Richard
Mayer
Dr.
Cocozzelli
GOV
4993
March
23, 2017
Iranians in Texas: Migration, Politics,
and Ethnic Identity
Iranians
in Texas: Migration, Politics, and Ethnic Identity was written by Mohsen M. Mobasher and
did a great job of examining all of the components listed in the title. In the
161 pages of detail, Mobasher explains why Iranians have moved from their
native country, their general perceptions of the American people and country,
and their overall assimilation. Before discussing the text, I want to present
the author’s argument. On page 21, Mobasher writes, “…I argue that post
revolutionary political forces in Iran and the sociopolitical conditions and
discriminatory immigration laws after the hostage crisis not only created a set
of unforeseen problems for Iranian immigrant families but also played crucial
roles in slowing the family’s reconstruction, transforming its structure, and
disintegrating it in exile.” The author conducts his research with participant
observation. Mainly by conducting personal interviews with Iranians in Texas,
whether they were over the phone or face to face. He focused on personal
narratives of a large subject pool in order to gain a better understanding of
the problems and circumstances the diaspora community was facing. A main focus
of the book is the assimilation of Iranians in the United States and the
problems they face in attempting to adjust to the Western lifestyle.
A point is made at the beginning of the
text sets the tone for the rest of the book, that influence from an Iranian’s
home country and new country must always be accounted for. The author thinks
that political changes that took place in Iran were the main driving force
pushing people out of the country. Mobasher notes that the most impactful
events were the 1953 CIA coup d’état, the 1978-79 revolution, the hostage
crisis of 1979, and the terrorist attacks from September 11, 2001. When the
hostages were taken in 1979, President Carter drastically shifted the American
people’s perception of Iranians. It was at this point where Iranians would
begin to be referred to as, “extremists,” and, “terrorists,” and receive an
overall negative public image. To make matters worse, he implemented a
crackdown on Iranians, including requirement of registration of location and
visa status with the Immigration and Naturalization Service Office (INS).
“Furthermore, all Iranian assets in the United States were frozen, tighter restrictions
on visas for Iranians were implemented, all visas issued to Iranians in the
United States were revoked, and as many as 6,906 students were subject to
deportation” (Mobasher 2012, 4). And this was the beginning of the anti-Islamic
sentiments that Iranians in America began to feel. This was a bit paradoxical,
as many of the Iranians in America had fled the same enemy in Iran, whether it
was for religious, economic, social, or other personal reasons. Many of the
Iranians in America were opposed to new government in Iran, but they were
treated as if they were also anti-West.
These public opinions began to take their
toll on the Iranian population in the United States. They began doing whatever
they could to attempt to disassociate with the country and the newly instituted
national religion of Islam. Iranian nationals initially attempted to stray away
with the other Iranians in the country by denouncing the religion and even
denying their national identity. Mobasher details several personal narratives
from people he interviewed, some samples explained that they would associate
with other middle eastern countries, or other countries from their ethnic
background, to avoid the prejudice and discrimination that would come with
being labeled as an Iranian. There is a common phenomenon in which Iranians
began to call themselves Persians, because they felt they connect with Persian
values more than with the newly revitalized Islamic values of Iran. Mobasher
cites M. Ansari’s field observation by saying, “…because of all the negative
characterizations, many school-aged Iranians asked their parents to buy them green
contact lenses so they would look like non-Iranians” (Mobasher 2012, 56).
People also take more advanced steps, like plastic surgery, to make their image
more, “white.” One of the biggest complaints that Mobasher derives from his
research is that there is no solidarity between Iranians in the United States.
There is no single voice, and many Iranians have become cynical and distrusting
of each other. In fact, on page 83 Mobasher writes that Texas Iranians feel
that Iranians in Los Angeles are, “… more crooked, phony, thick-headed,
shallow, superficial, wealthy, assimilated and Americanized.” With the
disconnect between their own people and their new country, it is extremely
difficult for Iranians to enhance their quality of life, even though they are already
among the most well educated and wealthy groups in the country.
Mobasher thinks that one of the biggest
reasons that Iranians seem to be torn between the old Iranian social structure
and the western configuration found in the United States is because of women.
In Iran, men are responsible for the women because they have a very limited
social roll, but that is not the case in America. With concepts like premarital
sex and divorce being extremely frowned upon in their home countries, but less polarizing
in the United States, women are exercising their freedoms more than usual. I
agree with this completely. Similar to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it would
be hard for women to assimilate to their traditional roll of Islam once they
have been subjected to the freedoms that have formerly been forbidden. This new
exercise of power downplays the roll of the man, and leads some men to not want
to fully assimilate, in fear of losing their influence.
The author did a very good job of
supporting his argument of why the Iranians have fled their country and also in
exploring the various problems that they are met with in the United States when
it comes to social acceptance. The book is beneficial for the political science
field and should be read by people outside of the community because it examines
problems that Iranians face on a day-to-day basis. If more people read this
book, I feel that most of the negative stigmas and perceptions of Iranians
would be resolved. Before reading the book, I felt that the argument would be
sound, however, the supplemental data that Mobasher provides makes the argument
strong. This book has provided me with an excellent background for Iranians in
the United States in regard to their social setting as well as the reasons that
they left their country in the first place. I especially enjoyed segments of
chapters one, four, and five, as they contained life stories of immigrants from
Iran. Of course reading data is beneficial from an academic standpoint, but
reading a narrative of a real person was not only helpful in understanding the
person’s circumstances, but also made the content of the book more enjoyable
than the average political science text. The author provides readers with a
great amount of both quantitative and qualitative data that I will use in my
own research about what drove people out of Iran. I suspect that that Cuban
rationale for fleeing the country will be quite similar to that of Iranians. I also
think that personal interviews are a great way of conducting this research, as
some of the concepts would be extremely difficult to find from text. This is a
method that I would like to implement for my own research this semester.
Mobasher actually mentions the similarities of Iran and Cuba in the
introduction, so I am now reassured that my topic will be one of actual
comparison and academic interest. I have a semi-large sample pool of Cubans
that I may reach out to, as I am first generation Cuban and my grandparents
still have contact with Cuba but also belong to the Cuban Club, in Connecticut.
As noted, I feel that personal stories are beneficial for readers and I think
it would be beneficial to incorporate a small amount of them into my own work,
to make the content more tangible.
References
·
Ansari, M. (1988). Iranian Immigrants in the United States: A
Case of Dual Marginality. New York: Associated Faculty Press.
·
Mobasher, Mohsen M. (2012). Iranians
in Texas: Migration, Politics, and Ethnic Identity. Austin: University Of Texas
Press.
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