Sociology
Siavash Gholipoor; Nader Amiri; Sara Korani
Abstract
This article seeks to examine the process of stigmatization of the Nukan neighborhood within Kermanshah. The theoretical framework is based on Rob Shields' concepts of "social spatialisation”. Shields considers the process of constructing meaning of a space to be a result of the objective procedures ...
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This article seeks to examine the process of stigmatization of the Nukan neighborhood within Kermanshah. The theoretical framework is based on Rob Shields' concepts of "social spatialisation”. Shields considers the process of constructing meaning of a space to be a result of the objective procedures of everyday life that construct suppositions about meaning and form space-myths through various ways. The research method is ethnography and the data collection technique includes participatory observation and intensive interviews. The findings of the survey indicate that Nukan has topographically isolated geography and that some social borders have intensified this dissociation. Different procedures have a role in labeling Nukan as such. By announcing the image space to be "rural, " the municipality avoids providing any service to the area. By labeling the area as "violent" as well as a "crime hotspot, " the police force avoids interference in quarrels. The Department of Education declares students of schools within Nukan to be "chaotic" and "abnormal." Also, by not providing the essential substructures, they transfer students of certain grades to other regions, which results in even more labeling when students get into quarrels in those regions. On another hand, taxi drivers, shopkeepers, tenants and women gathering in alleys to talk and pass time propagate and sustain such suppositions. In conclusion, in the process of Nukan's stigmatization, not only coarse language and impressions, but also people's behaviors in everyday life play a decisive role.
