From Myth to Narrative: Paisley’s Narrative Position in Socio-Cultural Discourse Systems

Today, paisley is a symbol found in Iran’s and some other countries’ artistic discourse.There are controversies about the origin of this symbol. It has been said that it is derived from cedar, pine, fire, etc. Now paisley has gone to culture and has produced discourse and identity there.Today, this symbol has penetrated the borders and has been drawn from the national discourse to the international one. Paisley belongs to cultural and mythological experiences and when it is studied from the narrative point of view, it is clear that it has a mythological origin and creates a narration and a discourse. The research questions are: how does paisley maintain its narrative position within the discourses? How does it develop its discourse role and function? How has it been able to reach from the national discourse to the international one? In other words, how has it gained its discourse legitimacy to transfer itself to other cultures? In order to answer the questions the semiotic approach of discourse was chosen to show the value position of paisley, as well as analyzing the conditions of its narrative development within multiple discourses. The results indicated that paisley in artistic social systems preserves its value in addition to transforming it through producing movement. Paisley achieves its identity not by change but by stability. By producing imagination paisley forms a dialogue between nature and culture, so it links its value with myth and imagination. As a result, it moves from a national position to an international one.