The ‘sun’ shinning upon the ‘ever-lasting’ country: a diachronic analysis of Iranian national anthems during the 20th century

Abstract

Abstract Iran has undergone a metamorphosis in its ideological and national identity due to its historical upheavals in the past century, e.g. the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1906–11), Islamic Revolution (1979), Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). This paper aims to present the diachronic changes in the Iranian official national anthems’ lyrics. Through a critical discourse lens, I demonstrate how the socio-political changes have influenced these anthems and how such transformations have shaped the ideological identities of Iranians’ pre- and post-Islamic revolution to outsiders via lyrics. More specifically, I show how these identities are constructed through texts and via intertextual means. The findings display that the changes in Iranian anthems not only index a socio-historical transformation, but also a kind of acceleration in terms of political developments in contemporary Iran, and the ways in which the leaders may have employed their own ideological views to project Iranian identities.