Homeland and H O S T L a N D Iranian Press in Canada
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Circulation 8,000 September 2001 4 0 p a g e s N e w s l e t t e r 8 postal address t e l e p h o n e e - m a i l P.O. Box 11 0 8 9 +31-(0)71-527 79 05 i s i m @ l e t . l e i d e n u n i v . n l 2301 EB Leiden t e l e f a x u r l The Netherlands +31-(0)71-527 79 06 w w w . i s i m . n l 7 1 0 2 1 2 6 Sophie Bava Mohamed Abusabib Forough Jahanbakhsh Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh The Mouride Dahira between Political Islam and the Arts: Abdolkarim Soroush: Brotherhoods and Gender Relations Marseille and Touba The Sudanese Experience New ‘Revival of Religious Sciences’ i n M a u r i t a n i a AMIR HASSANPOUR Millions of Iranians left their country after the coming to power of the Islamic Republic in February 1979. Homeland and Some twenty years later, the urge to leave the country is as strong as it was in the early post-revolutionary years. In a world that is less hospitable to refugees, some Iranians risk their lives in search of a hostland. For many emigrating Iranians, the hostland does not H o s t l a n d readily turn into a new homeland. In fact, Iran is often present, or rather reproduced, in the memory, lan- guage, way of life, and the network of relationships that remain in place despite physical distance. Iranian Press in Canada More than ever, new communication tech- Where is the homeland? message continue to be Christian Iranians nologies contribute to the collapse of time The following newspapers, mostly week- rather than the entire Christian population and space. Round-the-clock television and lies, were published in Toronto in 2000: Ira- n of Canada. The editorial of the quoted paper radio programming in Persian is available to E sta- r (Iran Star), Ira- n - e J ava- n (Young Iran), ends by writing: ‘In a couple of months, the diasporic communities around the world via Iran Tribune, Ira- n P o s t, J avan- a- n (Youth), S a- new Iranian year [N o w r u z, March 21], too, satellite and the internet. Print journalism is la- m T o r o n t o (Hello Toronto), S a rma- y e ( C a p i- will arrive. And why should not we turn also extensive in major urban centres. tal), S e p ida- r (White Poplar), and S h a h r v a n d every day into a day of housecleaning of our (Citizen). All are secular, privately owned, fi- spirit?’ Ð housecleaning being a practice of Be hich yøar mad-e khøater o be hich diyøar nanced primarily through advertising in- preparing for the new year. Ke barr-o bahr farøakh ast oøadami besyar come, and distributed free of charge in Equally noteworthy is the treatment of the Do not dedicate yourself to any companion places frequented by the targeted reader- indigenous population of Canada. Since the and any land, ship (grocery stores, restaurants, video and 1 9t h century, Iranian perceptions of Canada Because lands and seas are vast and human b o o k s t o r e s ) . and the United States have been shaped by beings numerous. Browsing through these papers, one notes colonialist politics and discourses. Thus (Sa’di of Shiraz, Persian poet, 1184-1292 AD) immediately that the coverage of Canadian many Iranian Canadians continue to label news is minimal. Although interest in the aboriginal peoples collectively as s o r k h p u s t Quoted out of context, Sa’di’s couplet seems country of origin is to be expected in the (i.e. redskin) and refer to the Inuit people of to be a call for detaching oneself from com- ‘ethnic media’ of all immigrant communities, the Arctic region as e s k i m o; these derogato- munity and place of birth. Later in the poem, most of the cited papers are sharply focused ry labels are not used in Canada today. however, he celebrates the ties that bind on Iran. The limited space devoted to the Even in the civic nation of Canada, extra- people together and asks: ‘Who will shy Canadian-Iranian community is also centred legal dynamics of inequality Ð racial, cultur- away from the affection of a friend. Which on issues and activities related to Iran and al, economic, social, and political Ð reinforce lover will turn away from the intimacy of a being Iranian. the attachment of new citizens to their eth- b e l o v e d ? ’1 Sa’di was probably not contra- The over-representation of Iran in the press nic, religious, racial, and national roots.7 dicting himself if we see detachment and at- is matched by similar preoccupations in face- Some Iranian Canadians use the word tachment not in isolation but as constituents to-face communication. Many Iranian Cana- g h a r i b - e (stranger) to describe themselves. of a dialectical relationship. dians refer to the majority (i.e. the white pop- The author of a series of articles dealing ulation of European origin) as kha- r e j i (i.e. for- with the census data about Iranian Canadi- The Iranian diaspora eigner). The word means ‘external, outer, ex- ans chose the title ‘Stranger in the land of o f C a n a d a terior, foreigner, outsider, stranger, alien’4 s t r a n g e r s ’ .8 In spite of these linguistic and The number of Iranian immigrants in and has been used in Iran to refer to non-citi- discursive reproductions of the country of Canada was approximately 100 in 1961 and zens, especially European travellers or resi- origin, characteristic of the first generation, increased to 660 by 1970.2 According to the dents. The label is not intended to treat Euro- many Iranians integrate into their new 1996 census figures, Persian, the official or Canadians as ‘foreigners’; its use indicates h o m e l a n d . state language of Iran, was the ‘mother deep-rooted ties Ð linguistic and political Ð to tongue’ of 60,275 Canadians (out of a popu- the country of origin, Iran. Struggle for control lation of 28,846,261).3 It ranked 17t h a m o n g In a similar vein, the words hamvatan and o f t h e d i a s p o r a some 110 non-official languages of the hammihan, both meaning ‘compatriots’, are If Iranian Canadians continue to be at- country (English and French being the only used to refer to Iranian Canadians only. The tached to their first homeland, the Islamic official languages). synonyms vatan and mihan mean ‘homeland, state too continues to regard them as Iranian Canada is a country of the ideal ‘civic na- country, motherland, fatherland’. The word citizens. Initially Tehran’s policy was the rejec- tion’ system in which citizenship is not ham means ‘also, too, likewise, even, both, tion of emigrants as ‘counter-revolutionaries’ based on relations of blood, ethnicity, lan- homo-, co-, con-, com-, sym-, iso-, equi-, syn-’, who had betrayed both Islam and Iran. A guage, religion, or national origin. The over- and as a prefix it means ‘fellow’ as in hamkeläs more tolerant approach was adopted in the whelming majority of Iranian-born Canadi- (classmate), or hamkar- (fellow worker).5 early 1990s in order to encourage their return ans acquired Canadian citizenship without The treatment of Iranian Canadians of to Iran and to stem the exodus. Although this rejecting their previous citizenship. Iranian Christian faith shows a similar trend of at- policy failed, it has allowed many refugees to presence can already be felt in the major tachment to Iran. Like the papers published travel to Iran and return again to their diaspo- urban centres. There are Iranian grocery in Iran, the Persian language press of Cana- ras. It also contributed to Western govern- stores, mosques, restaurants, travel agen- da writes: ‘We congratulate the new Christ- ments’ adoption of policies to restrict the ad- cies, driving schools, bookstores, and Per- ian [sa- l - e m ila- di] year to our Christian com- mission of Iranian refugees. sian language sections in public libraries. patriots’ (front page headline in red, M e h r - e While Iranian exiles have established stable Persian signs can be seen in some business Ira- n, Toronto, Vol. 1, No. 3, January 1991).6 I n diasporas in the West, the instability of the Is- q u a r t e r s . Canada, however, the addressees of this lamic state together with its policies of re- Continued on page 34 2 ISIM I S I M N E W S L E T T E R 8 / 0 1 Over the last year, a heated debate about the position of Muslims in the Nether- ideals of the imam as expressed in his preaching. The claims of many Moroccans lands has evolved around the idea that Islam hampers the integration of Muslim and Turks that their Islamic identity is important to them, even if outward signs of migrants and their children. It was basically argued that Islamic ideology does not religiosity seem to be absent, is confusing to many non-Muslims in the Nether- accept the separation of state and religion, and fails to confer equal rights to l a n d s .