Pages: 66-79

Abstract

The present study aims at construction of the identity of Iran and Iraq war’s ‎photographers after the Islamic Revolution in 1978 based on discourse analysis in ‎respect to the discourse governing the beginning of the war and affectability of the ‎photographers from the dominant discourse. The governing discourse and war ‎photography have been taken into account as a social issue forming the discourse. In ‎order to scientifically investigate the subject, the effect of the governing discourse was ‎researched amongst the numerous works by the photographers during the time period ‎from 1980 to 1982 (before the liberation of Khorramshahr) and a proper analysis was ‎presented. As the study’s theoretical framework, the sociological notions by Michel ‎Foucault, Norman Fairclough and Gilles Deleuze on discourse and power were ‎selected; moreover, the ideas and articles on war and articles on photography were also ‎taken into consideration. As for the validity of the results, as well, discussions have ‎been put forth considering the study’s qualitative nature. In this regard, five ‎photographers who had been present during eight years of war were selected and 14 ‎photographical works by each of them were chosen as the sample size. The study ‎participants were subjected to deep interviews. Based on what was analyzed in the ‎interviews and photographs, the discourse governing the region was found also ‎prevalent in the other discourses and, despite the fact that some of the photographs ‎have not been offered and recorded, the identity of the photographers was constructed ‎and the photographs were subsequently found having been recorded based on the ‎ideological and patriotic discourse governing the region to prevent the weakening of ‎the spirits of the forces behind the frontlines. In line with the scientific study of such ‎social issues, there are solutions presented in the current research paper for further ‎research‎.