Home / Special Issue / JSSH Vol. 26 (T) Feb. 2018 / JSSH-T0781-2018

 

The Discursive Politics of Women's Clothing in Iran at Revolutionary Transition Era (1979-1981)

Seyedeh Razieh Yasini, Mahdi Montazer Ghaem and Abdollah Bicharanlou

Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities, Volume 26, Issue T, February 2018

Keywords: Discursive politics, Iran, revolutionary transition era, women clothing

Published on: 18 May 2018

This research is based on descriptive-analytical study on the changes of aesthetic standards of Iranian women's clothing following the discursive politics during the revolutionary transition era (1979-1981). Until the Islamic revolution, women's clothing was one of the most controversial politico-cultural issues for decades. The harsh policies of the Pahlavi regime for women's emancipation and unveiling was opposed by the emotional resistance of religious leaders and their traditionalist followers. Based on social constructionist discourse analysis, this article investigates the aesthetic styles of women's clothing during turbulent era and examines the discursive practices of various dominant and competing groups and ideologies. Laclau and Mouffe discourse analysis method is used to analyse the polemics and practices carried out by all competing classes and ideological discourses that resulted in the domination of hijab at a national level. The dominant revolutionary discourse opposed the symbolic power of modernity, freedom, and rationality represented by western fashion and replaced a symbolic force of morality, chastity, and conceitedness. This symbolic power has since remained alive although contested in a variety of forms due to social and cultural changes. Although the form of Iranian women's clothing after 1979 revolution remained a religious code, the aesthetics of woman's clothing is still influenced by numerous cultural, social, economic, and political factors. The post-revolution discursive politics led to the homogenisation of women's clothing in Iran denying the differences between clothing cultures.

ISSN 0128-7702

e-ISSN 2231-8534

Article ID

JSSH-T0781-2018

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