The Language of Liberation: A Postcolonial Discourse Analysis of Khomeinism as an Ideological Framework against Western Domination

Abstract

The language of liberation operates as both a moral code and a communicative weapon in revolutionary movements, shaping consciousness and constructing a counter-narrative against domination. This study undertakes a postcolonial discourse analysis of Khomeinism as an ideological framework that dismantles Western cultural hegemony through linguistic, theological, and political expressions. Imam Khomeini’s discourse fuses Quranic morality with anti-imperial rhetoric, positioning Islam as a system of intellectual emancipation and resistance to Western arrogance. Drawing upon his speech broadcast on Radio Tehran on March 21, 1980, titled “We Shall Confront the World with Our Ideology”, this paper examines how Imam Khomeini transformed political language into a revolutionary mechanism for civilisational defiance. Hence, research questions focus on; a) how Imam Khomeini’s discourse challenges Western conceptual superiority; b) how linguistic structures reflect decolonial consciousness; and c) how ideological framing produces collective identity against imperial narratives. Theoretically, this study applies Edward Said’s Orientalism to decode colonial representation and integrates Norman Fairclough’s Discourse and Ideology to interpret Imam Khomeini’s rhetorical strategies and power construction. Complementary tools from conversation analysis explore tone, rhythm and religious invocations as instruments of persuasion.

Findings indicate that Imam Khomeini’s discourse establishes an enduring linguistic order of resistance in which divine sovereignty replaced Western modernity as the supreme reference of legitimacy. His use of language redefines power as moral authority, transforming political communication into a theology of liberation that continues to challenge colonial epistemes and Western narratives of civilisation.