Socio-semiotic analysis of the representation of the clergy in the urban landscape of Dezful

The discourse of the clergy along with the discourse of holy defense have shaped the symbolic and semantic structure of the city of Dezful. Based on this, in this research, we are looking for the interpretation of various representative approaches of the discourse of the clergy in the urban landscape of Dezful, with a socio- semiotic analysis of the representation of the clergy in the urban landscape of Dezful. For this purpose, we examine all the squares, streets, billboards, monuments and other works related to the clergy as well as the image-making approaches roling them. In general, the entry of the discourse of the clergy into the urban landscape of Dezful can be divided into two periods. The first period, which takes place in the early years of the revolution, commemorates important revolutionary leaders and personalities. But the whole urban landscape in the second period is heavily influenced by the native clergy. Based on this and in order to represent the city of Dezful as a religious city that was the origin of prominent clerics, urban imagery has generally changed its direction towards local clerics. It seems that in this context, the local government in Dezful is trying to reconcile local identity and values with national and sovereign values and concepts. In fact, the entire urban landscape of Dezful tries to represent local and indigenous culture, values and personalities in the framework of general governance discourses and values.
Keywords Representation, society-semiotics, landscape, city-text, memorial, clergy discourse
Introduction
Since the beginning of the revolution, the urban landscape of Dezful, which until then was heavily influenced by the two discourses of "Pahlavi" and "archaic-nationalism", turned towards the "religious-Shia" discourse. A set of religious names and images taken from "Religious-Shia Discourse" replaced the historical names of "Pahlavi Discourse". This imagery at the memorial level was mainly limited to the holy figures of Shia history, as well as clerics and religious leaders and commanders and martyrs during the war. This representational approach mainly uses urban symbols, signs, and images to serve a special type of urban imagery that is different from the prevailing notions of urban marketing with branding purposes. In this research, we seek to interpret different representative approaches of the discourse of the clergy in the urban landscape. In order to analyze socio-semiotic of the urban landscape of Dezful, we examine all the squares, streets, as well as billboards and visual memorials related to the discourse of the clergy and the image-making approaches ruling them.
Materials & Methods
The research method of this article is descriptive-analytical, field and its foundation is based on qualitative research method. In this research, we will use qualitative methods such as textual analysis and representative analysis. In this research, we are going to examine and analyze how to use the city-text and the urban landscape to present discourses, narratives and images desired by the government.
Discussion
The entry of names related to the clergy into the urban landscape of Dezful generally started with the clergy at the national level. But in recent years, there has been a fundamental shift towards native clerics. In order to represent Dezful as a religious city that was the origin of prominent clerics, the imagery have been changed towards local clerics. Therefore, the whole urban landscape tries to represent the local culture, values and personalities in the framework of the governing values. The goal of such an approach is to create a common visual culture for citizens living in the city. Accordingly, in recent years, the local government has started to name squares, streets and create numerous visual memorials in connection with the indigenous clergymen of Dezfuli in order to create an image society within the framework of the national discourse system.
The clerics who were chosen as national figures for illustration were generally the clerics of the revolution era who played a fundamental role in the victory of the Islamic revolution. But the clerics chosen in the local section are generally related to the pre-revolution era and are more related to the historical roots of the city. Therefore, in addition to consolidating the discourse of the clergy in the urban landscape, this imagery serves to create an image of Dezful as a city that has had many clerics and religious scholars for a long time. If we want to divide the influential figures in the history of the city into two categories: before and after the revolution, Sheikh Ansari and Ayatollah Ghazi can be considered as symbols of these two periods. If Sheikh Ansari plays the first role of portraying Dezful as a religious and important city in the history of Shiism in the eyes of the local government; Ayatollah Ghazi plays the same position but in a more political and contemporary depiction: depicting Dezful as an important city in the history of revolution and war.In the city of Dezful, we are facing a multi-layered reality; But the representative design of this city has been formed as a homogeneous society. Considering the cultural pluralism and significant socio-political differences, the representation of this city as a homogeneous city may lead to ignoring and artificially eliminating this pluralism. The fact is that it is difficult to reconcile the homogeneous image displayed in the memorial landscape of Dezful city with the reality of this city and its social layers. By examining the names of clerics recorded in the Dezful memorial landscape, one can observe a specific narrative of the history of the clergy. A narrative that was formed based on the reading of the ruler of Twelfth-century Shiism. Consequently, only clerics who conform to this particular reading are worthy of perpetuation in the memorial landscape. But on the other hand, some religious figures, despite their historical importance, do not find a special place in the Dezful memorial landscape due to their incompatibility with the discourse framework of the government.
Result
In recent years, there has been a fundamental shift towards native clerics, and in order to represent Dezful as a religious city that was the origin of prominent clerics, urban imagery has generally changed direction towards native clerics. It seems that the local governance in Dezful tries to reconcile local identity and values with national and sovereign values and concepts. Based on this, it can be said that the general approach in the field of urban imagery in Dezful is to match local identity and concepts with sovereign and national values and concepts. But as Stuart Hall's theory of "representation" reminds us, inevitably, such narratives often erase other histories, rarely focusing on their controversial, troubling, or banal aspects, but instead honoring their salient and distinctive elements. Based on this, by covering multiple, complex and diverse histories under one-dimensional narratives, local governments eliminate difference and create a coherent local identity.