Table Of ContentABSTRACT
Title of Document: DISCOURSE AND DISSENT IN THE
DIASPORA: CIVIC AND POLITICAL LIVES
OF IRANIAN AMERICANS
Mari Tina Zarpour, PhD, 2013
Directed By: Dr. Judith N. Freidenberg, Professor,
Department of Anthropology
This study examines the political agency of Iranian immigrants. Through the
rhetorical device of “political talk” which encompasses politically- and civically-
oriented discourse, action and ideology, this research follows political talk as it
presents itself in two locations within the public sphere: in the life course of Iranian
Americans, and through online discourse. Methods used included a combination of
conventional ethnography (participant observation, informal interviews, life history
interviews), and virtual ethnography to develop a typology of political and civic
action. Life history interviews provided an understanding of the meanings informants
assigned to political and civic action within the larger trajectory of their lives,
especially within the context of migration experiences. Virtual ethnography involved
the analysis of three different Iranian digital diaspora communities.
First, this research found that the civic and political spheres of engagement are
linked, and that Iranian immigrants use organizations to learn participatory
democracy. It illustrates how ethnic organizations, online and offline, act as both
vehicles and activators for immigrant political participation and further civic
engagement in the U.S. Additionally, this research uncovers how factors (age at
migration, length of time in U.S., particular migration experience) impact notions of
belonging and solidarity. It unpacks immigrant political agency to demonstrate the
range of behaviors and activities which constitute political and civic participation. It
contributes to understanding modes of citizenship and belonging by relating
individual, historical, and situational variables in order to understand the relationship
between homeland events, immigrant politicization and political behavior. Analysis
of the three digital communities evidenced the multiple ways that digital diasporas
can be a forum for engaging politically and in creating political community by
allowing for a diversity of voices. Finally, merging conventional and virtual
ethnography highlighted the dominant discourses about participation in larger society,
and demonstrated the formation of a distinctly Iranian-American civil society.
DISCOURSE AND DISSENT IN THE DIASPORA: THE CIVIC AND POLITICAL
LIVES OF IRANIAN AMERICANS.
Mari Tina Zarpour
Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
2013
Advisory Committee:
Professor Judith N. Freidenberg, Chair
Dr. Michael Paolisso
Dr. John Grayzel
Dr. John Caughey
Dr. Lisa Mar
© Copyright by
Mari Tina Zarpour
2013
Preface
The product of a mixed parentage—and Iranian father and Mexican American
mother made us a rarity, especially in Texas where I did them ajority of my growing
up. My family’s background was set apart for another reason. My parents met in San
Antonio, Texas when my mother (from a tiny Texas border town where some of the
streets are still not paved) was working as a secretary at Lackland Ai rForce Base and
my father, a pilot with the Iranian Imperial Air Force was sent by the Iranian
government for training in the late 1950s. That was in a different era of diplomatic
relations between the U.S. and Iran-- friends then, enemies now! My parents married
in 1960 and moved to Iran. All of us three children were born there, unlike most of
the other Iranian “halfies” I might encounter in the United States. California was like
a dream to me with its vibrant landscaping, blue skies, and the Pacific Ocean. It was
my parents’ favored vacation spot because we could stay with extended family. In
Texas, we were fairly isolated from other Iranians. In San Diego, being a tourist in La
Jolla, you couldn’t walk 10 feet without hearing someone speak Farsi, the most
common language spoken in Iran.
Not following in the dominant and prevailing tradition of anthropological field
research, I am “home” in conducting fieldwork. Though I did not grow up in San
Diego, or California, for that matter I have had extended family there for years and it
is now my home as an adult parent, raising children in San Diego. I have lived in San
Diego three years now. Because of this, the repercussions of which I cannot always
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grasp, the edges of fieldwork are blurred to these moments of heightened interaction I
1
describe above. Where does fieldwork begin and end for me?
In what follows here in the Preface and through the Introduction, I arduously
describe how I arrived at my research problem, which is centered on the
manifestation of political “talk” in different arenas among Iranian Americans.
Perhaps I am making myself “vulnerable” (Behar 1996) to write about all these
wanderings, and to expose my structure as visible through showing the natural history
of its derivation.
I now realize that the seeds of this research were implanted in me through
enculturation as a child. As such it is deeply personal and intertwined with my
growing up years-- on the fringes of Iranian culture as a person with a trifurcated
identity (Iranian, Mexican/South Texas, American) during many long evenings of
meyhmooni (social visits with food) at the homes of other Iranians and hearing daily
telephone conversations my Iranian father had with his friends where the debate topic
was politics—Iranian politics—always heated and passionate. Fast forward two or
three decades, and the topics and people change but the overall scene remains the
same.
My partial insider status to Iranian culture as a member of its 1.25 generation
(Rumbaut 2004) population allowed me to understand that this was more than just my
dad and his friends-- Iranians seem to be more political. However I still had no
understanding about why Iranians engage in more political talk. I wished to
understand this political talk better—why do Iranian immigrants continue to talk
1
I do not want to ignore the existing anthropological literature on studying at home
or being “native” among your informants. However, I still maintain that leaving home to
study others is still the principal trope in anthropology.
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about home politics when they live abroad? Further does all of this political talk
translate to political action, involvement in civic life in the United States, or into
greater political understandings and engagement with politics?
My insider status to American culture allowed me to understand that politics
was one thing that you just did not talk about with your friends in the U.S. Discussing
politics and religion among a circle of people is taboo—it might invite arguments or
create unnecessary tension and division among friends. Friends’ or acquaintances’
political leanings and ideology have sometimes been such a dark hole, that I have
often been surprised to later find out where they fall on the political or ideological
spectrum.
Among Iranians on the other hand, I observed, passionate and loud politically-
oriented debates during meyhmooni that were no big deal afterwards for the people
involved. Indeed, I do not think it is uncommon for Iranians with sometimes
drastically different political ideologies not only to be friends but to also actually
express these views amongst each other with no ill will afterwards. One perspective
could argue that it is Iran’s repressive politics and policies towards its citizens that
initially politicizes its citizens, wherever they find themselves. This was certainly the
viewpoint of one of my informants. Another possibility is the collective trauma of
being displaced from your homeland as a result of 1979 Iranian Revolution puts you
in the same boat as your compatriots, and that for the most part though your
ideologies may differ you likely share and distaste for your homeland government.
If the first reason for developing a research question was based on personal
experience, the second impetus for developing the research question is observational,
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and evolved out of witnessing with outrage and sadness how the Iranian government
cracked down on protesters in the streets and other dissidents in the aftermath of the
June 2009 re-election of Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Yet I also witnessed with
great interest how the political turmoil in their homeland ignited Iranian immigrants
all over the world—what I will later theorize as the Iranian diaspora—for a common
cause. I saw previously apathetic Iranians participating in rallies and marches
throughout Europe and the United States, and circulating anti-government messages
through Facebook, YouTube and other virtual means of communication. My Iranian
relatives and friends were genuinely engaged and excited about post-election events.
It was as if they saw a rip in the shroud with light peeking through. Among some
exiles, I heard hope that an eventual return to Iran would be possible soon.
My initial work with this topic began with my specialization in studies of
immigrant groups during graduate school. This provided the third impetus to
formulate my research question. The June 2009 events happened as I was completing
my PhD requirements. I had participated in theoretical discussions about immigrant
and transnational identities working at the Smithsonian and at the University of
Maryland throughout my Masters of Applied Anthropology degree, but could now
expand to consider the politics of middle-class and “elite” immigrants.
As a scholar broadly interested in the migration process, especially in how it
intersects with ideas of citizenship and belonging, there were so many exciting
research avenues to explore using the June 2009 event as a trigger to understand
immigrant politics, including the role of new media is re-shaping politics from afar,
the participation of youth and second generation Iranians in emerging social
v
movements, how people use social networks across vast spaces to affect change, the
meaning and significance of these networks, the relationship between involvement in
homeland politics and other forms of political/civic participation, how diasporas
contribute to the political development of their homeland, etc. I had all these
potentialities in mind when I moved away from Maryland in October 2009 to enter
the field and my new residence in San Diego, California.
In what follows here I consider Iranian immigrant political agency as
expressed through their organizations and associations.
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Dedication
Dedicated to two generations past and one generation future:
-To my grandparent forbearers, rural people separated on two continents that could
never have imagined my life now and its possibilities .
-To my parents who gave me all the tools, to the best that they coul.d
-To my children, Zari and Julian, the little whirling dervishes who simultaneously tilt
me off my axis and keep me balanced. There is something divine and magical in tha t.
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