From built to performed space: post-election protests in Tehran

ABSTRACT

This paper redefines the protest space as a performed liminal space that is topologically constituted. The production of protest space is examined through the narrations of people and participants during the post-election protests in Iran in 2009. It is well established that social exchanges are manifested in very diverse platforms, from new media to urban public spaces; this paper particularly argues that there is a topological relationship between all manifestations of protest. In other words, the protest space is articulated as a topological space, in which the protest can unfold in its physical, social, mental, and temporal capacities. The discussions deal with the complexity of spatial manifestations of protest. On one hand, the protest is discussed within the theoretical framework of ritual, showing that the protest is a temporal/liminal space. This framework helps not only to integrate spatial and temporal dimensions of protest, but also to avoid problematic conventional understanding of crowds. On the other hand, the protest space is articulated as a performed space, explaining how the protest space and collective performance are co-excited.

KEYWORDS:

• Space
• performed space
• protest
• crowds
• Tehran
• Iran
• the Middle East

Acknowledgment

This paper is the result of my research when I was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin during 2012–2015.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This position was removed from the Iranian Constitution when it was revised in the late 1980s.

2 Arash Ghafouri was involved in public relations for Mousavi during the 2009 election campaign. He currently lives in exile in Washington, DC.

3 Although it is not easy, and sometimes controversial, to distinguish rituals from everyday activities, Tala Asad argues that: ‘ritual is symbolic activity as opposed to the instrumental behaviour of everyday life’ (1993, 55).

4 Geiger addressed this idea through Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (roughly mean community and society). Borch (2006b) has extensively introduced and discussed Geiger’s theory of revolutionary action.

5 Farokh Negahdar, a well-known Iranian activist, who has lived in London since 1992. He describes himself not only as a leftist activist, but also as a professional political analyst. He was invited to appear on BBC Persian TV programmes a couple of times every week before and after the 2009 presidential election.

6 This is well related to the idea of acusmata (Chion 1994) that also address sounds whose sources are not visible.

7 Augé articulates ‘non-places’, for example, shopping malls and airports, as a place in which people experience a heightened sense of anonymity and a compulsion to adhere to strictly codified behaviour.

8 This kind of protest began in the immediate aftermath of announcing the election results. However, when the street rallies were harshly suppressed, protest became limited to these kinds of actions.

Additional information

Funding

The author’s fellowship was supported by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.