January 12, 2024
Ottawa
(Special to Informed Comment) – The term “social movements” typically evoke the
idea of political activities in a sphere separate from culture, but social
movements are closely related to values, ways of living, ethics, and more
broadly culture. Among new social movement scholars, there is a growing
recognition that social movements have more cultural impact than is reflected
in the field. Moreover, since the
symbolic dimension of culture is part of policies and practices in all spheres,
social movements are increasingly acknowledged to exert cultural influence not
only in political and economic realms but also in non-political domains such as
the spheres of art, music, education, fashion, and more. This paper seeks to
discuss the Women, Life, Freedom movement in a broader context of culture and
everyday practices, to explore what sense we can make of it one year after its
emergence, and to see what it tells us about the prospect of Women’s freedom
movements in Iran. The discussion begins with an overview of the contextual
background.
