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Article published In:
Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 7:2 (2017) ► pp.159–189

The role of context in the formation of hejab ‘veiling’ metaphors in hejab billboards and posters in Iran

| Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary,
Proper hejab observance has long been an important issue to political-religious conservatives in Iran who, in recent years, have relied on metaphorical language to persuade Iranian women to dress modestly in public. The present paper, based on Kövecses’s (2015) account of metaphor in context, explores the role of contextual factors involved in the formation of hejab linguistic metaphors used in 56 pro-hejab billboards and posters. Data analysis indicates that the moral and social status of women are depicted as being determined by, or correlated with, their degree of veiling. On that basis, properly covered up women are shown to be the recipients of very positive metaphorical conceptualizations (as pearls, flowers, and angels), whereas immodestly dressed women are negatively pictured as being subject to sexual objectification (as unwrapped edibles). Moreover, the hejab is a protective cover is shown to be the metaphor instantiated in many of the billboards and posters. The protective function of hejab is highlighted by conceptualizing corrupt men as flies and devils. Finally, the metaphorical patterns represent the contextual role of political and religious ideology, key cultural concepts, and show entrenched conventional conceptual metaphors and metonymies in the production of novel metaphors.
Keywords: hejab , conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy, context, Iranian culture
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Framing hejab
    • 2.1 Mahram vs. nâmahram
    • 2.2 Effat ‘chastity’
    • 2.3Clothes
    • 2.4Make-up
    • 2.5Color
    • 2.6Sex, desire, and love
  • 3.Metaphor and context
    • 3.1Situational context
    • 3.2Discourse context
    • 3.3Cognitive-conceptual context
    • 3.4Bodily context
  • 4.Data and methodology
  • 5.Results
  • 6. Hejab metaphors
    • 6.1Metaphors representing hejab as a protective cover
      • 6.1.1Metaphors representing the social significance of ‘hejab’
      • 6.1.2Metaphors representing the political-religious significance of ‘hejab’
      • 6.1.3Metaphors praising women and ‘hejab’
      • 6.1.4Metaphors representing the significance of ‘hejab’ in family life
    • 6.2Metaphors related to men’s gaze
    • 6.3 Hejab and spiritual life
    • 6.4 Hejab as a national and political symbol
    • 6.5 Hejab statements to refute anti-hejab arguments
  • 7.Hejab metaphors in context
    • 7.1Situational context
    • 7.2Discourse context
    • 7.3Conceptual-cognitive context
    • 7.4Bodily context
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References


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Published online: 20 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.7.2.01bak
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