The very first article in the newest issue of the "American Anthropologist" (Vol. 106, No. 4, December 2004) is called '"The Vulgar Spirit of Blogging": On Language, Culture, and Power in Persian Weblogestan' by Alireza Doostdar. I can't furnish an abstract yet, as neither the 'Bayerische Staatsbibliothek' nor the 'Universitätsbibliothek der LMU' offers online-access to the "American Anthropologist". Thank you very much! What was the year? 2004? Bah -- Humbug!

[Edit by fab: it is available as a downloadable fulltext pdf via his/her english weblog]

Abstract: "This article is an ethnographic study of Persian-language weblogs (blogs), focusing on a divisive argument among Iranian bloggers that came to be known as the "vulgarity debate." Sparked by a controversial blogger who ridiculed assertions that Islam was compatible with human rights, the debate revolved around the claim that biogging had a "vulgar spirit" that made it easy for everything from standards of writing to principles of logical reasoning to be undermined. My study focuses primarily on the linguistic side of the controversy: I analyze blogging as an emergent speech genre and identify the structural features and social interactions that make this genre seem "vulgar." I also examine the controversy as a confrontation between bloggers with unequal access to cultural capital and a struggle over "intellectualist" hegemony. in the conclusion, I use the construct of "deep play" to weave together multiple layers of structure, explanation, and meaning in the debate. [Keywords: Iran, weblogs, computer-mediated communication, speech genres, social status]"

DOOSTDAR, ALIREZA. 2004. "The vulgar spirit of blogging": On language, culture, and power in Persian Weblogestan. American Anthropologist 106(4): 651-662.

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