Entering Iranian Homes: Privacy Borders and Hospitality in Iranian Movies

• Authors: Foroogh Mohammadi , Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott

Abstracts

EN

The architecture of homes in Iran has changed significantly over the past four decades since the 1979 Iranian revolution. We ask how these architectural changes shift neighborhood relationships and how they transform the Iranians’ hospitality rituals and practices. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of eighteen Iranian movies filmed after the 1979 revolution. They allowed us to make comparisons among various dwelling patterns and neighborhood relationships. We argue that the representations of neighborhood relationships reflect these changes, demonstrating the impact of architecture on interactions. Our focus in this article is on borders of privacy, power dynamics in the neighborhoods and among families, and communication forms to better understand the impact of changing architecture on hospitality through the lens of cinema. Additionally, we engage with Goffman’s (1956) concepts of frontstage and backstage, demonstrating that these are not dichotomous, although they are opposites, and there can be a thinning of frontstage along with a thickening of backstage. Entrances to homes are often gradual, and visitors may gradually penetrate through layers of the frontstage as they become closer (emotionally and in space) to the heart of the home’s (and its occupants’) backstage.

Keywords

EN

Frontstage; Backstage; Privacy; Space and Place; Iranian Cinema; Hospitality

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Qualitative Sociology Review
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 50-73

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Foroogh Mohammadi

• Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

• https://orcid.org/0000000217090941

author

Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott

• Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

• https://orcid.org/0000000174426918

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Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/1733-8077.19.2.03

Biblioteka Nauki

32222599