‘Woke’ in translation: Persian perspectives on Platform X

This study investigates the polarized discourse surrounding “woke” and “wokeism” among Persian-speaking users on Platform X, analyzing 10,300 unique posts collected from January 2024 to January 2025. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research integrates sentiment analysis, keyword cloud generation, and K-Means clustering to uncover thematic patterns, emotional tones, and ideological underpinnings. Findings reveal a deeply divided discourse, dominated by sarcastic “Delighted” and “Furious” sentiments, with six thematic clusters highlighting critiques of wokeism as a destructive force, a liberal agenda, or a globalist conspiracy, often framed within Iran’s socio-political context. Users critical of wokeism use the terms to denounce perceived cultural decline, while supporters avoid them, favoring phrases like “modern culture.” Another notable finding of this study is the prevalent use of sarcasm in “Delighted” posts, which masks strong opposition to wokeism, revealing a complex emotional strategy in Persian-language discourse on X. The study emphasizes the relations between global and local narratives and demonstrates how Persian-speaking users reinterpret wokeism through lenses of cultural nationalism and resistance to Western influence.