Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities

Abstract The Baburnama, the memoirs of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur (1483–1530), provides a comprehensive account of the ecological landscapes of 15th- and 16th-century Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India. The present article examines the environmental and natural concerns articulated in the Baburnama through an ecolinguistic lens, with a particular focus on gardens as ecosystems. The study employs an analytical approach, examining lexical units associated with flora, fauna, water systems, and urban ecology. This analysis underscores Babur's discerning understanding of biodiversity, plant-water interactions, and the pivotal function of gardens in shaping urban landscapes. When situated within the context of pre-modern environmental thought, the article posits that the Baburnama functions as a proto-environmental text to document ecological richness and foreshadow contemporary concerns regarding sustainability and urban ecology. The study employs an ecosystem perspective, conceptualising gardens as dynamic systems facilitating biodiversity and mediating human-nature interactions. This analysis underscores the Baburnama's relevance for contemporary environmental humanities and urban ecology scholarship.

Abstract Researches that have been conducted over the past three decades on environmental non-governmental organizations in Iran, it is found that there has been a significant gap between the people and these organizations. In other words, these organizations have been weak not only in informing the people about the environmental activities but increasing the knowledge, attitude and skills of the people, as well. Although various reasons can be cited but the state, as the most general institution of the country plays an irreplaceable role in making these organizations efficient or inefficient. The way the government looks at environmental organizations and make policies about them, especially in terms of legislation, can lead to the prosperity of these organizations and increase their productivity, or it can simply be vice versa. This research, using the historical research method and referring to the laws and regulations related to non-governmental organizations and also by using some program documents, seeks to investigate how the government deals with these organizations and its results. The findings show that the Iranian government, due to its tendency for centralism and authoritarianism in laws and regulations, limited the scope of non-governmental organizations’ activities, and made it possible for the government to interfere in their affairs and deprive them of their independence. This led to increase in the weakness of these institutions, their efficiency, lack of motivation on and their inability to communicate effectively with the people and promote the culture of environmental protection.

Abstract The utopia promised by the modern age has not arrived, man, as a response to his failure in realizing modernism's ideals, attempted to create a parallel virtual world. Living in this virtual parallel world resulted in creation of billions of digital footprints in a fraction of a second and the emergence of Big Data. Following the transformation in human social life and social researchers' better access to complex social realities in the presence of Big Data, a fundamental shift in the current social research landscape is required. One of the biggest concerns of today's scientific community is revolving around this shift, they wonder to what degree the traditional scientific method might still be relevant in the era of Big Data. Are we on the verge of a paradigm shift in social science? Has theory, as the building block of the modern science, reached its end? This study seeks to answer these two fundamental questions with an interdisciplinary approach in mind, through systematic review of scientific documents published in the period of 2009-2021, several relevant studies across the philosophy of science and data and social science disciplines have been identified and reviewed. After critically reviewing the ongoing scholarly debate, this study argues against the claim that Big Data is the end of theory in science and conclude that Big Data inherently transforms social science research and a transition to a new paradigm is under way.

Abstract Climate change affects many aspects of human life, such as the economy, environment and society. Although its consequences are invisible for the public in short term, they are often informed about the negative aspects of climate change through the media. In other words, the media dedicate and cover news in order to make people aware about the impact of climate change. Number of researches has been conducted on the way the media frame and cover the climatic issues in many countries, but there is no such at present to show how this particular is being covered in the Iranian media. This paper is the first academic research to examine the coverage of climate change in the Iranian press. We have analyzed 388 climate stories published on 15 well-known national newspapers by using SPSS software and applying the quantitative content analysis method to understand how these newspapers could present climate stories. Findings show that the Iranian press often used “Conflict” and “Environmental Consequences” frames to illustrate climate change issues, but “Scientific Uncertainty” and “Current Weather” were rarely mentioned. Moreover, these newspapers relied mainly on “Experts” as sources more than the other sources to present climate stories.

Abstract Water plays a vital role in human life, affecting not only the functioning of the body but also other human rights. For this reason, in recent decades, international bodies, including the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by approving Comment No. 15, have identified the access to water as a human right. But it is not easy to enjoy this right because of limited water resources, its non-availability, contaminated surface waters and the like, and it always creates problems for people, their families and even the community. Governments as the primary bound of this right have also sought to privatize water, because of the expense involved in collecting, storing and supplying water. But the question that arises is that, given that privatization leads to commercialization and economization of water, can it meet the characteristics and requirements of the right to water? Although there is no single global or regional model for this, the paper attempts to answer this question first by examining the nature and characteristics and requirements of the right to water from the perspective of international documents, especially the interpretative theory, and then characteristics and nature of privatization in this regard.

Abstract This paper aims to analyze the discourse on Iran’s water problem in mainstream newspapers of the 90s. To achieve this goal, critical discourse analysis (CDA) has been applied and contents of four mainstream newspapers have been reviewed over a period of nine years (between 2011 and 2020). The conceptual framework of this research is derived from development journalism and environmental journalism. Based on the findings, the dominant discourse of "Shargh" newspaper shows that macro policies and a wrong approach to development led to the water problem in Iran. This discourse emphasizes that, the solution to water problem in Iran is "changes in policies and production structures" and "adaptation to the nature". Instead, the discourse of "Iran" newspaper emphasizes that macro-structures (Iran's political economy, individualism) have led to consumerism and water crisis. "Iran" newspaper’s discourse serves to eliminate the responsibility of the government in solving the water problem. It also makes the government’s role in creating the problem invisible. In the discourse of "Donyaye Eghtesad" newspaper, multiple factors (water ownership system, politicians, people and officials) have created water problem. Raising water price is the solution this newspaper offers to resolve the crisis. "Kayhan" yet another newspaper skip over the discourse on the water crisis. Therefore, in the discursive formation of "Iran" and "Kayhan" newspapers, water problem is not due to the policies and power relations. This kind of discursive formation can be considered as a result of development journalism.

Abstract The ownership of common pool resources and their exploitation are jurisprudential issues that include various opinions. The present study provides evidence of governance and its problems in one of the micro-scale irrigation systems in Iran, assuming that it plays an important role in administering those resources, like those of transactions, custom and empirical knowledge. In this interdisciplinary research (economic, social and jurisprudential), data are provided from in-depth, focal interviews, field observations, and documentation and are analyzed in the framework of Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD). The results show that over time, the exploiters, using the resource characteristics organized a kind of exploitation mechanism in which, the upstream exploiters had no power compared to the downstream. However, after the government started playing a key role in administering this area based on the Nationalization of Natural Resources Law, by issuing drilling permits, it practically marginalized the institutional arrangements of the users at the level of collective action and caused a lack of indigenous knowledge. That sparked a dispute between the aforementioned exploiters. Thus, both the resilience of economic and social systems could decrease and the people were excluded from local governance. These findings indicate that the approach to governing common pool resources based on the current reading of the relevant jurisprudential rules, is not possible to adapt to environmental conditions.

Abstract The adoption of intermediate plans for development and progress is based on policies that are in the form of specific objectives and legal mechanism and executive plans. As in many cases, the weakness in implementation can be traced to policies. Accordingly, due to the imbalance between consumption and demand in the management of water resources, one of the reasons can be sought in the form of policy-making and planning. However, water policy-making and planning in Iran has not been a fixed one and has undergone many changes in social and political contexts. Most of the developments in water planning and policy-making are between water programs before and after the Islamic Revolution; developments in medium and short terms are also evident. To identify these developments through a qualitative approach and the inductive content analysis method, the text of development plans and documents has been studied. Since the Islamic Revolution, these developments have been more influenced by the political discourse of the government. The results also show that development programs in Iran have not been sufficiently coherent in terms of the sustainability of water resources. In fact, the change in policies related to the exploitation of water resources during this period has led to the rupture of various development programs of the country from the perspective of water management.

Abstract Conflict between socio-economic issues and needs at different levels, especially in local communities as well as planning and management approaches in forest areas, is discussed as the biggest challenge due to the lack of successful implementation of plans and initiatives related to the country’s forests. The aim of this study is to analyze the place of social issues in planning and management processes of Iranian forests from an interdisciplinary perspective by taking into account researches already accomplished in various social, economic, cultural and political fields related to Iran’s natural resources and forestry. In this regard, using the qualitative method, the content of related research works was analyzed during a 10-year period between 2009 and 2019. For the primary study, 217 articles were selected and then 31 articles were extracted finally on themes used in social issues and forest management. Based on the present study, 372 sub-themes were also classified into 14 main topics with two dimensions of management and socio-economic structures. The results show that the main and secondary issues and themes related to social and economic structures of Iran's forest areas, which in themselves cause social problems, are located at a very small level and enclosed in the executive management circle of Iranian forests. It means, these topics in the decision-making process solely have the facilitating roles, which is the main reason for the unsuccessful implementation of forestry initiatives and the continuous destruction of forests in the north and beyond. The negligence and lack of tangible presence of social issues in the forest planning and management of the country necessitate an insight into the forest and its issues from a interdisciplinary perspective.

Abstract The green supply chain management model is for environmental protection, which companies could use to reduce negative environmental impacts and achieve the optimal use of resources and energy. The study is an attempt to identify and develop a similar model for the petrochemical industry of Iran’s Fars province using Grounded Theory as a qualitative data technique and the DEMATEL method to test its effectiveness and efficiency. The data collection was based on documents as well as interviews with 20 experts selected through snowball sampling. To analyze the qualitative data, three stages of open, axial and selective coding were used. Criteria were also prioritized using the DEMATEL method and questionnaire. The results indicated the extraction of 21 axial and 90 open coding, which were placed in the form of a paradigm model. Then, using pairwise comparisons in the said method, and the final ranking of selected criteria of green supply chain, showed that the central process design, customers and other external institutions, green innovation, environmental management approaches, human resource management, environmental performance improvement, management and optimization of energy consumption (with values ​​greater than the threshold) have a higher degree of importance (weight).