2
Retired Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Tabriz, Iran
10.22034/jiiph.2026.71163.2624
Abstract
Epidemic recurring features of social life in Safavid Iran and were represented in the historical texts of the period through specific semantic and discursive frameworks. As a principal actor in the social and political sphere, the Safavid government adopted particular responses to outbreaks of epidemic diseases such as plague, as reflected in contemporary historical accounts and narratives. These responses can be understood in relation to religious beliefs, social order, and structures of political power. Despite the abundance of historical sources on epidemics in Safavid Iran, existing scholarship has largely remained descriptive and has rarely examined governmental responses from a discursive and semantic perspective. Accordingly, this study investigates the discursive construction of the Safavid government’s responses to epidemic diseases as represented in historical texts. Drawing on discursive semiotics and employing a qualitative analysis of Safavid-period sources, including chronicles and travel accounts, the research identifies and analyzes the dominant semantic patterns through which these responses were represented. The central question is how the Safavid government’s responses to epidemic diseases were interpreted and represented in historical texts and through which discursive mechanisms these interpretations were organized. The findings indicate that such responses were constructed within a relatively stable and recurring discursive framework in which epidemic diseases were understood through concepts such as divine will, destiny, social order, and governmental prudence. Rather than constituting merely ad hoc responses to individual outbreaks, these representations drew on established interpretive patterns that provided a recognizable framework for understanding and explaining epidemic disease in Safavid societydiseases were
کمپفر، انگلبرت (13۶3).سفرنامه کمپفر به ایران. تهران: خوارزمی.
گرس، ایون (1370).سفیر زیبا: سرگذشت و سفرنامه فرستاده فرانسه در دربار شاه سلطان حسین صفوی، ترجمه علیاصغر سعیدی، تهران.
گرمس، آلژیرداس ژولین (1399).نقصان معنا (عبور از روایتشناسی ساختگرا: زیباییشناسی حضور). ترجمه و شرح حمیدرضا شعیری. تهران: خاموش.
منشی قمی، احمد بن حسین (1383). خلاصةالتواریخ. به کوشش احسان اشراقی، تهران: دانشگاه تهران.
واله قزوینى اصفهانى، محمدیوسف (1382).ایران در زمان شاهصفى و شاهعباس دوم. تصحیح محمدرضا نصیرى، تهران: انجمن آثار و مفاخر فرهنگى.
مقالهها
شعیری، حمیدرضا و فاطمه عظیمیفرد (1۴03).مجموعه مقالات همایش بینالمللی نشانهشناسی مسائل و کنشهای اجتماعی. تهران: نویسه پارسی.
شعیری، حمیدرضا (139۴). مقاومت، ممارست و مماشات گفتمانی: قلمروهای گفتمان و کارکردهای نشانه-معناشناختی آن. جامعهشناسی ایران، 16(1)، 110-128.
ب) منابع انگلیسی
Fossali, Pierluigi Basso. (2017). La passion et la figurativité, Semiotica, de gruyter mouton.
Pennycook, Gordon, Bence Bagó and Jonathon McPhetres. (2019). Science beliefs, political ideology, and cognitive sophistication, Journal of experimental psychology:General, Vol 152, and No 1.
manoochehri, A. and karimi, A. (2026). A Semiotic-Discursive Analysis of the Safavid Government’s Response to Infectious Diseases Based on Historical Texts. Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 17(46), 159-181. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2026.71163.2624
MLA
manoochehri, A. , and karimi, A. . "A Semiotic-Discursive Analysis of the Safavid Government’s Response to Infectious Diseases Based on Historical Texts", Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 17, 46, 2026, 159-181. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2026.71163.2624
HARVARD
manoochehri, A., karimi, A. (2026). 'A Semiotic-Discursive Analysis of the Safavid Government’s Response to Infectious Diseases Based on Historical Texts', Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 17(46), pp. 159-181. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2026.71163.2624
CHICAGO
A. manoochehri and A. karimi, "A Semiotic-Discursive Analysis of the Safavid Government’s Response to Infectious Diseases Based on Historical Texts," Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 17 46 (2026): 159-181, doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2026.71163.2624
VANCOUVER
manoochehri, A., karimi, A. A Semiotic-Discursive Analysis of the Safavid Government’s Response to Infectious Diseases Based on Historical Texts. Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 2026; 17(46): 159-181. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2026.71163.2624
)