ABSTRACT
This chapter adopts a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach to elaborate the self-legitimization strategies employed in the bottom-up discursive practices on a social networking site, produced by the public, and in particular the younger community of Iran. Performing through the juxtaposition of new contexts of pop and hip hop lyrics and rhythms and old contextual features of religious rituals provides discursive opportunities for a celebrated young Iranian hip hop singer, Hossein Tohi, to express his version of national/cultural tendencies. Meanwhile, for Islamic elites these new trends of performing religious rituals are considered an invasion of foreign (i.e., Western) culture. This chapter analyzes user-generated comments attached to Tohi’s Instagram post about his recent participation in the religious ritual of Muharram Commemorations to illustrate how his young followers perceive the national symbols of this religious ritual while welcoming to construct them anew to legitimize their own sense of self while encountering global contemporary trends of popular culture.
