Accidental Foreigners Young Iranian Migrants in Pune and Kuala Lumpur Pär F. Larsson
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Accidental foreigners Young Iranian migrants in Pune and Kuala Lumpur PhD thesis Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology Autonomous University of Barcelona Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Name: Pär F. Larsson Email: [email protected] Passport number: 90020013 Title: Young Iranian migrants in Pune and Kuala Lumpur Supervisor: José Sánchez García Academic tutor: Montserrat Ventura I Oller Year of first enrolment: 2013 Date: 6 June 2017 1 1. Life is elsewhere: An introduction 6 1.1 Previous research, motivation and Iranian migrants 8 1.2 Objectives, research questions, and hypothesis 11 1.3 Routs and roots 14 1.4 Organization of the thesis 18 2. Theoretical and methodological framework 20 2.1 Youth culture, politics, transitions and trajectories 25 2.2 Being young is not to be adult 27 2.3 Moving somewhere else 38 2.4 Anthropology, migration and generalizing 46 2.5 When everyone is a traveller 60 2.6 Culture and aspirations of migration, cumulative causation and migration networks 62 2.7 Lucky findings on foot – a methodology 66 2.8 Botanizing on the asphalt of Tehran, Pune and Kuala Lumpur 69 2.9 How was the data collected? 71 3. The Green Movement: A marker of a generation? 74 3.1 Encounters in cafés of central Tehran 2011-2012 79 3.2 Growing up in the Islamic Republic 86 4. Abroad 97 4.1 Trajectories, examples: one host city: Pune, India 99 4.1.1 Pune, one year later 123 4.2 Trajectories, examples: “I always think of Iran, but don´t want to be there, not now.” Another host city: Kuala Lumpur 132 5. Somewhere abroad, or somewhere on the way 148 5.1 Transnationalism and diaspora 152 5.2 Pride, partly triggered by the demonization of Iran by the West 154 2 5.3 Migration, reflexivity 162 5.4 Youth, authoritarian regimes, and counter culture 165 5.5 The Green Movement and the Arab Spring 168 5.6 Marriage: The most important marker for becoming adult? 170 5.7Pull and push-factors in an international perspective 173 5.8 Final remarks: Migration as a way to say “no” 174 6. Afterwards, elsewhere 176 7. Glossary 181 8. Bibliography 183 3 Acknowledgements I want to thank my friends in Iran, Pune and Kuala Lumpur, without whom this thesis would not be what it became – and, foremost, for a fantastic time with them. Also, I want to express gratitude to my supervisor José Sánchez García, who has been of great support throughout my work. Finally – the thesis would not have been written without them – I thank my parents. Abstract Over the last two decades a sizable community of Iranians have made their way to Malaysia and India. Kuala Lumpur1 in Malaysia and Pune2 in India have become hosts to some of the biggest Iranian communities in Asia. In the 1980s, in the wake of the Islamic Revolution and during the Iran – Iraq war, waves of Iranians moved to the West. In general they presumed that their stay in the West, mainly in southern California, but also in Germany, the UK, Sweden and France, would be temporary They had their bags packed during the first few years, ready to return back home as soon as things would calm down. The situation did not reverse however, and thousands of Iranians made the US and Europe their home. 30 years later, a common topic of conversation in Iran is the 1 Capital of Malaysia, around 1.8 million habitants, with a tropical climate. Kuala Lumpur is diverse, with large Chinese and Indian communities. Bahasa Malaysia is the principal language, and English is widely spoken. 2 Pune is growing fast, and and is known for its universities. Smaller than Mumbai, only a few hours away by car, it is popular among Indian as well as foreign students. 4 ways available to leave the country. Moving abroad has become an obsession for the urban youth of Iran. However, these days it is not so easy to leave the country. In the days of the Shah it was easy for someone with an Iranian passport to visit Europe. Today, because of the political situation, it has become very difficult to get a visa for the Schengen area or North America – the traditional destinations for Iranians. The options for Iranians who want to emigrate are limited especially if they want to move to the West. The neighbouring countries are usually not options that appear attractive. However, during the last two decades other destinations have emerged and thousands of Iranians have moved to Malaysia and India, mainly to Kuala Lumpur and Pune as mentioned. While there is a wealth of literature on Iranians who emigrated to the West very little is known of the Iranians who left for countries east of Iran. In this thesis the trajectories and perceptions of young Iranians who left for India and Malaysia are explored. 5 1. Life is elsewhere: An introduction Heavy traffic in one of many tunnels in Tehran, October 2015 (all photos are by the author) Behnaz 3 and I were sitting in the café next to the khaneye honarmandan, the “house of artists” in the central part of Tehran, a busy place in a historical and very beautiful building, with a theatre, a gallery, a vegetarian restaurant – unusual in Iran – and a café. We were sitting outside, on the veranda, and it was difficult to find an empty table. Behnaz was working for a newspaper. She was an artist herself, being a former art- school student. She had married young, with a prominent journalist. They had both been active in the jombesh, “the Green Movement”4 in the days leading to the presidential election of 2009. Her husband had been jailed afterwards, for his political engagement and his articles about the reformist movement. When he was released from prison he became increasingly addicted to opium and subsequently heroin. She had a horrible time, she 3 Since many of my informants wished to remain anonymous, all personal names and some other details of the individuals mentioned have been changed. 4 The reformist movement aspiring to change the government and making Ahmadinejad leave the president-post in 2009. 6 told me, in taking care of him. Her family and friends tried to persuade her to leave him, but she wouldn’t. Leaving him would kill him, she thought. She took care of him when he was at his worst. Slowly, he managed to kick his habit and to recover. He returned to his writing and established himself as an influential and successful figure in the media. By then she was exhausted. She had helped him while he was at the bottom, but now she was tired - while his career was thriving. “I love this place”, she said, looking around in the café. “There is a powerful and special bond between all of us sitting here in the café.