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The current study has been analysing and discussing the rise of alternative masculinities among the younger generation of Iranian men, with the focus on the protest action of part of Iranian social media users to Romina’s honour killing as a case study. This interpretative research was conducted using thematic analysis within a perspective of intersectionality, and the case study in this research is built upon analysing material of the against honour related campaign following the hashtags #NoBelieveInHonour, # IOwnNoNamus and #ManWithoutNamus on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The study argues how young Iranian men are taking initiative to combat violence against women and achieve gender equality. The result demonstrated that among the generation of young, educated and secular men who are against the Islamic Republic in Iran and are more familiar with the values of modernity and gender equality under the influence of globalization and digital media, alternative masculinities have emerged in a small section of society. Reacting against the concepts of namus is one of the most difficult and controversial areas for men in traditional societies, as they feel that their masculine authority is being further questioned by criticizing and tarnishing the culture of honour and sexual restrictions. Therefore, the fact that men are willing to radically critique the concept of namus in this way can be a hope that feminist values have developed among these men.

This thesis examines the first collections of modern Persian literature written by Iranian female authors in the context of a process of gender modernization during the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s reign (1941-1979). This thesis argues that women’s literature written during the period of transition from tradition to modernity is clearly influenced by the state’s gender policy and illustrates the changing position of women’s status in private and public life. Indeed, an examination of the collections of short stories and poems that were produced in this period demonstrates that female authors were concerned with the unveiling policy, arranged marriage and polygamy, women’s education, women’s social participation, women’s domestic obligations, women’s political awakening, and female sexuality. Furthermore, central themes covered by female authors changed significantly based on the transformations of gender politics the society experienced from the 1940s and 1950s to the 1960s and 1970s.

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This study explores the influence of social media on Iranian students’ migration decisions, specifically choosing Sweden as their study destination. The study contributes to addressing identified gaps in understanding major factors and drivers of migration decisions and social media’s potential role in the process. A quantitative approach was utilized to collect data through the online survey of Iranian students currently residing in Sweden. The online survey aimed to research the key migration influencers and assess the impact of social media on respective decisions. The analysis indicates that migration decisions are influenced by a combination of internal and external factors. Generally, migration decisions are influenced by economic factors, related to the country of relocation, political climate, and personal development potential. Social media, specifically Instagram and Telegram, was a valuable source of information and social interactions; its impact was moderate compared to identified influencers. Despite a clear role in creating migration perceptions, economic, social, and safety factors drive these decisions to this point.

La Révolution Islamique de 1979 met fin à la monarchie constitutionnelle puis au ministère public en tentant de remédier aux difficultés récurrentes rencontrées par le système judiciaire depuis le début du siècle. Les institutions, furent complètement remaniées, dans l’intérêt du nouveau régime et afin de mettre en place, en rénovant le lien historique entre religions et institutions, une version politisée de l’Islam. Les révolutionnaires, insuffisamment préparés, manquant d’expérience et de connaissances, constatèrent l’échec des nouvelles politiques en matière judiciaire. Le ministère public était indispensable à l’exécution des missions régaliennes de maintien de la sécurité intérieure et de l’ordre public ainsi qu’au fonctionnement de la justice. Cette institution, présente sous des formes archaïques depuis l’antiquité et modernisée lors de la Révolution Constitutionnelle du début du XXème siècle, fut rétablie en 2002. / The Islamic Revolution of 1979 broke up the constitutional monarchy then disbanded the public prosecution institution to make an attempt to solve the chronic issues encountered by the judicial system since the beginning of the century. The institutional system was entirely overhauled, in the interest of the new system and in the purpose to establish a new model integrating the historical link between religion and institutions with a political kind of Islam. The revolutionaries, barely prepared, lacking of experience and knowledge, noticed the failure of the new judicial politics. The public prosecution was essential to the fulfillment of the regalian functions, including the maintenance of public order and domestic security, along with the functioning of justice. This institution, existing under varied shapes since antiquity and modernized in the beginning of the century with the constitutional Revolution, has been restored in 2002.

This thesis delineates the transformation of Iran’s so-called post-revolutionary ‘religious intellectuals’ (rowshanfekran-e dini) from ideological legitimators within the political class of the newly-established theocratic-populist regime to internal critics whose revised vision for the politico-religious order coalesced and converged with the growing disillusionment and frustration of the ‘Islamic left’, a constellation of political forces within the governing elite of the Islamic Republic, that following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini increasingly felt itself marginalised and on the outskirts of power. The historical evolution of this complex, quasi-institutionalised and routinized network, encompassing theologians, jurists, political strategists and journalists, which rose to prominence in the course of the 1990s, and its critical engagement with the ruling political theology of the ‘guardianship of the jurist’, the supremacy of Islamic jurisprudence, political Islamism and all forms of ‘revolutionary’ and ‘utopian’ political and social transformation, are scrutinised in detail. In this vein, the thesis examines the various issues provoked by the rowshanfekran-e dini’s strategic deployment and translation of the concepts and ideas of a number of Western thinkers, several of which played a pivotal role in the assault on the ideological foundations of Soviet-style communism in the 1950s and 1960s. It then moves to show how this network of intellectuals and politicos following the election of Mohammad Khatami to the presidency in May 1997 sought to disseminate their ideas at the popular level by means of the press and numerous party and political periodicals, and thereby achieve ideological and political hegemony. The thesis proceeds to demonstrate the intimate connection between the project of ‘religious intellectualism’ and elite-defined notions of ‘democracy’, ‘electoral participation’, ‘reform’ and ‘political development’ as part of an effort to accumulate symbolic capital and assert their intellectual and moral leadership of the polity.

This study analyses the ways in which gender relations are expressed and articulated through the use of folk proverbs amongst Pashto-speaking people of Pakistan. Previous work on Pashto proverbs have romanticised proverbs as a cultural asset and a source of Pashtun pride and ethnic identity, and most studies have aimed to promote or preserve folk proverbs. However, there is little recognition in previous literature of the sexist and gendered role of proverbs in Pashtun society. This study argues that Pashto proverbs encode and promote a patriarchal view and sexist ideology, demonstrating this with the help of proverbs as text as well as proverbs performance in context by Pashto speakers. The analysis is based on more than 500 proverbs relating to gender, collected from both published sources and through ethnographic fieldwork in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Qualitative data was collected through 40 interviews conducted with Pashto-speaking men and women of various ages and class/educational backgrounds, along with informal discussions with local people and the personal observations of the researcher. The study is informed by a combination of theoretical approaches including folkloristics, feminist sociology and sociolinguistics. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through proverbs, the study also reveals that proverbs’ meanings and messages are context-bound and women may, therefore, use proverbs in order to discuss, contest and (sometimes) undermine gender ideologies. More specifically, it is argued that: (1) Proverbs as ‘wisdom texts’ represent the viewpoint of those having the authority to define proper and improper behaviour, and as such, rather than objective reality represent a partial and partisan reality which, in the context of the present research, is sexist and misogynist. (2) While proverbs as ‘texts’ seem to present a more fixed view of reality, proverbs as ‘performance in context’ suggest that different speakers may use proverbs for different strategic purposes, such as to establish and negotiate ethnic and gendered identities and power which varies on the basis of gender, age, ethnicity, and class of the interlocutors. The thesis concludes that, rather than considering folk proverbs as ‘factual’ and ‘valuable’ sources of cultural expression, scholars should pay more attention to their ‘performatory’, ‘derogatory’ and ‘declaratory’ aspects as these often relegate women (and ‘other’, weaker groups) to a lesser position in society.