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Displaced Narratives of Iranian Migrants and Refugees: Constructions of Self and the Struggle for Representation

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Displaced Narratives of Iranian Migrants and Refugees: Constructions of Self and the Struggle for Representation Displaced Narratives of Iranian migrants and Refugees: Constructions of Self and the Struggle for Representation. Submitted by Mammad Aidani Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree for Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development School of Psychology at the Victoria University, December 2007 1 “I Mammad Aidani declare that the PhD thesis entitled Displaced Narrative of Iranian migrants and refugees: Construction of Self and the Struggle for Representation is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part , for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my won work”. Signature Date 2 Abstract This thesis discusses the multiple narratives of Iranian migrants and refugees living in Melbourne, Australia. The narratives are constructed by men and women who left Iran immediately after the 1979 revolution; the Iran – Iraq war; and Iranians who are recent arrivals in Australia. The narratives of the participants are particularly influenced and contextualized by the 1979 revolution, the 1980-1988 Iran – Iraq War and the post 9/11 political framework. It is within these historical contexts, I argue that Iranian experiences of displacement need to be interpreted. These historical periods not only provide the context for the narratives of the participants but it also gives meaning to how they reconstruct their identities and the emotions of their displacement. This thesis also argues that Iranian migrant and refugee narratives are part of a holistic story that is united rather than separated from one another. These narratives are part of a continuum that are influenced by historical events that have caused their displacement. For Iranians in this thesis displacement and a traumatic past often creates many different forms of rupture that includes spatial, temporal, cultural and emotional experiences that are constantly being re-valuated, re-negotiated and changed. In the narratives of the participants we find people struggling to negotiate their identity; devising strategies to cope with displacement and a traumatic past; and they tell stories on the ways they are stereotyped and caricaturized in western discourse. The participants’ recount stories about how the objectification of their cultural background fails to take into account the complexity of their experiences and their suffering. For the participants the simplistic notions about their identity and experience in the popular imagination of western culture they believe ignores how their narratives of home- (Iran) are connected with the host (Australia) context. The narratives of the participants’ have 3 a lugubrious tone which tries to express the effects of the cultural, social, political ruptures they have experienced. The thesis addresses the theoretical issues underlying such experiences and focuses on a narrative methodology to bring to light the problems of identity, stigmatization, cultural trauma, and the significance of representation in the lives of Iranian migrants and refugees. 4 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER OUTLINE ...........................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 1 .........................................................................................................................................11 DISPLACEMENT OF NARRATIVE: IRANIAN MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES ...............................................11 Context of Research ......................................................................................................................11 Narrative and History...................................................................................................................19 Distress and Pain at the Intersection of Displacement .................................................................21 Pain as Private..............................................................................................................................24 Psychology of distress...................................................................................................................27 Language, Culture and Meaning of Mental Health ......................................................................29 CHAPTER 2 .........................................................................................................................................31 PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY: INQUIRY INTO REFUGEE AND MIGRANT NARRATIVES ..........31 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................31 Defining Phenomenology..............................................................................................................31 Phenomenological approaches in Psychology..............................................................................32 Methodological Debates in Phenomenology.................................................................................36 The Fusion of Horizons.................................................................................................................43 The Act of Dialogue ......................................................................................................................49 The Hermeneutic Circle................................................................................................................50 Participant Recruitment................................................................................................................50 Data Analysis................................................................................................................................52 Outsider-Insider: Where does the researcher belong? .................................................................55 CHAPTER 3……………………………………………………………………………………… 61 THE STRUGGLE FOR REPRESENTATION...............................................................................................62 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................62 Contextualizing Iranian Departures .............................................................................................65 Iranians in Australia.....................................................................................................................70 Cultural Constructs of ‘Migrant’ and ‘Refugee’...........................................................................77 Linguistic Games – Defining an Identity through Language ........................................................85 Poetics of displacement.................................................................................................................94 Rumi’s Poetry of Displacement...................................................................................................101 Khayyam’s Ruba’iyat and Displacement....................................................................................107 Challenging Tradition – the Voice of Frough Farougkhzad.......................................................110 Music and Identity.......................................................................................................................113 Persian Literature and Resilience...............................................................................................121 Kaveh the Blacksmith- The Iranian Spirit of Hope.....................................................................122 ....................................................................................................................................................123 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................128 CHAPTER 4 .......................................................................................................................................130 NARRATIVES OF CULTURAL TRAUMA AND IDENTITY.......................................................................130 Introduction ................................................................................................................................130 Theoretical Framework - Cultural Trauma ................................................................................133 Iranian Stories of Cultural Trauma ............................................................................................135 Trauma of 1979 and Identity in the Diaspora.............................................................................138 Story One ....................................................................................................................................140 Story two .....................................................................................................................................147 Story Three..................................................................................................................................160 Story four ....................................................................................................................................163
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