Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-217) and index.
Contents:
Introduction -- Part I. Troubled Heritage: History and Religion in the Diasporic Reconstruction: 1. Explaining Departure: Narratives of Victimicy; 2. A Usable Past: Construction of Religion and Alternative Identifications -- Part II. Language, Body, and the Iranian-American Self: 3. The Interplay of Language and Identity Construction; 4. The Iranian-American Body In Between -- Part III. Culture Inherited/in Flux: 5. Between Fiction and Fact: Telling the Iranian-American Self; 6. Relative Identities: The Iranian-American Self in Its Relation to Others; 7. Imagining "Home:" Between Persian Paradise and American Arcadia -- Conclusion.
Summary:
"Defined by the Iranian Revolution, forced migration and diaspora, Iranian-American autobiographies center in the experience of rupture and discontinuity. Taking autobiographical writing as performance of identity, this study identifies their narrative patterns and communicative functions in the interaction of author, diaspora and American market. Especially authors' disidentification with traditionalism and politicized Islam and their construction of a 'Persian' instead of Iranian identity speaks not only to the diaspora, but is also geared towards greater acceptance in American society. What is more, self-orientalization aims to satisfy the expectations of American readers. However, this seems to be the price that Iranian-American autobiographers need to pay if they want to work as cultural brokers on behalf of a country that has become largely demonized. Tracing these dynamics of individual and collective identity construction within one of the youngest minorities in the USA, this study offers insights that are not only of scholarly but also of political importance"-- Provided by publisher. "Defined by the experience of the Iranian Revolution and diaspora, Iranian-American autobiographies center in the multilayered experience of rupture and discontinuity. Taking autobiographical writing as performance of identity, this study identifies their narrative patterns and traces their communicative functions in the interaction of author, diaspora and book market"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.