Revolution in imagery : visual representation of hegemony in Iranian illustrated books before and after the 1979 revolution

This thesis investigates the visual representation of ideological transformation in Iranian children’s picturebooks published by Kānoon-e Parvaresh-e Fekri-e Koodakān va Nojavānān, a state-funded cultural institution that operated under the authority of the ruling regime both before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Focusing on a pivotal twenty-year period (1969–1989), the study explores how illustrations in these books reflect and construct cultural hegemony across two contrasting political systems: the secular nationalism of the Pahlavi monarchy and the religious ideology of the Islamic Republic. Guided by Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony and employing Kathy Short’s model of critical content analysis, the research conducts a close visual and ideological reading of four focal Persian texts supplemented by the analysis of 36 additional illustrations drawn from Kānoon’s archive. The study is structured around three interrelated thematic inquiries: (1) how visual narratives articulate ideological and political messages, (2) how representations of cultural identity and heritage shift across regimes, and (3) how gender roles and social dynamics are visually constructed and communicated to young readers. Findings reveal that illustrations in Kānoon books function as ideological artifacts, closely aligned with the dominant political discourses of their respective periods. During the Pahlavi era, visual narratives foregrounded Persian myth, pre-Islamic heritage, and national unity, often through grand historical or heroic imagery. In contrast, post-revolutionary publications exhibit a marked shift toward Islamic symbolism, revolutionary iconography, and visual codes reinforcing modesty, piety, and domesticity—particularly in the portrayal of female characters, who transition from unveiled and public to veiled and domestic figures. By situating Iranian picturebooks within a broader framework of cultural production and state ideology, this study illuminates the ways in which visual storytelling serves as a subtle yet powerful vehicle of hegemonic transmission. It offers a rare English-language analysis of Iranian visual culture in children’s literature across a major sociopolitical rupture and contributes to the growing discourse on visual literacy, childhood education, and the politicization of cultural artifacts. Ultimately, it argues that picturebooks are not merely artistic or educational tools, but strategic instruments in shaping ideological consciousness in young audiences.