Iran's nuclear programme: An analysis of face in political interviews

Abstract

We adopt Spencer-Oatey’s approach to examine face concerns relating to self-presentation and identity attributes. Selected extracts from political interviews involving Western interviewers and Iranian interviewees were analysed to examine how participants constructed and negotiated their personal, collective and relational selves as they unfolded in the interaction. The number of political interviews examined was 19, amounting to ten hours of talk. Extracts presented for analysis came from four interviews. The topic raised was concerned with Iran’s nuclear power programme, which had aroused concern and had been the focus of international attention. Iranian public figures interviewed on global broadcast news were often questioned about Iran’s refusal to give up its nuclear power programme, which they had to address with care to present Iran and the Iranian people and their individual selves with a more positive self-image to the global public at large.