University of Huddersfield Repository Hanaee, Somaiyeh Homed exile: external, internal and intrinsic exilic identities in Iranian cultural products Original Citation Hanaee, Somaiyeh (2013) Homed exile: external, internal and intrinsic exilic identities in Iranian cultural products. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/23391/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ HOMED EXILE: EXTERNAL, INTERNAL AND INTRINSIC EXILIC IDENTITIES IN IRANIAN CULTURAL PRODUCTS SOMAIYEH HANAEE A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2013 Abstract This dissertation offers an analysis of the dimensions of exile and considers how they are reflected in cultural products that emerge in the Iranian context. Exile has generally been understood to mean enforced displacement from a homeland. As a result, the cultural products of exile, for the most part, focus on the dimensions of exile in its physical, expatriated sense: what I refer to as external exile. Exile, however, is a complex phenomenon and it has a variety of dimensions. Exploring, analysing and exposing varieties of exile and exilic identities are important. Because, in the Iranian context, exile and the cultural products generated in exilic conditions play a key role in socio-political make ups of the country. The cultural products of exile, for the most part, aim to expose and through it resist oppression. Studying the dimensions of exile reflected in the selected cultural products show that even though the narratives of exile set out to resist enforced displacement they can instead perpetuate exile. This dissertation looks at three various dimensions of exile: external, internal and intrinsic exile. It begins by considering the cultural products of external exile, using Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It suggests that the understanding of exile is too simplistic and proposes two other ways in which exile can be understood. The first of these is internal exile, which is the exilic condition of people still inside their homeland, using Ahmad Shamlou’s poetry and a film by Granaz Moussavi, My Tehran For Sale. The second is intrinsic exile, which is an exilic condition of people wherever they reside. The selected cultural products for understanding intrinsic exile are Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat and Azadeh Kanom and Her Writer or Dr. Sharifie’s Private Auschwitz, by Reza Baraheni. 1 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been completed if it was not for the moral and material support I received from the kind people around me. It is possible to give particular mention to only some of them. I would like to express my gratitude to the school of Music, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield for offering the financial assistance that enabled me to embark on this research study and to Professor Lesley Jeffries and Professor Paul Ward for their decisions to support my application. I am also eternally grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Cath Ellis. Without her generous times of discussion, patient advice, compassion and understanding this study would not have been possible. I am deeply indebted to my second supervisor, Dr. David Rudrum for his invaluable and enriching academic advice, insightful analysis and his ability to suggest additional secondary readings. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of my fellow postgraduate Dr. Parviz Partovi for his encouragement and his help with finding valuable and difficult-to-get references. I also wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Siamak Noviri, a friend and more, whose unstinting supports, intelligent humour, eye opening insights and unfaltering belief in me gave meaning to the moments of despair and joy during my research study. Last but certainly not least, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family, particularly my beautiful, loving and truly generous Mum, Ziba Babazadeh Asbagh, my hard working and kind Dad, Professor Jalal Hanaee, my beautiful, full of grace and supportive sister, Sara Hanaei, and my light-hearted brother, Yasin Hanaee, whose unconditional love, encouragement and help to provide a home environment served as a secure anchor during the hard and easy times. Thank you. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER I: Theoretical Framework .................................................................................... 16 Exile: External, Internal And Its Liminality......................................................................... 17 Practising Power And Resistance ......................................................................................... 23 The Function Of o/Other And Othering In The Cultural Products Of Exile........................ 26 Canonization, Fascination And Prejudice ............................................................................ 31 CHAPTER II: External Exile and External Exilic Identity In Reading Lolita In Tehran And Persepolis ................................................................................................................................. 36 The External Exilic Sense of Self in the Self-Narratives of Reading Lolita in Tehran and Persepolis ............................................................................................................................. 36 Adopted Duality, Practising Power and Persisting Resistance ............................................ 49 CHAPTER III: Internal Exile and Internal Exilic Identity in Ahmad Shamlou’s Poetry and My Tehran For Sale ................................................................................................................. 58 Shamlou: ‘Poet Of Liberty’ .................................................................................................. 59 Techniques Applied In Canonized Texts Of The Internal Exile .......................................... 67 The Curse of Canonization ................................................................................................... 74 My Tehran For Sale ............................................................................................................. 80 Film, Society, and History.................................................................................................... 82 Iranian Political and Cultural Movements ........................................................................... 85 Iranian New Wave Cinema and Italian Neorealism ............................................................. 88 Censorship and Iranian Post Revolutionary Cinema............................................................ 91 My Tehran For Sale: Analysis ............................................................................................. 96 3 Underground and Aboveground Homes, Identities and Cultures ........................................ 96 CHAPTER IV: Intrinsic Exile and Intrinsic Exilic Identity in Prisoner of Tehran and Azadeh Kanom and Her Writer or Dr. Sharifie’s Private Auschwitz ................................................. 104 The History Of Racism and its Contribution to Iranian Internal Racial Thinking ............. 107 The Roots of Iranian Racism .............................................................................................. 110 Islamization ........................................................................................................................ 117 Intrinsic Exile ..................................................................................................................... 126 Some Aspects of the Intrinsic Exile in Prisoner of Tehran ............................................... 137 Reflections of Intrinsic Exilic Elements in Azadeh Kanom and Her Writer or Dr. Sharifie’s Private Auschwitz ............................................................................................................... 154 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................