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2nd generation Iranian Americana:
"When I was a kid ... I didn't want to be different, because there was no one around me that I could share my difference with ... I would try to downplay what made me unique ... But as I grew up, this started to change." https://theiranpodcast.podbean.com/e/growing-up-iranian-in-america/
"When I was a kid ... I didn't want to be different, because there was no one around me that I could share my difference with ... I would try to downplay what made me unique ... But as I grew up, this started to change." https://theiranpodcast.podbean.com/e/growing-up-iranian-in-america/
"I remember being asked in high school by one of my teachers what I thought about [Iran's former populist/conservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad].
Teacher: "So, uh, Yara, I know your parents are Eye-Rainian, so uh, what do you think about this Akamakadinejad guy?"
Teacher: "So, uh, Yara, I know your parents are Eye-Rainian, so uh, what do you think about this Akamakadinejad guy?"
"As a person-of-color living in the West, you become a "reference point" – this "guide" – and it's not through your choosing. It's kind of imposed on you ... like, "Oh, you are the source of this culture, I am going to approach you." Whereas I'm just a brown kid from NorCal."
"I don't think people should have to answer for something that doesn't have to do with them. I am not a spokesperson for Iran and the Iranian people. I've spent the vast majority of my life in the U.S. I'm an American of Iranian heritage."
"That circumstance prompted me to look into my heritage and to learn more about Iran ... For better or worse, these life circumstances goaded me in a direction – to feel like I could stand up and answer these questions."
"And so, I started looking into those things, I started reading articles. So that if my teacher or my friend's parent asked me, I could at least provide some insight. Especially given the hostile relationship that exists between my country of heritage, Iran, and my homeland."
"More and more, I started to not want to put aside the things that made me unique, but rather embrace them. Like, "hey, this is kinda cool. I don't have to be like everyone else." And that just kinda blossomed into so many other things."
"A turning point for me was really the 2009 Green Movement protests in Iran ... I had never seen so many people – young Iranians – that looked like me and acted like me ... If I had been born in Iran, I would have been that person in the street with the green wristband."
"My science teacher or my friend's parent – they were basing their assumptions on an understanding of Iran that was very foreign to me. I wanted to tell the story of the Iran that I knew – which was not being reflected, as often, in the Western media. So I moved to Iran."
"About a year into my time in Iran, one of the folks that I looked up to – @jrezaian, the @washingtonpost correspondent, was unjustly detained by the Iranian government under spurious, nonsensical charges ..."
Listen to the rest of the podcast here: https://theiranpodcast.podbean.com/e/growing-up-iranian-in-america/
Listen to the rest of the podcast here: https://theiranpodcast.podbean.com/e/growing-up-iranian-in-america/
Many thanks to @NegarMortazavi and @thekarami for having me on the show! Such a pleasure to speak to you, Negar jan.
بی نهایت سپاسگزارم! مراقب خودتون باشید دوستان عزیز و به امید دیدار (به خصوص شما، آرش جان. بعد از این همه سال، هنوز هم دیگر رو حضوری ندیدیم!)
بی نهایت سپاسگزارم! مراقب خودتون باشید دوستان عزیز و به امید دیدار (به خصوص شما، آرش جان. بعد از این همه سال، هنوز هم دیگر رو حضوری ندیدیم!)
And to everyone else who wants to learn about Iran, its diaspora, and "Iranian Americana" (terminology inspired by the amazing @PKhakpour), make sure to follow the @IranPodcast!
