Representation of Women in History Textbooks of the Second Pahlavi Period: An Analysis Based on Foucault's Thoughts

Document Type : Review Article

Author

PhD student in History, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran.

Abstract
The present study aims to analyze the representation of women in history textbooks of the second Pahlavi period, based on Foucault's three theoretical frameworks. This study, with a qualitative and discursive approach, examines 44 images from 22 history textbook titles between 1940 and 1978 to reveal the ideological and cultural mechanisms of the reproduction of power, gender, and symbolic order. The findings show that the images of women in these texts are mainly represented in the form of royal, aristocratic, and power-dependent figures, and the female body is defined within the framework of the patriarchal order and the modernization discourse of the Pahlavi state. From Foucault's perspective, these images are part of the regime of knowledge and discipline of the body; a tool through which the educational institution reproduces the dominant political and cultural order. Analysis based on Krippendorff's visual model revealed that visual elements such as clothing, gesture, composition, and gaze carry codes of power and obedience, and women are represented as submissive subjects and symbols of civilisation. At the same time, some signs indicate the possibility of resistance and redefinition of female identity in the context of educational discourse. The results of this research, while criticising the dominant discourse, remind us of the need to reconsider the visual and gender policies of formal education.

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Volume 15, Issue 2 - Serial Number 30
Autumn and Winter 2025-2026
March 2026

  • Receive Date 12 October 2025
  • Revise Date 24 December 2025
  • Accept Date 28 December 2025