Iranian Political Satirists
Experience and motivation in the contemporary era
Author
Mahmud Farjami | Ghent University
This volume surveys political satire as a journalistic genre in Iran since the latter days of the Qajar dynasty to the present, thus spanning one century and more. It is an important resource, but it also provides an analysis. Moreover, this volume is a rare effort to answer a question that looks simple but is very complicated: “Why would someone produce satire, knowing that this act might be followed by dangerous consequences?”, and to find out what motivates political satirists. For this aim, nine prominent political satirists have been interviewed: writers and cartoonists, men and women, those who live abroad and those who still live in Iran. The author analyses this data in relation to, among other things, the main theories of humor to provide a descriptive report for each satirist’s motivations as well as the strength of each motivational element in a general comparative context.
[Topics in Humor Research, 5] 2017. x, 213 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Acknowledgments | pp. ix–x
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Chapter 1. Introduction: The book, the topic and the author | pp. 2–12
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Chapter 2. Tradition and inheritance: Humor and satire in classical Persian literature | pp. 14–37
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Chapter 3. Modern experience: Political satire in contemporary Iranian media | pp. 40–78
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Chapter 4. Theoretical approaches to humor and satire | pp. 80–97
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Chapter 5. A conceptual and theoretical framework | pp. 100–121
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Chapter 6. Exploring the data: Methodology and process | pp. 124–137
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Chapter 7. Arriving at insights: Findings from research | pp. 140–159
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Chapter 8. Drawing conlusions | pp. 162–175
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Epilogue. Notes and comments on the study | pp. 178–180
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References | pp. 181–192
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Appendix
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Appendix | pp. 194–207
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Index
“Dr. Farjami, a talented self-exiled Iranian satirist, has written an interesting and revealing book on the problems that contemporary political satirists face in Iran, and analyzed their motivations in choosing to be the wayfarers on this dangerous road. Apart from surveying a millennia of Persian satire and analyzing the writings of some Iranian satirists in the light of modern theories of satire, he based his research on interviews with nine satirists, of which only four live in Iran. These interviews are extremely interesting and they shed light on the universal fight of satirist in his or her battle for social justice.”
Hasan Javadi, author of Satire in Persian Literature
“Revealing the rich world and traditions of satire in Iranian culture, this book speaks equally to students of satire, politics and humour. It examines the cutting-edge world of contemporary Iranian satire in full and fascinating detail. At the same time, it illuminates the unbroken links in the “tanz” tradition that reaches back to an antiquity largely unknown to the Western world. This invaluable study by a scholar who practises what he studies frames the authentic voices of his fellow practising satirists with the theoretical and analytical approaches developed by humour studies. An excellent contribution to an important book-series.”
Jessica Milner Davis, University of Sydney
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Declercq, Dieter & Chihab El Khachab
2021. Satire as safety valve: moving beyond a mistaken metaphor.
HUMOR 34:4 ► pp. 637 ff. 
Lichtenstein, Dennis, Cordula Nitsch & Anna J. M. Wagner
2021. Jokers or Journalists? A Study of Satirists’ Motivations, Role Orientations, and Understanding of Satire.
Journalism Studies 22:13 ► pp. 1756 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 march 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects & Metadata
Communication Studies
BIC Subject: CFG – Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General