The Banality of a Medium
The tragic death of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini in September 2022 sparked the largest national movement in Iran since 2009. Iranian Women became the symbolic center and main actors of this movement, with the Kurdish slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” emerging as its defining motto.. This paper presents a theore...
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| Language: | English |
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Mount Saint Vincent University
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Atlantis |
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| Online Access: | https://140.230.24.104/index.php/atlantis/article/view/5798 |
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| author | Sara Naderi |
| author_facet | Sara Naderi |
| author_sort | Sara Naderi |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The tragic death of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini in September 2022 sparked the largest national movement in Iran since 2009. Iranian Women became the symbolic center and main actors of this movement, with the Kurdish slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” emerging as its defining motto.. This paper presents a theoretical and exploratory reflection on the “Woman, Life, Freedom” (WLF) movement, focusing on how social media, as a medium, shaped its mainstream representations and trajectory. After a brief genealogical analysis of discourses that place women’s veiling at the core of Iranian national politics, the paper examines how the hyperreal nature of modern reality influences social movements. It argues that social media amplifies the visibility of “hyperreal political subjects,” making them dominant actors in the movement. This transformation of political subjectivity imposed the structural limitation of social media not only on representation but also on the “presence” of political actions. Finally, the paper explores how social media facilitates revolutionary and polarized political strategies, enabling the dismantling of dominant hegemonies while simultaneously discouraging radical and progressive political imagination in building counter-hegemonic discourses.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1bf1cc80acb142dcaf549389eab38ce7 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0702-7818 1715-0698 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Mount Saint Vincent University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atlantis |
| spelling | doaj-art-1bf1cc80acb142dcaf549389eab38ce72025-08-20T02:09:28ZengMount Saint Vincent UniversityAtlantis0702-78181715-06982025-03-01461The Banality of a MediumSara Naderi0Kwantlen Polytechnic University; University of Victoria The tragic death of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini in September 2022 sparked the largest national movement in Iran since 2009. Iranian Women became the symbolic center and main actors of this movement, with the Kurdish slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” emerging as its defining motto.. This paper presents a theoretical and exploratory reflection on the “Woman, Life, Freedom” (WLF) movement, focusing on how social media, as a medium, shaped its mainstream representations and trajectory. After a brief genealogical analysis of discourses that place women’s veiling at the core of Iranian national politics, the paper examines how the hyperreal nature of modern reality influences social movements. It argues that social media amplifies the visibility of “hyperreal political subjects,” making them dominant actors in the movement. This transformation of political subjectivity imposed the structural limitation of social media not only on representation but also on the “presence” of political actions. Finally, the paper explores how social media facilitates revolutionary and polarized political strategies, enabling the dismantling of dominant hegemonies while simultaneously discouraging radical and progressive political imagination in building counter-hegemonic discourses. https://140.230.24.104/index.php/atlantis/article/view/5798counter-hegemonyhegemonyhyperrealityIranian womensocial mediaveiling discourses |
| spellingShingle | Sara Naderi The Banality of a Medium Atlantis counter-hegemony hegemony hyperreality Iranian women social media veiling discourses |
| title | The Banality of a Medium |
| title_full | The Banality of a Medium |
| title_fullStr | The Banality of a Medium |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Banality of a Medium |
| title_short | The Banality of a Medium |
| title_sort | banality of a medium |
| topic | counter-hegemony hegemony hyperreality Iranian women social media veiling discourses |
| url | https://140.230.24.104/index.php/atlantis/article/view/5798 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saranaderi thebanalityofamedium AT saranaderi banalityofamedium |