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Hoornaz Keshavarzian @hoornazkeshava.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Public Lecture: “The Responsibility of the Intellectual in a Time of Fascist Genocide” by Dr. Rinaldo Walcott us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Reposted by Hoornaz Keshavarzian

Nicole K. Stewart @nicolestewart.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Earlier this year, @hoornazkeshava.bsky.social and I published “Make Iran great again”: Apolitical influencers and the revival of a romantic patriarchal nationalism. If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, you're in luck - the article is now open access: academic.oup.com/ccc/article/...

academic.oup.com

“Make Iran great again”: Apolitical influencers and the revival of a romantic patriarchal nationalism

Abstract. The Woman Life Freedom (WLF) Movement in Iran represents a longstanding struggle for social justice, gender equity, and civil rights. Our study d

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Reposted by Hoornaz Keshavarzian

IAMCR @iamcr.org · 03/07/2025

Congrats @hoornazkeshava.bsky.social‬ and the other winners! bsky.app/profile/iamc...

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Reposted by Hoornaz Keshavarzian

Communication, Culture & Critique @ccc-journal.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Check out the latest from @hoornazkeshava.bsky.social and @nicolestewart.bsky.social, "Make Iran Great Again: Apolitical Influencers and the Revival of a Romantic Patriarchal Nationalism"! doi.org/10.1093/ccc/...

"Make Iran Great Again: Apolitical Influencers and the Revival of a Romantic Patriarchal Nationalism."

By Hoornaz Keshavarzian and Nicole K. Stewart, Communication, Culture and Critique, March 2025

Abstract: The Woman Life Freedom (WLF) Movement in Iran represents a longstanding struggle for social justice, gender equity, and civil rights. Our study details how this grassroots feminist uprising faced an attempted co-optation by a monarchist Coalition’s rhetoric of unity for regime change. Through an analysis on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram, we illustrate how apolitical influencers center Man, Homeland, Prosperity (MHP), a far-right mantra alongside WLF to perpetuate a patriarchal Persian nationalism. Given that language and hegemonic politics are closely intertwined, we argue that MHP is WLF’s ontological and epistemic opposite as it violates and oppresses the progressive ethos of a feminist movement. By invoking a sense of nostalgia for a glorious and imperial past (God, King, Homeland), Reza Pahlavi and his Coalition reproduce discourses of a populist, romantic, and patriarchal nationalism around the Persian identity. While WLF is committed to a pluralistic “solidarity,” MHP revolves around a monolithic “unity.”

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Reposted by Hoornaz Keshavarzian

Nicole K. Stewart @nicolestewart.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

New publication: How a Coalition created a populist moment in an attempt to co-opt/de-radicalize the Women Life Freedom movement. We introduce apolitical influencers to demonstrate the role of ‘reluctantly political’ actors in populist moments. academic.oup.com/ccc/article-...

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