A case study on the COVID-19 discourse in politicians’ speeches: Investigations into the speeches of former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

Q3 Social Sciences Studies in Communication Sciences Pub Date : 2023-12-09 DOI:10.24434/j.scoms.2023.03.2984

H. Kermani, Mona Khorshidi, Mohammad Ashtiani Araghi

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Abstract

This paper aims to analyze former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s thirty speeches on COVID-19 delivered between February 2, 2020 and April 27, 2020. We apply Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of discourse analysis to investigate and analyze Rouhani’s rhetorical and discursive strategies in making meaning of COVID-19. Findings showed that COVID-19 discourse in Rouhani’s speeches has mainly revolved around three nodal points: “the country”, “the enemy”, and “the state of exception”. Thus, the structural articulation of COVID-19 discourse resembles the hegemonic discourse in Iran. Our results also explain how Rouhani used COVID-19 as an empty signifier to reinforce the hegemonic discourse in Iran while trying to redefine his relations with the state-leaning organizations. Furthermore, we analyzed the rhetorical practices that Rouhani employed to articulate the COVID-19 discourse. This paper contributes to a growing body of literature into discursive aspects and implications of a global pandemic by providing empirical evidence form an understudied context: Iran.

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关于政治家演讲中 COVID-19 话语的案例研究：对伊朗前总统哈桑-鲁哈尼演讲的调查

本文旨在分析伊朗前总统哈桑·鲁哈尼在2020年2月2日至2020年4月27日期间就新冠肺炎发表的30次演讲。本文运用拉克劳和墨菲的话语分析理论，对鲁哈尼在解读新冠肺炎时的修辞和话语策略进行了考察和分析。调查结果显示，鲁哈尼演讲中有关新冠肺炎的话语主要围绕“国家”、“敌人”和“例外状态”三个节点展开。因此，COVID-19话语的结构表达类似于伊朗的霸权话语。我们的研究结果还解释了鲁哈尼如何利用COVID-19作为一个空洞的能指来加强伊朗的霸权话语，同时试图重新定义他与国家倾向组织的关系。此外，我们分析了鲁哈尼在阐述COVID-19话语时使用的修辞手法。本文通过提供一个未被充分研究的背景:伊朗的经验证据，为越来越多的文献提供了关于全球大流行的话语方面和影响的贡献。

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