Iranians in Texas : migration, politics, and ethnic identity

212 Pages·2012·14.562 MB·English

by  Mobasher, Mohsen M.

IRANIANS IN TEXAS
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IRANIANS IN TEXAS
Migration, Politics, and Ethnic Identity
Mohsen M. Mobasher
University of Texas Press Austin
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Copyright © 2012 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2012
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work
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The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements
of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Designed by Ayham Ghraowi
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mobasher, Mohsen M., 1962–
Iranians in Texas : migration, politics, and ethnic identity /
Mohsen M. Mobasher. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-292-72859-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-292-73708-2 (e-book)
1. Iranian Americans—Texas. 2. Iranians—Texas.
3. Immigrants—Texas. 4. Political refugees—Texas. 5. Iran—Politics
and government—20th century. I. Title.
f395.i5m63 2012
305.891'550764—dc23 2011031400
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Dedicated to the loving memory of my father, Morteza, and my brother Majeed
for their endless support; my dear mother, Fatemeh Tabatabaie, for enduring
seven painful years of separation and for her relentless push for a reunion; my
brother Mojtaba for his solitary fortitude in managing our family affairs in Iran;
and my sister, Maryam, for her infi nite love and effort in reconstructing our
family in exile.
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
1. The Paradox of Migration 22
Neither Happy in Exile nor Looking Forward
to Returning Home
2. To Be or Not to Be an Iranian 48
Politics, Media, and the Paradox of National Identity
3. Double Ambivalence and Double Detachment 69
The Paradox of Living in the United States
4. To Be an Iranian, American, or Iranian American 94
Family, Cultural Resistance, and the Paradox of Ethnic
Identity among Second-Generation Iranian Americans
5. Exile and the Paradox of Gender, Marriage, and Family 134
Conclusion 157
Appendix. Research Methodology 163
Notes 171
Bibliography 181
Index 189
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Preface
In 1978–1979, millions of Iranian men and women from all social back-
grounds marched through the streets of Tehran to end the fi fty-year reign
of the Pahlavi dynasty. During and after the 1978–1979 revolutionary up-
heavals, for various political and social reasons a great number of individu-
als and families from diverse socioeconomic and religious backgrounds
left Iran and settled mainly in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
This book presents the experience of Iranian immigrants in the United
States since the Iranian revolution in the context of the ongoing political
tension between Iran and the United States precipitated by the Iranian
government’s taking of fi fty-two Americans as hostages for 444 days in
1979. I chose the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis as my point of
departure for three reasons. First, with the exception of a massive migra-
tion of a large number of Iranians to India in the seventh century (Ansari
1992), the revolution of 1978–1979 was the only time in Iranian history
to witness an enormous number of people uprooted and forced to live in
exile. Second, the Iranian revolution and the U.S.-Iranian hostility gener-
ated by the hostage crisis has not only shaped the ebb and fl ow of Iranians’
immigration to the United States during the past thirty years but also in-
fl uenced the attitudes of Iranian expatriates toward the United States and
their relations with American people. Finally, the Iranian revolution and
hostage crisis marked a radical negative shift in American public opinion
toward Iran, Iranians, and Muslims.
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