June 9, 2020 Free Zoom Networking , Iranian Diaspora Identities by Ziba Shirazi 5-6 pm

 

 

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Description

Iranian Diaspora Identities:

Stories and Songs combines oral history, storytelling, theoriesof communication, and performance studies into a unique study of an immigrant community.This book is the result of collaborative work between two Iranian-American immigrants. ZibaShirazi is a well-known musician, artist and performer. Kamran Afary is an Assistant Professorof Communication Studies at Cal State Los Angeles and a journalist and author. Usingethnographic, dramatistic, and oral history approaches, Ziba Shirazi gathered these stories ofdiaspora journeys of Iranians living in California and Toronto in the aftermath of the IslamicRevolution of 1979. These stories were transcribed and developed into short performance piecesthat included lyrics and songs and were performed in theUnited States and Canada to thousandsof people in theater venues and libraries. These stories constitute a unique archive of the historyof contemporary Iranian diaspora experiences. They are autobiographic vignettes that havehelped constitute an artistic vision of Iranian exiles’own sense of community and their migratoryexperiences that inform the transformations they experienced in family, gender, and spiritualbeliefs. In addition to providing an archive of experiences, the book uses social drama andstorytelling to advocate for a new methodology for documenting Iranian diaspora accounts. Itconstitutes a new contribution to the existing literature on Iranian diaspora and furthers anexciting contribution to scholarship in qualitative research in Communication Studies.A Note About the AuthorsZiba Shirazi (MA) is a poet, singer, songwriter and storyteller who left Iran in 1985. As anartist, she is best known for her poignant songs and storytelling through poetry. Shirazi’s compositionsblend together flavors of Persian melodies with world music and jazz. She is the first Iranian femalesinger-songwriter to write all her own songs, as well as to produce and promote them in seven albumssince 1990. Ziba is referred to as the ‘voice of women’in the Iranian-American community; her lyrics arecolored by passionate feminist tones, love, compassion, and universal human stories. Beginning in 2009,Shirazi created the ongoing project of Story & Song, a lyrical storytelling series of performances, set tolive music with video projections featuring stories of Iranian immigrant families and their struggles sincethe Islamic Revolution. In the spring of 2014, Shirazi staged her first musical production, Spring Love, atthe Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Her ongoing projects continue to touch audiences’hearts, crossing cultural gaps with her unique art of storytelling. To know more about her work, see:www.zibashirazi.comKamran Afary (PhD) is the author of Performance and Activism: Grassroots Discourse Afterthe Los Angeles Rebellion of 1992 (Lexington Press, 2009). He is an Assistant Professor ofCommunication Studies at California State University Los Angeles. He is also a Registered DramaTherapist (RDT) at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles. He has over twenty years of teachingboth on campus and in prison education, and professional experience as a radio journalist anddocumentary-maker, producing programs focused on labor struggles, immigration, and race relations.Kamran Afary has contributed to the writing of this book by shaping the analysis of the performancescripts and theorizing this research into a scholarly project.

ContentsAcknowledgementsA Note on Translations, Monologues, and StoriesIntroduction:

Revolution, War, and the Making of an Iranian Diaspora Literature.Monologues1. My Rite of Passage and Unexpected FateZiba Shirazi2. The OutsiderFariba Boghraty3. The Pain of Language BarrierFarrokh Boghraty4. Senior LifeMassy5. Lost IdentityNasrin Almasi6. A Girl with an American HusbandShahla7. Made in America, Delivered in IranShahrzad Safinya8. Unfulfilled DreamsShervin9. A Simple DreamValentina NazaretianStories10.A Dream of HopeMahvash Dareshi Gheytanchi Levi11. Asal (Honey)Homayoun Houshiarnejad12. Living a Full LifeIran13. ASpace to DesignManijeh Teymouri14. A Small Suitcase for a Great EscapeModjgan Rashtian15. The TeacherSorour Nayeri16. The First KissVida Ghahremani17. The Doorbell RingZohrehIn Place of A Conclusion: A Selective Analysis of the Themes of IranianDiaspora.BibliographyAbout the AuthorsIndex

Endorsements for Iranian Diaspora Identities:

Stories and SongsStarting with a deceptively simple question, “When and why did you leave Iran?”Ziba Shiraziuncovered a trove of compelling, heartbreaking, loving, and funny stories that belie the westernstereotypes of Iranian diaspora and their experience. This compelling work of Afary and Shirazigoes beyond the academic, esoteric, sanitized investigation of culture, migration, and globalconflicts to examine the lived experiences of the sojourners’struggles, triumphs and rebirthsauthentically by using the Persian cultural bedrock-medium of poetry and storytelling. This bookbrings intercultural communication, Diaspora Studies, immigration research and cultural studiestheory alive providing scholars, students and instructors a wealth of material to consider,examine, discuss and explore.Nancy Grass, PhDAuthor: Public Speaking in American English: A Guide for Non-Native Speakers (Pearson 2007)Professor, Communication StudiesSanta Monica College1900 Pico Blvd.Santa Monica, Ca. 90405310.434.8782grass_nancy@smc.eduA unique collection of engaging and moving migration stories of diverse groups of Iranians tothe US after the Islamic revolution of 1979. Shirazi and Afary provide an informativeintroduction to the revolution and its subsequent social-political conditions that led many toleave the country. The authors offer an in-depth analysis of the themes of migration and theprocesses of acculturation and identity transformation that help the reader gain a betterunderstanding of the experiences and challenges of Iranian diaspora in the US. An importantwork oforal history and unforgettable stories.Mehrnaz SaeedvafaAuthor: Abbas Kiarostami: Contemporary Film Directors (Univ. of Illinois Press 2003)Documentary Producer: A House Is Not A Home: Wright or Wrong (2020)Professor, Cinema and Television ArtsColumbia College Chicago1104 S. Wabash, Room 601-JChicago, IL 60605(773) 699-7227msaeedvafa@colum.edu