Skip to main content

Abstract

This chapter introduces the main reasearch question and describes how it arose from a need to conceptually and empirically update research on Iranian diaspora by documenting and analyzing not only how culture is lived under dynamic socio-political circumstances, but also how it is shaped via new media technologies. The chapter outlines the methodological choices and principles behind how the book sets out to answer the research question. To this end, it introduces the ethnographic field site and sketches the nature of the fieldwork. It defines the research focus as being on a particular set of children of Iranian migrants to Los Angeles, California and how their uses of various web media applications relate to their ways of being Iranian American. It also includes the author’s reflections on her own positioning as a second-generation migrant from Iran, and ends by laying out the structure of the book.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Agre, P. E. (2002). Cyberspace as American culture. Science as Culture, 11, 171–189. doi:10.1080/09505430220137234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alinejad, D. (2011). Mapping homelands through virtual spaces: Transnational embodiment and Iranian diaspora bloggers. Global Networks, 11, 43–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amir-Ebrahimi, M. (2004). Performance in everyday life and the rediscovery of the “Self” in Iranian weblogs. Bad Jens: Iranian Feminist Newsletter, 7, 23–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aouragh, M. (2011). Confined offline, traversing online Palestinian mobility through the prism of the internet, mobilities. Mobilities, 6, 375–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balkalian, A., & Bozorgmehr, M. (2009). Backlash 9/11: Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans respond. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bird, E. (2013). From fan practice to mediated moments: The value of practice theory in the understanding of media audiences. In B. Bräuchler & J. Postill (Eds.), Theorising media and practice (p. 352). New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boellstorff, T. (2012). Rethinking digital anthropology. In H. Horst & D. Miller (Eds.), Digital anthropology. New York and London: Berg Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bozorgmehr, M. (1997). Internal ethnicity: Iranians in Los Angeles. Sociological Perspectives, 40, 387–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bozorgmehr, M., & Sabagh, G. (1988). Survey research among middle eastern immigrant groups in the United States: Iranians in Los Angeles. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 23, 23–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bozorgmehr, M., & Sabagh, G. (1998). Emergent ethnicity: Iranians in Los Angeles. ISSR Quarterly, 3, 7–10 (coauthor with G. Sabagh and I. Light).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bozorgmehr, M., & Douglas, D. (2011). Success(ion): Second-Generation Iranian Americans. Iranian Studies, 44, 3–24. doi:10.1080/00210862.2011.524047.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bozorgmehr, M., & Waldinger, R. (1996). Ethnic Los Angeles. New York: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2000). The rise of the network society. The information age: Economy, society and culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, E. G. (2010). Ethnographic approaches to digital media. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39, 487–505. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. (1992). City of Quartz: Excavating the future in Los Angeles. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doostdar, A. (2004). “The vulgar spirit of blogging”: On language, culture, and power in persian weblogestan. American Anthropologist, 106, 651–662. doi:10.1525/aa.2004.106.4.651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feher, S. (1998). From the rivers of Babylon to the valleys of Los Angeles: The exodus and adaptation of Iranian Jews. In S. Warner & J. Wittner (Eds.), Gatherings in diaspora: Religious communities and the new immigration (p. 409). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, D. M. (2004). Imagining Los Angeles: A city in fiction. Reno: University of Nevada Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gans, H. J. (1992). Second-generation decline: Scenarios for the economic and ethnic futures of the post-1965 American immigrants. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 15, 173–192. doi:10.1080/01419870.1992.9993740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghorashi, H. (2002). Ways to survive, battles to win: Iranian women exiles in the Netherlands and United States. New York: Nova Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghorashi, H. (2005). Agents of change or passive victims: The impact of welfare states (the Case of the Netherlands) on refugees. Journal of Refugee Studies, 18, 181–198. doi:10.1093/refuge/fei020.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghorashi, H., & Boersma, K. (2009). The “Iranian Diaspora” and the new media: From political action to humanitarian help. Development and Change, 40, 667–691. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.2009.01567.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glick Schiller, N., & Fouron, G. E. (2001). Georges woke up laughing: Long-distance nationalism and the search for home (American Encounters/Global Interactions). Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hendelman-Baavur, L. (2007). Promises and perils of weblogistan: Online personal journals and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Middle East Review of International Affairs, 11, 77–93. Article 6/8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hine, C. (2000). Virtual ethnography. London: Sage Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hine, C. (2015). Ethnography for the Internet: Embedded, embodied and everyday. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horst, H. A., & Miller, D. (Eds). (2012). Digital anthropology (English ed.). London and New York: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jalali, B. (2005). Iranian families. In M. McGoldrick, N. Garcia-Preto, & J. Giordano (Eds.), Ethnicity and family therapy (3rd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, R., et al. (1993). Irangeles: Iranians in Los Angeles. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, P. (2009). Roots and routes: Understanding the lives of the second generation transnationally. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35, 1225–1242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, P., & Schiller, N. G. (2004). Concentualizing simultaneity: A transnational social fields perspective on society. International Migration Review, 38, 595–629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, P., & Schiller, N. G. (2006). Conceptualizing simultaneity: A transnational social field perspective on society. International Migration Review, 38, 1002–1039. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00227.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, P., & Waters, M. (2002). Introduction in the changing face of home: The transnational lives of the second generation. New York: Russel Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacCloud, A. B. (2006). Transnational Muslims in American society. Gainsville: University Press of Florida. http://books.google.nl/books/about/Transnational_Muslims_in_American_societ.html?id=PSR0QgAACAAJ&pgis=1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maghbouleh, N. (2010). “Inherited nostalgia” among second-generation Iranian Americans: A case study at a Southern California University. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 31, 199–218. doi:10.1080/07256861003606382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maghbouleh, N. (2012). Iranian American youth and the limits of assimilation. Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahdi, A. A. (1998). Ethnic identity among second-generation Iranians in the United States. Iranian Studies, 31, 77–95. doi:10.1080/00210869808701897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahon, M. (2000). The visible evidence of cultural producers. Annual Review of Anthropology, 29, 467–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malecki, E. J. (2009). The economic geography of the Internet’s infrastructure. Economic Geography, 78, 399–424. doi:10.1111/j.1944-8287.2002.tb00193.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malek, A. (2006). Memoir as Iranian exile cultural production: A case study of Marjane Satrapi’s persepolis series. Iranian Studies, 39, 353–380. doi:10.1080/00210860600808201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcus, G. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, V. (2007). Children of the “Idea of Palestine” 1: Negotiating Identity, Belonging and Home in the Palestinian Diaspora. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 28, 271–285. doi:10.1080/07256860701429709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAuliffe, C. (2007). A home far away? Religious identity and transnational relations in the iranian diaspora. Global Networks, 7, 307–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mobasher, M. (2006). Cultural trauma and ethnic identity formation among Iranian immigrants in the United States. The American Behavioral Scientist, 50, 100–117. doi:10.1177/0002764206289656.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Modarres, A. (1998). Settlement patterns of Iranians in the United States. Iranian Studies, 31, 31–49. doi:10.1080/00210869808701894.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naficy, H. (1993). The making of exile cultures: Iranian television in Los Angeles. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narayan, K. (1993). How native is a “Native” anthropologist? American Anthropologist, 95, 671–686. doi:10.1525/aa.1993.95.3.02a00070.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Negroponte, N. (1995). Being digital. New York: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pink, S., Horst, H., Postill, J., et al. (2015). Digital ethnography: Principles and practice. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Postill, J. (2012). Digital politics and political engagement. In H. Horst & D. Miller (Eds.), Digital anthropology. London: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Postill, J., & Pink, S. (2012). Social media ethnography: The digital researcher in a messy web. Media International Australia, 123–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powdermaker, H. (1951). Hollywood: The dream factory. London: Secker and Warburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romo, R. (1983). East Los Angeles: History of a barrio. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabagh, G., & Bozorgmehr, M. (1987). Are the characteristics of exiles different from immigrants? The case of Iranians in Los Angeles. Sociology and Social Research, 71(2), 77–84. http://www.popline.org/node/346425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassen, S. (1995). On concentration and centrality in the global city. In P. L. Knox & P. J. Taylor (Eds.), World cities in a world-system (p. 335). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shakhsari, S. (2011). Weblogistan goes to war: Representational practices, gendered soldiers and neoliberal entrepreneurship in diaspora. Feminist Review, 99, 6–24. doi:10.1057/fr.2011.35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sreberny, A. (2000). Media and diasporic consciousness: An exploration among Iranians in London. In S. Cottle (Ed.), Ethnic minorities & the media: Changing cultural boundaries (p. 251). London: McGraw-Hill International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sreberny, A. (2001). The role of media in diasporic practices of cultural communities. In T. Bennett (Ed.), Differing diversities: Transversal study on the theme of cultural policy and cultural diversity. Strasbourgh Cedex: Council of Europe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sreberny, A., & Khiabany, G. (2010). Blogistan: The Internet and politics in Iran. London: I.B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, Z. (2001). Exiled memories: Stories of Iranian diaspora. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, A. M. (2001a). Network cities and the global structure of the internet. American Behavioral Scientist, 44(10), 1697–1716. doi:10.1177/00027640121957998.

  • Townsend, A. M. (2001b). The Internet and the rise of the new network cities, 1969–1999. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 28, 39–58. doi:10.1068/b2688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, F. (2010). From counterculture to cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the whole earth network, and the rise of digital utopianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zandbergen, D. (2011). New edge. Technology and spirituality in the San Francisco Bay Area. Doctoral dissertation.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Alinejad, D. (2017). Introduction. In: The Internet and Formations of Iranian American-ness. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47626-1_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47626-1_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47625-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47626-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics