Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Kim Hiller Connell / Acculturation can be a difficult process for many immigrants, and because there is a large number of Iranian immigrants living in the United States (over one million), the focus of this study is to understand how women cope with moving from a country with conservative standards to a more liberal country and the role dress plays in their acculturation process. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to: 1) explore Iranian dress standards and the effect these standards have on Iranian-American women’s lives; 2) gain understanding of the role of dress in women’s transition from Iranians to Iranian-Americans; 3) apply Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs motivational model to the women's acculturation process; and 4) compare two distinct generations of women—women born before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and women born after the Revolution. This study utilized a qualitative approach and collected data through semi-structured interviews with 11 women. The women did not express any traumatic psychological effects caused by the conservative dress standards in Iran. The main impact of the dress standards was the physical discomfort caused by wearing the hijab in hot weather. Dress played a significant role in the women's transitions process. More freedom in dress in the United States has allowed the women to express themselves much more than when they lived in Iran, leading to higher self-esteem and confidence levels. The women expressed a desire to sustain their Iranian heritage, and both generations shared similar perceptions of American dress standards prior to immigrating to the United States. Differences included higher consumption levels by the younger generation and their higher knowledge about the fashion industry and trends. The findings can be useful for Iranian women as they transition to an Iranian-American lifestyle. Additionally, it can also be beneficial to women from other countries who share similar experiences. Furthermore, the results may assist in aiding different organizations which help Iranian women integrate into the U.S. culture. Finally, retailers with target markets similar to the women of this study can use the findings to better understand the habits, needs, motives, and overall consumer behaviors of their clientele.

This dissertation seeks to explore the social reality of Iranians living in the United States. The main objective is to find out how Iranians (Iranian Americans) maintain, construct and perceive their Iranian identity and to identify factors that could intervene in this process. Another aim is to examine intra-diasporic social relations, social interactions with American society and stance towards Iran. To fulfill the purpose of this dissertation, a qualitative research method was applied. The selected qualitative data consisted of thirty-one in-depth interviews with Iranians in New York City and Los Angeles. The results of the research indicated a strong sense of Iranian pride among all respondents, regardless their religious, inner ethnic or generational affiliation. This pride stems from ancient Iranian cultural heritage (and from Pahlavi era that adopted ancient symbolism into its ideological repertoire) and is still kept alive through pre-Islamic symbols and religiously indifferent traditions. It is obvious that the "pure Iranian identity" belongs to the first generation Iranians only, while the 1.5 and second generations, in their self-concept, proved to be rather hyphenated or torn between three spaces (typically young Iranian Jews). Research revealed their identity is oftentimes chosen,...

This thesis is concerned with the concepts of exile, trauma, and nostalgia and how they all come together to create a sense of culture shock that the subjects of my thesis encountered. Azar Nafisi, Nahid Rachlin, Tara Bahrampour, and Azadeh Moaveni, are all Iranian-American authors, and despite their different life experiences and ages, they all encountered culture shock as it related to male-female relations, Iranian gender norms and issues of sex and sexuality and treatments and views of the female body as it relates to reproduction. / text

This dissertation seeks to capture immigrant experiences reflected by Iranian authors living in the USA. The main objective of this literary-historical work is to explore the literary devices used by chosen authors to capture immigrants' memories in selected works of prose. The central theme is the issue of identity, particularly the authors' attitude towards Iran and the USA, and the reflection of individual and collective immigrant identity in the works. Another aim is to show whether the tendency to preserve the Iranian, American or Iranian-American identity prevails. Other tasks also include an identification of bilingual specifics in selected works and consideration of its impact on comprehensiveness of the text. To achieve the purpose of this dissertation, mostly autobiographical or semi-autobiographical literary works were selected, analyzed and interpreted. Relations in the Iranian Diaspora and interaction of Iranian characters with Americans were also scrutinized. Literary and linguistic analysis of selected works from Taqi Modarressi indicates that a mother tongue used by bilingual author can be an important device to confirm and reinforce the collective and individual identity in the Diaspora. Analysis of autobiographical, semi-autobiographical and some works of fiction revealed, that...

No description available.

No description available.

Ce mémoire porte sur les problématiques de la représentativité, de l’occidentalisation et du discours orientaliste dans les mémoires autobiographiques rédigés par des femmes iraniennes vivant actuellement aux États-Unis. Basant nos arguments sur diverses théories critiques post-colonialistes (portant sur l’identité exilée/immigrante, la tradition orientaliste, la représentativité dans le genre autobiographique, l’occidentalisation, etc.), nous questionnerons l’authenticité narrative (et l’intention) des écrivaines irano-états-uniennes en explorant le processus d’assimilation culturelle (voire d’occidentalisation) qui engendre en elles une auto-perception fondamentalement orientaliste. Une fois internalisée par l’écrivaine, ce regard orientaliste est projeté sur le peuple iranien dont elle prétend être la porte-parole sincère et bien-intentionnée. Par contre, notre analyse déconstructiviste des mémoires irano-états-uniens démontre qu’il existe dans ces récits une tendance à renforcer la dichotomie orientaliste dominante (Occident-moderne-supérieur / Orient-arriéré-inférieur). Bien que les écrivaines prétendent de vouloir dévoiler les réalités du pays aux lecteurs et lectrices occidentaux, elles ne font que réitérer les stéréotypes négatifs sur l’Iran – les même stéréotypes d’ailleurs déjà promus par les médias de masse états-uniens. / This paper focuses on the interconnected issues of representation, Westernization, and Orientalist discourse in autobiographical memoirs written by Iranian female writers presently living in the United States. Founding my arguments on various post-colonialist theories (dealing with exile/immigrant identity, Orientalism, the issue of representation in the autobiographical genre, Westernization discourse, etc.), I question the discursive authenticity (and authorial intent) of Iranian-American female writers by exploring the process of cultural assimilation (i.e. Westernization) that engenders within them a fundamentally Orientalist self-perception. Once internalized by the writer, this Orientalist gaze is projected onto the Iranian people, whom the writer claims to be a credible and well-meaning representative of. However, my deconstructionist analysis of Iranian-American memoirs illustrates that these writers only contribute in reinforcing the dominant Orientalist binary (West-modern-superior / East-backwards-inferior). Although the writers claim to unveil the so-called realities of Iranian society to the Western readers, they merely reiterate the same negative stereotypes on Iran already present in American mainstream media.

No description available.

No description available.