Abstract
This article reinterprets authoritarianism within the framework of “the politics of memory” and “the politics of forgetting,” and shows that its persistence in contemporary Iran is not simply the product of coercive means, but rather is based on the engineering of collective memory and the systematic elimination of undesirable memories. Based on a qualitative-analytical approach, the processes of memory production and censorship are examined in official texts, rituals, and ceremonies such as the Path of Light, the Arbaeen Walk, the Cyrus Day ceremony, as well as in the nostalgia industry and legal-security mechanisms.
The findings suggest that the two complementary processes of producing desirable memory through reference to myths, rituals, traditions, and rituals, and preventing undesirable memory through censorship, denial, destruction, and obstruction, play a central role in the naturalization of authority and the legitimization of political violence. As a result, the politics of memory and forgetting, through selective historical construction, undermine the possibility of critical confrontation with the past and transform authoritarian representations into dominant forms of political order.
