From Poverty to Coexistence: Representation of the Culture of Peace in the Works of Houshang Moradi Kermani

Literature has long been regarded as an effective medium for transmitting human values and promoting social cohesion. The literary works of Houshang Moradi Kermani, one of the most prominent contemporary Iranian writers, provide significant potential for examining the concept of peace due to their emphasis on everyday life, poverty, empathy, social solidarity, and human dignity. The present study aims to investigate how the components of the culture of peace are represented in Moradi Kermani’s works and to analyze their relationship with Johan Galtung’s theory of positive peace. This qualitative research employs a directed content analysis approach. The corpus consists of five selected works, namely Stories of Majid, The Water Urn, Maman’s Guest, Children of the Carpet-Weaving House, and The Oven. The findings indicate that values such as empathy, cooperation, social participation, respect for human dignity, social solidarity, and peaceful conflict resolution are prominently reflected in these narratives. Furthermore, Moradi Kermani critically portrays poverty and social inequality as manifestations of structural violence while simultaneously presenting human solidarity and collective action as mechanisms for overcoming such conditions. The study concludes that Moradi Kermani’s literary works can be regarded as significant examples