Representations of Post-Revolutionary Iran by Iranian-American Memoirists: Patterns of Access to the Media and Communicative Events

One major element in the discursive reproduction of power and dominance is the structures and strategies of “access” to discourse. Using Van Dijk's argument of dominance and patterns of the preferential access to public discourse, this article attempts to offer more insight into general political, sociocultural, and economic aspects of “knowledge production” on post-revolutionary Iran in the United States in the ways Iranian American memoirs are promoted and publicized through major publishing companies, the popular press, and the mainstream media. Such representations strengthen and reinforce the political discourse surrounding Iran as an “undemocratic” and “barbaric” entity. This article discusses the ways in which the perceptions and views of a minority of Iranians, which often move in parallel with the demonized image of Iran in the United States, are vocalized and promoted through “privileged access” to discourse and “means of communication.”