Memetic Performance in Iranian TikTok Protest: Constructing the Counter-Discursive Figure of the “Good Bad Hijabi”
Date
2024-04-22
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Abstract
This thesis examines the counter-discourses articulated by Iranian activists’ online memetic resistance sparked by Mahsa Amini’s (alleged) murder by Iran’s Guidance Patrol. Iranian activists resist the Islamic Regime of Iran’s compulsory hijab laws and gendered violence through TikTok memes. Such subversive memetic actions incorporate embodied performances and lived experiences of forced veiling. This research uses Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the counter-discourses constructed through rearticulations of politically fueled memes and identify how TikTok’s affordances facilitate the proliferation of online memetic content. By doing so, this research reveals meanings of bodily autonomy constructed by Iranian women which, in turn, contributes to the creation of the counter-discursive figure of the “good bad hijabi” who resists the embedded misogynistic culture and extreme religious rulings in Iran. Through imitating and rearticulating memetic actions that connect with youth culture, Iranian activists aim to foster transnational feminist practices. While this is the case, feminist coalition building within these protests are minimal as gaps exist in the socio-political understanding of Iran in non-Iranian allyship.
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Memetic performance, #WomenLifeFreedom, TikTok
Citation
Bernier, A. S. (2024). Memetic performance in Iranian TikTok protest: constructing the counter-discursive figure of the “good bad hijabi” (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.