Iranians in Texas

NANIANS HTEXAS' 'ATION,POLITICS, AND ETHNIC IDENTITY IRANIANS IN TEXAS IRANIANS IN TEXAS Migration, Politics, and Ethnic Identity Mohsen M. Mobasher University of Texas Press Austin Copyright 2012 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2012 First paperback edition, 2013 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, Tx 78713-7819 utpress.utexas.edu/about/book-permissions The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). @ Designed by Ayham Ghraowi Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mobasher, Mohsen M., 1962 Iranians in Texas : migration, politics, and ethnic identity / Mohsen M. Mobasher. -1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-292-75439-3 1. Iranian Americans-Texas. 2. Iranians-Texas. 3. Immigrants-Texas. 4. Political refugees-Texas. 5. Iran-Politics and government-2oth century. I. Title. F395.15M63 2012 305.891'550764-dc23 2011031400 Dedicated to the loving memory ofmyfather, Morteza, and my brother Majeed for their endless support; my dear mother, Fatemeh Tabatabaie, for enduring seven painful years of separation and for her relentless push for a reunion; my brother Mojtaba for his solitary fortitude in managing ourfamily affairs in Iran; and my sister, Maryam,for her infinite love and effort in reconstructingour family in exile. Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 1. The Paradox of Migration 22 Neither Happy in Exile nor Looking Forward to Returning Home 2. To Be or Not to Be an Iranian 48 Politics, Media, and the Paradox of National Identity 3. Double Ambivalence and Double Detachment 69 The Paradox of Living in the United States 4. To Be an Iranian, American, or Iranian American 94 Family, Cultural Resistance, and the Paradox of Ethnic Identity among Second-Generation Iranian Americans 5. Exile and the Paradox of Gender, Marriage, and Family 134 Conclusion 157 Appendix. Research Methodology 163 Notes 171 Bibliography 181 Index 189 Preface In 1978-1979, millions of Iranian men and women from all social back grounds marched through the streets of Tehran to end the fifty-year reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. During and after the 1978-1979 revolutionary up heavals, for various political and social reasons a great number of individu als and families from diverse socioeconomic and religious backgrounds left Iran and settled mainly in Europe, Canada, and the United States. This book presents the experience of Iranian immigrants in the United States since the Iranian revolution in the context of the ongoing political tension between Iran and the United States precipitated by the Iranian government's taking of fifty-two Americans as hostages for 444 days in 1979. I chose the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis as my point of departure for three reasons. First, with the exception of a massive migra tion of a large number of Iranians to India in the seventh century (Ansari 1992), the revolution of 1978-1979 was the only time in Iranian history to witness an enormous number of people uprooted and forced to live in exile. Second, the Iranian revolution and the U.S.-Iranian hostility gener ated by the hostage crisis has not only shaped the ebb and flow of Iranians' immigration to the United States during the past thirty years but also in fluenced the attitudes of Iranian expatriates toward the United States and their relations with American people. Finally, the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis marked a radical negative shift in American public opinion toward Iran, Iranians, and Muslims. Iranians in Texas The hostage crisis and its subsequent sanctions against Iran and Ira nian immigrants shook the foundation of social life for Iranians in the x United States both individually and collectively. Suddenly, thousands of Iranians in the United States were stigmatized and viewed as enemies because of political actions by their government. Widespread hostility, prejudice, and ongoing discrimination against Iranian immigrants in re taliation for the political behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the hostage crisis marginalized many Iranians, retarded and minimized their integration into American society, and pushed them to conceal their Ira nian national identity and to construct a new, less threatening ethnic iden tity. Furthermore, these political forces and the prevailing stereotyped and politicized portrayals of Iranian immigrants and the extensive overt dis crimination against them slowed down the assimilation of Iranians thus restraining them from full participation in American society and contrib uted to a wide range of institutional crises and personal dilemmas. In focusing on U.S.-Iranian relations during the past half-century, this book is grounded in two major theoretical perspectives. First, unlike many migration scholars who emphasize the role of human capital as well as cultural beliefs and practices of migrants in the host society, in this book I emphasize the political nature of immigration, underscoring the pow erful impact of political relations between migrant-sending and migrant receiving countries on the integration and incorporation of immigrants. As research has shown, the mode of entry as well as the social, political, and economic conditions of the host society at the time of a migrant's ar rival are the key factors that shape the experience of an immigrant in the United States. Equally important, the degree of stability or social change in the migrants' society of origin has a profound impact on their commu nity and lifestyle in the host society. The second theoretical thrust of the book is to show the impact of ex clusionary and discriminatory practices of the United States' immigration policy on the formation and perpetuation of the Iranian family in exile, ethnic identity formation among Iranian immigrants, and their attitudes toward American society. The cumulative effect of the Iranian revolution, the hostage crisis, and the political rupture between the United States and Iran and its impact on the integration of Iranian immigrants in the United States have not yet been subject to comprehensive analysis. Despite the in creased interest in Iranian immigrants in diaspora by social scientists in recent years, there is a lack of theoretical work that focuses on both the sending and receiving political ends of the migration process for Iranians. Moreover, given the theoretical significance of contexts of reception and Preface the policies of the receiving government in the incorporation of newcom ers, there has yet to be a book-length study of the impact of U.S.-Iranian conflict, negative persistent media stereotypes, and discrimination and xi prejudice against Iranians since the hostage crisis on integration and in corporation of Iranian immigrants in the United States. This book is a ma jor step in that direction. In my attempt to show the consequences of the political clash between Iran and United States and integration of Iranian immigrants in exile I draw primarily on theoretical works of such prominent figures as Max We ber, C. Wright Mills, Edward Said, Erving Goffman, Robert Merton, Rob ert Park, Edna Bonacich, and Jeffrey Alexander. I endeavor to synthesize the literature on cultural racism, stigma, cultural trauma, host hostility, marginality, and ambivalence. By combining and synthesizing the works of theorists with different orientations, I do not intend to develop a "meta theory" of ethnic relations and integration that would be applicable to all immigrant populations but rather to combine propositions from different perspectives in a complementary way in order to explain the situation of Iranians in the United States. This book is both descriptive and explanatory and is written for gen eral readers who desire to gain a better understanding of migration poli tics and the impact of political forces on the integration of immigrants into American society. It is based on ten years of periodic data collection in cluding formal and informal interviews with first- and second-generation Iranian immigrants, two surveys, and systematic participant observation in three Iranian communities (Houston, Dallas, and Austin) in Texas. My first goal in this book is to describe who Iranian immigrants are, why they have come to this country, what kinds of dilemmas they confront, how they perceive Americans, and how they feel about their own community in exile. In my description, I attempt to echo the diverse voices of Iranian im migrants and reflect their innermost subjective feelings, dilemmas, and paradoxes. Through extensive quotations, I invite the reader into Iranian immigrants' private world of personal identity, cultural pride, religious ex perience, marginality, ambivalence, and clash of cultures that is often hid den from ordinary eyes in the public domain of everyday life. But of equal importance, I also attempt to explain what the sources of these dilemmas are and why first- and second-generation Iranian immigrant men and women feel the way they do about Americans and their own co-ethnics. The tone of anger, bitterness, and discontent with American society and culture reflected in parts of this book derives from the actual voices of hundreds of Iranian men and women who participated in this project- Iranians in Texas not from my authorial voice. I have simply gathered their individual views and attempted

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