COVID-19 Crisis and Cultural Reflexivity in Iran

In this paper, I aim to shed light on the cultural consequences and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Iranian society. After a short introduction about the purpose and leading questions of the article, I will seek to delineate "the problematization of culture in Iran", and deal with this problem that how Iranians' collective mind, influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, has become more conscious and sensitive inspiring them to question taken-for-granted cultural matters. Then I will commit myself to characterize three discourses that have addressed the probable cultural impacts of this pandemic situation on Iranian society, including the discourses of "continuity", "discontinuity", and "critical rethinking”. My approach to the current pandemic situation is in the same vein with the critical rethinking discourse. I will put forward this viewpoint that the Coronavirus crisis has given us a great opportunity to critically revisit and reconsider our ways of life and this reconsideration will be continued regardless of its objective effects on the society’s structures. My methodology approach in this article is mainly based on discourse analysis. Theoretical and conceptual analysis is a strategy to understand available discourses about the cultural effects of the Corona Virus. I will also include my personal intuitions drawn from my lived experiences.