Iranian Diaspora Identities

Ziba Shirazi is a poet, singer, songwriter and storyteller best known for her poignant songs and storytelling through poetry. Shirazi created the ongoing project of Story & Song, a lyrical storytelling series of performances, set to live music with video projections featuring stories of Iranian diaspora experiences.Kamran Afary is assistant professor of communication studies at California State University Los Angeles and a registered drama therapist (RDT). He is the author of Performance and Activism: Grassroots Discourse after the Los Angeles Rebellion of 1992.

• AcknowledgmentsA Note on Translations, Monologues, and StoriesIntroduction: Revolution, War, and the Making of an Iranian Diaspora Literature .Monologues 1.My Rite of Passage and Unexpected Fate Ziba Shirazi2.The Outsider Fariba Boghraty3.The Pain of Language Barrier Farrokh Boghraty4.Senior Life Massy Alavi5.Lost Identity Nasrin Almasi6.A Girl with an American Husband Shahla7.Made in America, Delivered in Iran Shahrzad Safinya8.Unfulfilled Dreams Shervin9.A Simple Dream Valentina NazaretianStories 10A Dream of HopeMahvash Dareshi Gheytanchi Levi11.Asal (Honey) Homayoun Houshiarnejad12.Living a Full Life Iran13.A Space to Design Manijeh Teymouri14.A Small Suitcase for a Great Escape Modjgan Rashtian15.The Teacher Sorour Nayeri16.The First Kiss Vida Ghahremani17.The Doorbell Ring ZohrehIn Place of a Conclusion. A Selective Analysis of the Themes of Iranian Diaspora BibliographyIndexAbout the Editors

Starting with a deceptively simple question, 'When and why did you leave Iran?' Ziba Shirazi and Kamran Afary have uncovered a trove of compelling, heartbreaking, loving, and funny stories that belie the western stereotypes of Iranian diaspora and their experience. This compelling work of Shirazi and Afary goes beyond the academic, esoteric, sanitized investigation of culture, migration, and global conflicts to examine the lived experiences of the sojourners’ struggles, triumphs and rebirths authentically by using the Persian cultural bedrock-medium of poetry and storytelling. Iranian Diaspora Identities brings intercultural communication, diaspora studies, immigration research and cultural studies theory alive, providing scholars, students, and instructors a wealth of material to consider, examine, discuss, and explore.