Session 51: The Time Has Come: How Iranian Celebrities Used Instagram for Digital Activism During The “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement

Abstract: 

In this project, I employed Driessen's (2013) celebrity capital and Benford & Snow's (2000) framing theory to elucidate how Iranian celebrities- Nazanin Boniadi, Gol Farahani, Katayoun Riahi, Ali Karimi, Hamed Esmaeilion, and Toomaj Salehi utilized Instagram for their digital activism during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. Conducting a qualitative content analysis, I gathered thirty-six posts from these celebrities’ Instagram accounts— shared during the peak of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement September 2022- April 2023—  and subjected the data to analysis using ATLAS.ti. The study's findings underscore the significant role of Instagram as a social field for digital activism, where these celebrities were able to shape public opinions, frame the protests’ claims, and transform their celebrity capital into political capital. 

Speaker’s Biography: 

Zahra is a Ph.D. student at the University of Kansas working on social movements in Iran. She is curious to find out how citizens can make socio-political changes in undemocratic countries like Iran. To that end, her research mainly focuses on the Islamic Revolution as an example of a successful contemporary social movement that occurred in an undemocratic climate and led to fundamental social and political changes.