The present study aimed to analyze and interpret representations of kolbari in academic texts and works of art as two different texts related to a common theme and concern. In recent years, kolbari has been introduced simultaneously as a clear example of underdevelopment and economic poverty, as well as a symbol of suffering and exclusion, identity and resistance.

Given the nature of the data, which includes a combination of linguistic texts (articles, poems and songs) and visual works (paintings, posters, cartoons and photographs), this study used the method of critical discourse analysis based on Fairclough's three-dimensional model and the multimodal approach using Kress and Levon's visual grammar to examine how meaning is produced in the interaction between linguistic and visual aspects.

The findings show that in academic texts, kolbari is mainly understood in connection with regional inequality, uneven development, social exclusion, border policies and structural relations of power; While the works of art transfer this phenomenon to the level of the body, suffering, emotion and lived experience, especially within the framework of ethnic identity, and transform the Kolbar body into a carrier of meaning, a sign of injustice and a concentrated field of social violence. The comparative analysis also highlights three discursive logics of security-legal, humanitarian-emotional and symbolic resistance in the representation of Kolbar. This article argues that Kolbar is not fixed in the conflict of these discourses, but is always fluctuating between victimization, criminalization, romanticization and resistance. From this perspective, the representation of Kolbar can be considered part of the process of producing meaning, identity and power on the border margins of Iranian society.