The president’s speech: An analysis of Covid-19 discourse in the Iranian president’s speeches

This paper investigates the Covid-19 discourse which has taken shape in Haasan Rouhani’s speeches. Following Laclau and Mouffe theory of discourse analysis, we investigated all of Rouhani’s speeches (i.e. 30 speeches) from February 2, 2020 to April 27, 2020. Findings showed that Covid-19 discourse has mainly revolved around three nodal points: the country, enemy, and the state of exception. Our results also explained how Rouhani used Covid-19 as an empty signifier to reinforce the hegemonic discourse in Iran while trying to redefine his relations with the state-leaning organizations. While a growing body of research has already emerged from medical disciplines, this study contributes to our understanding of the novel coronavirus from a discursive perspective. This paper investigates the Covid-19 discourse which has taken shape in Haasan Rouhani’s speeches. Following Laclau and Mouffe theory of discourse analysis, we investigated all of Rouhani’s speeches (i.e. 30 speeches) from February 2, 2020 to April 27, 2020. Findings showed that Covid-19 discourse has mainly revolved around three nodal points: the country, enemy, and the state of exception. Our results also explained how Rouhani used Covid-19 as an empty signifier to reinforce the hegemonic discourse in Iran while trying to redefine his relations with the state-leaning organizations. While a growing body of research has already emerged from medical disciplines, this study contributes to our understanding of the novel coronavirus from a discursive perspective.