Browsing by Author "Ranji, Banafsheh"

This study aims to scrutinise how the 2009 postelection conflict in Iran shaped the political activism of Iranian women who immigrated to Sweden at least 6 months before interview. This research also investigates how the female actors of these events, who were interviewed, see the role of social media in their activism during the 2009 postelection struggle. Moreover, this study explores how the participants see the role of women in the protests. Narrative methodology is the method of investigation for this study because the study aims to capture the actors’ point of view. The data is based on stories told by eleven Iranian women through interviewing. The women were involved in the 2009 postelection. Some immigrated to Sweden before the 2009 elections and others after the events. The research reviews the literature in the field of social media and activism. The theoretical framework covers controversial debates about both the role of social media in facilitating political activism, particularly in the case of the recent uprisings in the Middle East. Moreover, the study presents discussions about social media and diaspora activism. The research also reviews the literature about Iranian women’s political activism and how they have resisted after the 1979 Islamic revolution with a special focus on the 2009 postelection events. The results of this study indicate that the 2009 postelection events were a turning point for the participants’ activism lives. In addition, the events were a turning point in the participants’ personal lives. The present study confirms previous findings and contributes additional evidence about women’s participation and their solidarity in the postelection protests. The present findings seem to be consistent with other research, which found that the role of communication means other than social media is neglected in the latest uprisings. The current study found that usage of social media was more significant among the participants in diaspora. Using social media after immigration signifies staying connected to Iran while losing the presence and participation in offline communities. The research suggests that various communication strategies, such as face-to-face communication, email, text messaging and watching satellite TV channels were used by the participants. The communication tools were used for obtaining news and information, dissemination of news and notifying others. The findings demonstrate that some factors, such as the presence of authorities in cyberspace and how the activists see the role of social media, influenced the participants’ usage of social media.