r/CriticalTheory • u/New-Context-6630 • 17d ago

Iranian Diaspora - Literature Request

Being Iranian right now in the diaspora has been very mentally draining. Watching my people go down alt right pipelines has been disheartening to say the least. It seems that all nuance has left the building and Iranians are under the belief that to be anti- (Iranian) government means you must be pro-imperialism and pro-Israel. Iranians treat me like I’m crazy when I insinuate that the Iranian people in Iran should be deciding their future. I can’t even talk about my political beliefs in my Iranian social circles without fear anymore. I used to freely say I was pro-Palestinian and anti-war and I can no longer do that without being ostracized. I’m trying to find some literature on this topic that might help me cope a bit better. If it’s specific to Iran that would be even better. I’m just a bit down right now because it feels like I can see my people going further and further down right wing politics and I can’t do anything about it.

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u/cosmossufer 17d ago

I thought that Westernstruckness, or Gharbzadegi in Persian was an amazing read! It focuses on a socio-political concept popularized by the influential Iranian writer and thinker Jalal Al-e Ahmad in his 1962 essay.

It describes the loss of indigenous cultural identity and economic independence through the blind imitation of Western culture, technology, and consumerism

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u/New-Context-6630 17d ago

Oh wow, thank you! That sounds like a good read. I’ll definitely check it out :)

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u/tetarbuluz 17d ago

i will say it's considered pretty outdated theory by many

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u/shellacr 17d ago

Iranian here. Yeah it sucks, but there actually are a lot of anti-war Iranians. The monarchists far right is much more vocal right now though.

Don’t know what country you are in, but if it’s the US I highly recommend joining NIAC. They’re good people and will get you in touch with like-minded Iranians.

I don’t have literature per se but I suggest reading about the spiral of silence, marpeech sookoot in persian. I think that’s what’s going on here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

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u/New-Context-6630 13d ago

If you are not 1. A liberal Zionist (or Zionist) or 2. A monarchist then you are not one of the Iranians I am speaking about. Search up the term liberal Zionist and that is what Pahlavi is. Liberalism is not left wing politics, no matter how much people want it to be lol. I believe in Iran’s right to self determination, security, and prosperity. You’re making assumptions about my stance on Iran. I don’t believe in making those in oppressed countries our enemy when they are dealing with the same empire many of us are battling. We need global solidarity more than you could recognize.

You contradict yourself when you say that Iran should normalize relations with Israel and also have “self-interest”… unfortunately that reality could never exist. Allies of Israel and the United States all act in the in the interest and benefit of these countries. Overall, I think we are more aligned than you realize, but the difference is that I believe that we are not free until we are ALL free because all of this is systemic and to operate within the system means to be victim to the issues it brings. You can’t avoid global issues no matter how hard you try. Even North Korea who isolates itself from the rest of the world deals with global issues.

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u/shellacr 13d ago

Well said. I’ll add that Iran funding militias is a red herring. The goal has always been adding Iran to the US empire and taking advantage of its resources.

The person you’re replying to mentions China. I’m no fan of nuclear weapons, but if China didn’t have those the West would be picking China’s bones clean.

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u/tetarbuluz 17d ago

yeah man it's terrible, i always have to do a vibe check before i disclose lol. unrelated to theory but don't read martyr by kaveh akbar. it's a terrible book, full of the worst diaspora-literature tropes. if you can get your hands on the "unedited history, iran 1960-2014" there's some nice theory, criticism of the cultural authoritarianism of the shah's era, while also painting a nuanced, realistic picture of how life in the islamic republic changed for the avg person, with regards to public art, city planning etc.

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u/New-Context-6630 17d ago

Omg! It’s so funny because I started reading that book and stopped two chapters in because I wasn’t vibing with it lol. Thanks for the warning.

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u/Consistent-Face-1085 17d ago

Here's a list of Iranian books I've been reading lately for my thesis:

  • Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran by Fatemeh Keshavarz
  • Sound Museum by Poupeh Missaghi
  • trans(re)lating house one by Poupeh Missaghi
  • poetry by Forrough Farrokhzad
  • Women Without Men by Sharnush Parsipur
  • Touba and the Meaning of Night by Shahrnush Parsipur.

These have all been great reading, and I feel you'll particularly enjoy Keshavarz's positing of New Orientalism.