Selective Representation of Religion in the City

In this study we have attempted to have sociological analysis of selective representation of religious in Tehran with theories of M.Halbwachs and P.Ricoeur.

    Halbwachs showed the relationship between different groups and space. He studied the space as a fact that carries memory of groups.

Ricoeur studied memory by showing the relationship between Memory and Forgetting by using narratives. Narratives can be constructed in a way that can be a source of wound healing and sad memories or can exacerbate them.

   At any situation that there is a emphasize on the special memories, the more memory will be deleted and removed. With this approach, we started to study of representation of collective memory and selective representation of religious in Tehran, and Valieasr Street was chosen. Valieasr Street is the most important street in Tehran which connects north of city to south.

   The following indicators were used for the study: 1-Naming  2-Advertisement 3-change of place. According to these indicators, policies that make people to remember and forgot, and resistance of social groups against it have been studied.

    I have concluded that what we see in Tehran as a source of remembering and our memory is extremely selective. In this version of religion that city provides for us, many trends, events and social groups have been removed and what remains is narrow segment of religion that narrated by a small group of people so, this narration is not acceptable for all of citizens.