Discourse Analysis and Study of the Poetry of Persistence by Samih Al-Ghazem and Alireza Ghazveh, from the Perspective of Laclau and Mouffe's Theory

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD in Persian Language and Literature, Al-Zahra University

2 Faculty of Persian Language and Literature, Al-Zahra University

3 Professor of the Department of Persian Language and Literature, University of Isfahan Esfahan. Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Women's Studies Research Group, Humanities and Cultural Studies Research Institute. Tehran. Iran

10.22103/jrl.2025.25327.3051

Abstract

Objective: Resistance literature is a domain of literary studies that has produced diverse works across different countries and languages. In Iran and Palestine, due to their political conditions and the persistence of wars and conflicts, particularly in recent decades, resistance literature has witnessed remarkable growth. The profound and influential poetry of Alireza Qazveh from Iran and Samih al-Qasim from Palestine stands as a prominent manifestation of this trend. In the works of these two poets, examining how the boundaries between the self (or the in-group) and the other (the adversary or enemy) are delineated is of special significance, as it reveals the poets’ worldviews, ideological orientations, and political strategies in defining and confronting the opposing side. This is the central aim of the present study.
Methods: Employing a comparative analytical method and grounded in the discourse analysis framework proposed by Laclau and Mouffe, this study sought to answer the question of how the concepts of “self” and “other” are represented in the poems of selected poets.
Results: The findings indicated that each poet, drawing upon his intellectual framework, linguistic repertoire, and ideological perspective, constructs the boundaries between self and other through five major components, including the central signifier, foregrounding, marginalization, empty signifier, and mythmaking, each encompassing further subcategories.
Conclusion: The study concluded that although both poets employ relatively similar discursive mechanisms in demarcating self and other, Qazveh’s discourse tends to move toward protest, whereas al-Qasim’s leans toward mythic expression. Consequently, their works display both convergences and divergences in thought and language.

Keywords

References

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Theses:
Agha Nouri, Naimeh (1402). Self and Other in the Poetry of Iranian and Palestinian Resistance from the Perspective of Laclau and Mouffe's Discourse Theory: A Case Study of Sepideh Kashani, Hamid Sabzevari, Alireza Ghazveh (Iran), and Fadavi Toqan, Mahmoud Darwish, and Samih Al-Qasim (Palestine). Doctoral Thesis. Al-Zahra University. Under the guidance of Dr. Mahboud Fazeli and the advice of Dr. Agha Hosseini and Dr. Hosseini.
 
Journal of Resistance Literature
Volume 17, Issue 32
September 2025
Pages 1-26

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