Representations of Post-Revolutionary Iran by Iranian-American Memoirists: Patterns of Access to the Media and Communicative Events

Seyed Mohammd Marandi, null; Zeinab Ghasemi Tari, null

doi:10.13169/reorient.2.2.0146

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ReOrient

Volume 2, Issue 2

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Representations of Post-Revolutionary Iran by Iranian-American Memoirists: Patterns of Access to the Media and Communicative Events

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research-article

Author(s): Seyed Mohammd Marandi , Zeinab Ghasemi Tari

Publication date (Print): Spring 2017

Journal: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: discourse, diaspora, knowledge production, privileged access, publication, Iranian Americans

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Abstract

One major element in the discursive reproduction of power and dominance is the structures and strategies of “access” to discourse. Using Van Dijk's argument of dominance and patterns of the preferential access to public discourse, this article attempts to offer more insight into general political, sociocultural, and economic aspects of “knowledge production” on post-revolutionary Iran in the United States in the ways Iranian American memoirs are promoted and publicized through major publishing companies, the popular press, and the mainstream media. Such representations strengthen and reinforce the political discourse surrounding Iran as an “undemocratic” and “barbaric” entity. This article discusses the ways in which the perceptions and views of a minority of Iranians, which often move in parallel with the demonized image of Iran in the United States, are vocalized and promoted through “privileged access” to discourse and “means of communication.”

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Author and article information

Contributors

Seyed Mohammd Marandi

Zeinab Ghasemi Tari

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): reorient

Title: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 20555601

ISSN (Electronic): 2055561X

Publication date (Print): Spring 2017

Volume: 2

Issue: 2

Pages: 146-159

Affiliations

Seyed Mohammd Marandi, Department of English Literature, American Studies, University of Tehran, Iran.

Zeinab Ghasemi Tari, Department of American Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Iran.

Article

Publisher ID: reorient.2.2.0146

DOI: 10.13169/reorient.2.2.0146

SO-VID: fcc06681-e8b8-48bf-85ce-b771158fccbc

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

References

Asadi, H. (2012) Letters to My Torturer: Love, Revolution, and Imprisonment in Iran . Oxford, England: Oneworld.
Atlas, J. (1996) Confessing for voyeurs; the age of the literary memoir is now. The New York Times . 12 May. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/12/magazine/confessing-for-voyeurs-the-age-of-the-literary-memoir-is-now.html (accessed 4 May 2011).
Bahramitash, R. (2005) The war on terror, feminist orientalism and orientalist feminism: Case studies of two North American bestsellers. Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies . 14 (2), 221–35.
BBC. (2009) Clinton concern for Iran reporter. BBC. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7991020.stm (accessed 4 June 2011).
Beaini, J. & Khordadian, M. (2014) For the Love of Mohammad: A Memoir . CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Bozorgmehr, M. (1998) From Iranian studies to studies of Iranians in the United States. Iranian Studies 31 (1), 5–30.
Couser, G. T. (2011) Memoir: An Introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crist, D. B. and Kahlili, R. (2010) Inside Iran's Revolutionary Guard: A Defector Speaks . The Washington Institute. Available at http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/search/results/?q=Reza+Khalili&search=Go (accessed 10 November 2011).
Dickey, C. (2009) Dickey: 100 Iranians on trial, one baby's future in the balance. The Daily Beast . Available at http://www.newsweek.com/dickey-100-iranians-trial-one-babys-future-balance-78615 (accessed 12 June 2011).
Domhoff, G. W. (1978) The Powers That Be: Processes of Ruling-Class Domination in America . New York: Random House.
Egerton, G. W. (1994) Political Memoir: Essays on the Politics of Memory. Conference on Political Memoirs. London, England: Frank Cass.
Entekhabifard, C. and Murer, G. (2008) Camelia, Save Yourself by Telling the Truth: A Memoir of Iran . New York: Seven Stories Press.
Essed, P. (1987) Academic Racism: Common Sense in the Social Sciences . Amsterdam: Centre for Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Amsterdam.
Fathi, N. (2014) The Lonely War: One Woman's Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran . New York: Basic Books.
Jahanbegloo, R. (2014) Time Will Say Nothing: A Philosopher Survives an Iranian Prison . Saskatchewan, Canada: University of Regina Press.
Jauss, H. R., Bahti, T. and De Man, P. (1982) Toward an Aesthetic of Reception . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Karim, P. M. and Rahimieh, N. (2008) Introduction: Writing Iranian Americans into the American literature canon. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States . 33 (2), 7–16.
Leverett, F. L. and Leverett, H. M. (2013) Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran . New York: Henry Holt & Co.
Loring, R. B. (2010) A Time to Betray: The Astounding Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran . The Marine Corps Association. Available at https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/bookreview/time-betray#sthash.ci4voMV4.dpuf (accessed 10 November 2011).
Majd, H. (2014) The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran . New York: Anchor.
Marandi, S. M. and Ghasemi, Z. (2014) Iranian studies in the United States and constructions of post-revolutionary Iran: A case study. The Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies . 37 (2), 41–55.
Milani, F. (2013) Iranian women's life narratives. Journal of Women's History . 25 (2), 130–52.
Motlagh, A. (2008) Towards a theory of Iranian American life writing. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States . 33, 17–36.
Nasrabadi, M. (2010) Market Casualty: The Essay I Never Wanted to Write . Women in Literary Arts. Available at http://www.vidaweb.org/market-casualty-the-essay-i-never-wanted-to-write (accessed 2 May 2012).
Navai, R. (2015) City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran . Great Britain: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Nemat, M. & Mash, M. (2008) Prisoner of Tehran . Rearsby, Leicester, England: W.F. Howes.
Newport, F. (2012) Gallup Poll: Americans still rate Iran top U.S. enemy . February 20. Available at http://www.gallup.com/poll/152786/americans-rate-iran-top-enemy.aspx (accessed 12 January 2014).
Pandey, S. (2007) The latest in immigrant lit: Young Iranian American women are grabbing the spotlight and maybe changing perceptions too. The Los Angeles Times . Available at http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/02/entertainment/ca-persianwomen2 (accessed 12 January 2013).
Rabiipour, S. (2010) Trapped in Iran: The Land of the Ayatollahs: A Real-Life Story . Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation.
Saberi, R. (2010) Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran . New York: Harper.
Said, E. W. (1997) Covering Islam . New York: Fodor's Travel Guides.
Smith, T. R. (2012) The D.C.-area's bestsellers. The Washington Post . Available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/the-dc-areas-bestsellers/2012/08/10/b75d8c54-e24e-11e1–ae7f-d2a13e249eb2_blog.html (accessed 12 January 2013).
Spivak, G. C. (1999) A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Stelter, B. (2009) Newsweek steps up effort to free reporter in Iran. The New York Times . http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/business/media/04journalist.html (accessed 12 January 2013).
Taheri, K. A. (2011). Broken silence: A true story of a sixteen year old's captivity in Evin, Iran's most feared prison . Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1992) Discourse and the denial of racism. Discourse & Society , 3(1), 87–118.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1993a) Political Discourse and Racism: Describing Others in Western Parliaments . Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, Program of Discourse Studies.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1993b) Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis. Discourse & Society . 4, 249–83.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1995b) Opinions and Ideologies in Editorials . Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium of Critical Discourse Analysis, Language, Social Life and Critical Thought. Available at http://www.discursos.org/unpublished%20articles/Opinions%20and%20ideologies%20in%20editorials.htm
Van Dijk, T. A. (1997) Political Discourse and Racism: Describing Others in Western Parliaments . In Riggins, S. H. (ed.) The Language and Politics of Exclusion: Others in Discourse . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 31–64.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1998) Opinions and ideologies in the press. In Bell, A. and Garrett, P. (eds.) Approaches to Media Discourse . Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 21–63.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2000a) New(s) racism: A discourse analytical approach. In Cottel, A. (ed.) Ethnic Minorities and the Media . Buckingham: Open University Press, 33–49.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2000b) Parliamentary discourse. In Wodak, R. and Van Dijk, T. A. (eds.) Racism at the Top: Parliamentary Discourses on Ethnic Issues in Six European States . Klagenfurt: Drava Verlag, 45–78.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2001a) Discourse, ideology and context. Folia Linguistica . 35 (1–2): 11–40.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2006) Discourse and manipulation. Discourse & Society . 17 (3), 359–83.
Wahl, D. (2012) A time to betray now slated for the screen. The Objective Standard . Available at http://atimetobetray.com/blog/the-objective-standard-a-time-to-betray-now-slated-for-the-screen/ (accessed 12 January 2013).
Whitlock, G. (2007) Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (2001) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis . London: SAGE.
Yagoda, B. (2010) Memoir: A History . New York: Riverhead Book.
Yaghoobi-Saray, J. (2011) Let Us Water the Flowers: Memoir of a Political Prisoner in Iran . Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Asadi, H. (2012) Letters to My Torturer: Love, Revolution, and Imprisonment in Iran . Oxford, England: Oneworld.

[2] Atlas, J. (1996) Confessing for voyeurs; the age of the literary memoir is now. The New York Times . 12 May. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/12/magazine/confessing-for-voyeurs-the-age-of-the-literary-memoir-is-now.html (accessed 4 May 2011).

[3] Bahramitash, R. (2005) The war on terror, feminist orientalism and orientalist feminism: Case studies of two North American bestsellers. Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies . 14 (2), 221–35.

[4] BBC. (2009) Clinton concern for Iran reporter. BBC. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7991020.stm (accessed 4 June 2011).

[5] Beaini, J. & Khordadian, M. (2014) For the Love of Mohammad: A Memoir . CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

[6] Bozorgmehr, M. (1998) From Iranian studies to studies of Iranians in the United States. Iranian Studies 31 (1), 5–30.

[7] Couser, G. T. (2011) Memoir: An Introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[8] Crist, D. B. and Kahlili, R. (2010) Inside Iran's Revolutionary Guard: A Defector Speaks . The Washington Institute. Available at http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/search/results/?q=Reza+Khalili&search=Go (accessed 10 November 2011).

[9] Dickey, C. (2009) Dickey: 100 Iranians on trial, one baby's future in the balance. The Daily Beast . Available at http://www.newsweek.com/dickey-100-iranians-trial-one-babys-future-balance-78615 (accessed 12 June 2011).

[10] Domhoff, G. W. (1978) The Powers That Be: Processes of Ruling-Class Domination in America . New York: Random House.

[11] Egerton, G. W. (1994) Political Memoir: Essays on the Politics of Memory. Conference on Political Memoirs. London, England: Frank Cass.

[12] Entekhabifard, C. and Murer, G. (2008) Camelia, Save Yourself by Telling the Truth: A Memoir of Iran . New York: Seven Stories Press.

[13] Essed, P. (1987) Academic Racism: Common Sense in the Social Sciences . Amsterdam: Centre for Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Amsterdam.

[14] Fathi, N. (2014) The Lonely War: One Woman's Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran . New York: Basic Books.

[15] Jahanbegloo, R. (2014) Time Will Say Nothing: A Philosopher Survives an Iranian Prison . Saskatchewan, Canada: University of Regina Press.

[16] Jauss, H. R., Bahti, T. and De Man, P. (1982) Toward an Aesthetic of Reception . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

[17] Karim, P. M. and Rahimieh, N. (2008) Introduction: Writing Iranian Americans into the American literature canon. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States . 33 (2), 7–16.

[18] Leverett, F. L. and Leverett, H. M. (2013) Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran . New York: Henry Holt & Co.

[19] Loring, R. B. (2010) A Time to Betray: The Astounding Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran . The Marine Corps Association. Available at https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/bookreview/time-betray#sthash.ci4voMV4.dpuf (accessed 10 November 2011).

[20] Majd, H. (2014) The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran . New York: Anchor.

[21] Marandi, S. M. and Ghasemi, Z. (2014) Iranian studies in the United States and constructions of post-revolutionary Iran: A case study. The Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies . 37 (2), 41–55.

[22] Milani, F. (2013) Iranian women's life narratives. Journal of Women's History . 25 (2), 130–52.

[23] Motlagh, A. (2008) Towards a theory of Iranian American life writing. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States . 33, 17–36.

[24] Nasrabadi, M. (2010) Market Casualty: The Essay I Never Wanted to Write . Women in Literary Arts. Available at http://www.vidaweb.org/market-casualty-the-essay-i-never-wanted-to-write (accessed 2 May 2012).

[25] Navai, R. (2015) City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran . Great Britain: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

[26] Nemat, M. & Mash, M. (2008) Prisoner of Tehran . Rearsby, Leicester, England: W.F. Howes.

[27] Newport, F. (2012) Gallup Poll: Americans still rate Iran top U.S. enemy . February 20. Available at http://www.gallup.com/poll/152786/americans-rate-iran-top-enemy.aspx (accessed 12 January 2014).

[28] Pandey, S. (2007) The latest in immigrant lit: Young Iranian American women are grabbing the spotlight and maybe changing perceptions too. The Los Angeles Times . Available at http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/02/entertainment/ca-persianwomen2 (accessed 12 January 2013).

[29] Rabiipour, S. (2010) Trapped in Iran: The Land of the Ayatollahs: A Real-Life Story . Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation.

[30] Saberi, R. (2010) Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran . New York: Harper.

[31] Said, E. W. (1997) Covering Islam . New York: Fodor's Travel Guides.

[32] Smith, T. R. (2012) The D.C.-area's bestsellers. The Washington Post . Available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/the-dc-areas-bestsellers/2012/08/10/b75d8c54-e24e-11e1–ae7f-d2a13e249eb2_blog.html (accessed 12 January 2013).

[33] Spivak, G. C. (1999) A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

[34] Stelter, B. (2009) Newsweek steps up effort to free reporter in Iran. The New York Times . http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/business/media/04journalist.html (accessed 12 January 2013).

[35] Taheri, K. A. (2011). Broken silence: A true story of a sixteen year old's captivity in Evin, Iran's most feared prison . Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.

[36] Van Dijk, T. A. (1992) Discourse and the denial of racism. Discourse & Society , 3(1), 87–118.

[37] Van Dijk, T. A. (1993a) Political Discourse and Racism: Describing Others in Western Parliaments . Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, Program of Discourse Studies.

[38] Van Dijk, T. A. (1993b) Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis. Discourse & Society . 4, 249–83.

[39] Van Dijk, T. A. (1995b) Opinions and Ideologies in Editorials . Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium of Critical Discourse Analysis, Language, Social Life and Critical Thought. Available at http://www.discursos.org/unpublished%20articles/Opinions%20and%20ideologies%20in%20editorials.htm

[40] Van Dijk, T. A. (1997) Political Discourse and Racism: Describing Others in Western Parliaments . In Riggins, S. H. (ed.) The Language and Politics of Exclusion: Others in Discourse . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 31–64.

[41] Van Dijk, T. A. (1998) Opinions and ideologies in the press. In Bell, A. and Garrett, P. (eds.) Approaches to Media Discourse . Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 21–63.

[42] Van Dijk, T. A. (2000a) New(s) racism: A discourse analytical approach. In Cottel, A. (ed.) Ethnic Minorities and the Media . Buckingham: Open University Press, 33–49.

[43] Van Dijk, T. A. (2000b) Parliamentary discourse. In Wodak, R. and Van Dijk, T. A. (eds.) Racism at the Top: Parliamentary Discourses on Ethnic Issues in Six European States . Klagenfurt: Drava Verlag, 45–78.

[44] Van Dijk, T. A. (2001a) Discourse, ideology and context. Folia Linguistica . 35 (1–2): 11–40.

[45] Van Dijk, T. A. (2006) Discourse and manipulation. Discourse & Society . 17 (3), 359–83.

[46] Wahl, D. (2012) A time to betray now slated for the screen. The Objective Standard . Available at http://atimetobetray.com/blog/the-objective-standard-a-time-to-betray-now-slated-for-the-screen/ (accessed 12 January 2013).

[47] Whitlock, G. (2007) Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[48] Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (2001) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis . London: SAGE.

[49] Yagoda, B. (2010) Memoir: A History . New York: Riverhead Book.

[50] Yaghoobi-Saray, J. (2011) Let Us Water the Flowers: Memoir of a Political Prisoner in Iran . Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

ReOrient

Representations of Post-Revolutionary Iran by Iranian-American Memoirists: Patterns of Access to the Media and Communicative Events

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