjects by denigrating them as fundamentally anti-modern and incapable of political, cultural and economic development without Western intervention. This article presents an unmistakable discursive pattern in American journalism whereby certain Iranians are incorporated into Western civilization by virtue of their embrace of a Western modernity.     

The relative effects of core surface morphology on flake shape and other attributes

It is long been thought that many flake attributes, including both size and shape, are largely due to the morphology of a core’s flaking surface, yet this has never been tested under strictly controlled conditions. Using molded glass cores with surface morphologies that highly resemble prehistoric ones, this experiment demonstrates that while core surface morphology does exhibit some influence on flake size and shape, a high degree of variation in flakes produced with the same core surface morphology shows that the effects of other independent variables, such as exterior platform angle and platform depth, have an even stronger effect. A major implication of these results is that current approaches to reconstruct prehistoric knapping strategies are overlooking significant sources of variation.     

Petrodatabase: an on-line database for thin section ceramic petrography

This paper presents an on-line database for the petrographic analysis of pottery and other ceramic artefacts (www.petrodatabase.com). It outlines how the system can be used by the archaeological community and anticipates its potential for greater comparability in thin section ceramic petrography.     

Reviews

James Beck with Michael Daley, Art Restoration. The Culture, the Business and the Scandal. London: John Murray, 1993. xiv + 210 pp., 27 b. &; w. illus. ISBN 0–7195–4635–4. £17.99.

Jon Bird, Barry Curtis, Tim Putnam, George Robertson, and Lisa Tickner (eds.), Mapping the Futures Local Cultures, Global Change, London &; New York: Routledge, 1993. xv + 288 pp., 25 b. &; w. illus. ISBN 0–415–07018‐X. £11.95.

Rodney Castleden, The Making of Stonehenge, London and New York: Routledge, 1993, 260 pp., 98 figs., 44 b. &; w. illus. ISBN 0–415–08513–6. £25.

Eilean Hooper‐Greenhill (ed.), Museums and Their Visitors, London and New York: Routledge, 1994. xv + 206 pp., 16 b. &; w. illus. ISBN 0–415–06857–6. £22.50.

Gerry Kearns &; Chris Philo (eds.), Selling Places: The City as Cultural Capital, Past and Present,. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1993. 316 pp., 4 b.&; w. illus. ISBN 0–08–041384–6. £22.95.

International Committee on Museum Security, Museum Security and Protection, ed. David Liston, London &; New York: Routledge, 1993. xiv + 319 pp. ISBN 0–415–07509–2. £22.50.

Richard Prentice Tourism and Heritage Attractions, London and New York: Routledge, 1993. xv + 253 pp., 5 b. &; w. figs., ISBN 0–415 08525‐X. £35.00.

Anabel Thomas, Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting. London: John Murray in association with National Gallery Publications, 1994. xx + 268 pp., 152 b. &; w. illus. ISBN 0–7195–5290–7. £13.99.