Critical Discourse Analysis of the National Emblems of the Qajar Period and the Islamic Republic of Iran Based on Van Dijk's Views

The aim of the research is to analyze the critical discourse in the Qajar and Islamic Republic emblems based on the relationship between emblem and discourse. The research method is descriptive-analytic and the analysis approach is critical discourse. National emblems are the visual dimension of political discourses. The differences of emblems as a part of the discourse or the visual effect of a discourse may return to the specific way of that visual effect or be interpreted as a certain political tendency. Discourses consistent with the symbol of the lion and sun are patrimonial, royal, and national identity discourses based on historical past and religious identity. This emblem is indicative of the ideals of ideological traditionalists, as an attractive visual aspect of religious discourse. In this way, any emblem that represents the visual dimension of the discourse of Sunnis or other religious minorities is removed, or rejected by displaying this symbol in the ministries, press, publications, etc. The discourse of the Islamic Revolution is a reaction to the absolute modernism of the Pahlavi period. The discourses that arose in the Islamic revolution included strategies and conflicts such as class struggle, exploitation, and struggle against imperialism and colonialism. This discourse resists the field of power that the Orientalist and Middle Eastern discourse that Westerners create. The comparison of the Qajar and Islamic Republic emblems shows the difference in their attitude in choosing the type of governance. The Qajar rule wants to dominate the empire and the other wants to spread Islamic rule all over the world.