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Power and Knowledge; The Construction of Historical Memory: A Genealogy of Contested Discourses in the Representation of the 1953 Iranian

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Graduated with a PhD in Political Sociology from Allameh Tabatabaei University.Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jhss.2025.400236.473834

Abstract

This study offers a critical discourse analysis of the 1953 Iranian coup through Foucault's power-knowledge framework, examining how three competing narratives_the Pahlavi regime's official version, the American political establishment's classified accounts, and revolutionary counter-narratives_constructed fundamentally different historical truths. The research demonstrates how each discourse developed distinct mechanisms for producing and legitimizing knowledge: the Pahlavi state employed institutionalized history-writing committees and educational censorship to promote its "national uprising" narrative; American authorities utilized sophisticated document classification systems and strategic disclosure timelines to frame events within Cold War geopolitics; while revolutionary forces created alternative epistemological spaces through underground cassette tapes and samizdat publications that reinterpreted the coup as anti-imperialist resistance. These findings reveal how historical truth emerges not from objective facts but from complex power struggles over representation, where control of narrative production becomes instrumental in shaping collective memory and political legitimacy. The study highlights the dynamic interplay between dominant knowledge systems and resistant counter-memories, showing how marginalized groups can challenge hegemonic historical accounts through innovative dissemination strategies. By comparing these competing truth regimes_their validation criteria, authentication protocols, and dissemination channels_the research provides a nuanced understanding of how power operates through knowledge production, offering broader insights into the political nature of historical consciousness and the contested processes through which societies construct meaning from past events

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Historical Sciences Studies
Volume 18, Issue 1 - Serial Number 41
April 2026
Pages 57-84
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