Möchten Sie über diese Zeitschrift informiert bleiben? Klicken Sie bitte auf die Buttons, um unsere Alerts zu abonnieren.
Möchten Sie über diese Zeitschrift informiert bleiben? Klicken Sie bitte auf die Buttons, um unsere Alerts zu abonnieren.
The Rejection of Origin
Iranians of African Descent’s Social Identity Negotiation in Iran
in Diaspora StudiesSearch for other papers by Reza Bagheri in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Atefeh Toghyani in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
In James Baldwin’s famous words, ‘we [Black Africans] cannot escape our origins, however hard we try; those origins contain the key—could we but find it—to all that we later become’. In the Iranian context, however, individuals of African descent often reject their origins outright, embracing new identities in pursuit of social acceptance. Despite the profound implications of this phenomenon, scholarly analyses of their identity negotiations remain scarce, leaving critical nuances underexplored. This study draws on 30 semistructured qualitative interviews conducted in 2023 with Afro-Iranians across several cities in southern and northern Iran. Drawing on these interviews, this paper examines the foundation of ‘Iranian’ national identity from the perspective of Afro-Iranians. It underscores that, for most participants, Iranian national identity is primarily rooted in civic values rather than racial or ethnic markers, fostering a strong sense of belonging to Iranian national and local identities.
Kauf
Sofortzugang erwerben (PDF-Download und unbegrenzter Online-Zugang):
Institutszugang
Melden Sie sich mit Open Athens, Shibboleth oder Ihren institutionellen Anmeldedaten an.
Persönliche Anmeldung
Melden Sie sich mit Ihrem brill.com-Konto an
-
Afshar, I. 1373. Kuzestan va Tamadon-e Dirineye An, Tehran: Printing and Publishing Organization of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance [In Farsi language].
-
Ali, S.S. 1996. The African Dispersal in the Deccan from Medieval to Modem Times, Hyderabad: Orient Longman.
-
Ameli, S.R. and A. Merali. 2004. British Muslims’ Expectation of the Government; Dual Citizenship: British, Islamic or Both; Obligation, Recognition, and Belonging, London: Islamic Human Right Commission.
-
Asante, M. 2007. ‘Events contributing to the ideological origins of chattel slavery’, in Slavery Remembrance Day Memorial Lecture 2007. National Museums Liverpool. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/resources/origins_chattel_slavery.aspx, Accessed 17.11.2018.
-
Aymer, S.R. 2016. ‘“I can’t breathe”: A Case Study—Helping Black Men Cope with Race-Related Trauma Stemming from Police Killing and Brutality’, Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 26: 367–376.
-
Bagheri, R. and E. Chavoshi. 2020. ‘The Basis of Iran’s Civic Identity; Afro-Iranians’ Social Identity in Iran’, Politics Quarterly, 50 (2): 459–481 [In Farsi language].
-
Baghoolizadeh, B. 2024. The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
-
Baldwin, J. 1955. Notes of a Native Son, Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
-
Basu, H. 2002. ‘Indian sidi-African Diaspora: A query’, Paper presented at the Conference on Cultural Exchange and Transformation in the Indian Ocean World, UCLA, Los Angeles.
-
Beeman, W.O. 2018. ‘Understanding the Zār: An African-Iranian healing dance ritual’, Anthropology of the Middle East, 13 (1): 69–81.
-
Bhabha, J. 1998. ‘Get Back to Where You Once Belonged: Identity, Citizenship and Exclusion in Europe’, Human Rights Quarterly, 20 (3): 592–627.
-
Black Lives Matter. 2019. Official website, https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/. Accessed 17.12.2019.
-
Boomgaard, P. 2005. ‘Human Capital, Slavery and Low Rates of Economic and Population Growth in Indonesia 1600–1910’, in Campbell, G. ed. Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia, London: Routledge, pp. 83–96.
-
Cobb, J. 2016. ‘The Matter of Black Lives’, The New Yorker, 14 March. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/14/where-is-black-lives-matter-headed. Accessed 17.11.2018.
-
Ember, M., C. Ember and L. Skoggard. 2005. Encyclopedia of Diasporas, Cham: Springer.
-
Esposito, J. 2011. What Every One Needs to Know about Islam, 2nd ed, New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Gilroy, P. 1987. There Ain’t no Black in the Union Jack, London: Hutchinson.
-
Guiley, R. 2009. The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology, New York: Infobase Publishing.
-
Hall, S. 1992. ‘The Question of Cultural Identity’, in Hall, S., Held, D. and McGrew, T. eds. Modernity and its Futures. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 273–326.
-
Harris, E.J. 1971. The African presence in Asia; Consequences of the East African Slave Trade, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
-
Harris, E.J. 1993. ‘Africans in Asia’, in Harris, J.E. ed. Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora, Washington, DC: Howard University Press.
-
Hogg, M.A. and D. Abrams. 1998. Social Identifications: A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes, London: Routledge.
-
Hopkins, P. 2007. ‘“Blue Squares”, “Proper” Muslims and Transnational Networks: Narratives of National and Religious Identities Amongst Young Muslims Men Living in Scotland’, Ethnicities, 7 (1): 61–81.
-
Hopkins, P. 2008. ‘Politics, Race and Nation: The Difference that Scotland Makes’, in Dwyer, C. and Bressey, C. eds. New Geographies of Race and Racism, Burlington: Ashgate, pp. 113–124.
-
Ifekwunigwe, J. 2003. ‘Scattered Belongings: Reconfiguring the African in the English-African Diaspora’, in Koser, K. ed. New African Diaspora, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 56–70.
-
Jacobson, J. 1997. ‘Religion and Ethnicity: Dual and Alternative Sources of Identity among Young British Pakistanis’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 20 (2): 238–256.
-
Juliana, M.H., A. Brown and K. Cox. 2019. ‘The role of race and ethnicity in Americans’ personal lives’, Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/04/09/the-role-of-race-and-ethnicity-in-americans-personal-lives/.
-
Kababi, S. 2007. ‘Sarzaminha-yi shumali Piramoun-e-Khalij Fars-va-Daryay-e-Omman’, Tehran: Amirkabir Publication [In Farsi language].
-
Kallio, H., A.-M. Pietilä, M. Johnson and M. Kangasniemi. 2016. ‘Systematic Methodological Review: Developing a Framework for a Qualitative Semi-Structured Interview Guide’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72 (12): 2954–2965. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13031.
-
Katz, W. 1967. Eyewitness; The Negro in American History, New York: Pitman Publishing.
-
Khosronejad, P. 2017. ‘In the Absence of Fieldwork’, Anthropology of the Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia, 4 (1): 56–96.
-
Kidd, S. and L. Jamieson. 2011. Experience of Muslims Living in Scotland, Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/344206/0114485.pdf Accessed 10.06/.013.
-
Kiely, R., F. Bechhofer, R. Stewart and D. McCrone. 2001. ‘The Markers and Rules of Scottish National Identity’, The Sociological Review, 49 (1): 33–55.
-
Kolchin, P. 1993. American Slavery: 1619–1877, New York: Hill and Wang.
-
Lee, A.A. 2012. ‘Enslaved African Women in Nineteenth-Century Iran: The Life of Fezzeh Khanom of Shiraz’, Iranian Studies, 45 (3), 417–437. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41445217.
-
Lee, A.A. 2021. ‘Ziba Khanum of Yazd: An enslaved African woman in nineteenth-century Iran’, African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 14 (2): 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/17528631.2021.1924512.
-
Lewis, B. 1990. Race and Slavery in the Middle East; An Historical Enquiry, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Marefat, S. 2013. ‘Slaves in Persian Poetry Investigation of Allegorical Tales about Slaves from Sanai to Qasim Anwar’, Persian Language and Literature, 21 (75): 111–128. http://jpll.khu.ac.ir/article-1-1897-fa.html.
-
McLeod, N. 2016. ‘Race, Rebellion, and Arab Muslim Slavery: The Zanj Rebellion in Iraq, 869–883C.E.’, MA thesis: University of Louisville. https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Accessed 15.12.2019.
-
Mirzai, B. 2002. ‘African Presence in Iran: Identity and its reconstruction in the 19th and 20th centuries’, Outre-Mers: Revue d’histoire, 89 (336–337): 229–246.
-
Mirzai, B. 2014. ‘Identity Transformations of African Communities in Iran’, in Potter, L.G. ed. The Persian Gulf in Modern Times, Oxford, New York and Toronto: Routledge, pp. 351–376.
-
Mirzai, B. 2017. A History of Slavery and Emancipation in Iran 1800–1929, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
-
Mozaffarian, R. 2013. Tigh-o-Sonnat, Paris: Naakojaa Publication [In Farsi language].
-
Nurbakhsh, H. 1359. Bander-e Kang, Bandar Abbas: Moalef [In Farsi language].
-
Phinney, J. 2003. ‘Ethnic Identity and Acculturation’, in Chun, K., Organista, P. and Marin, P. eds. Acculturation: Advances in Theory, Measurement and Applied Research, Washington, DC: American Psychology Association, pp. 63–81.
-
Pirniya, H. 1306. Iran Bastani, Tehran: National Assembly Publications [In Farsi language].
-
Popovic, A. 2011. The Revolt of African Slaves in Iraq in the 3rd/9th Century, Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers.
-
Pulley, A. 2016. ‘Black Struggle is not a Sound Bite: Why I Refuse to Meet with President Obama’, Truth Out, 18 February. https://truthout.org/articles/black-struggle-is-not-a-sound-bite-why-i-refused-to-meet-with-president-obama/ Accessed 17.11.2018.
-
Ricks, T. 2008. ‘Slaves and Slave Traders in the Persian Gulf, 18th and 19th Centuries: An Assessment’, Slavery and Abolition, 9 (3): 60–70.
-
Robinson, L. 2009. ‘Cultural Identity and Acculturation Preferences among South Asian Adolescents in Britain: An Exploratory Study’, Children and Society, 23 (6): 442–454.
-
Saeed, A., N. Blain and D. Forbes. 1999. ‘New Ethnic and National Questions in Scotland: Post-British Identities among Glasgow Pakistan Teenagers’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22 (5): 821–844.
-
Schneider, D. and C. Schneider. 2007. Slavery in America, New York: Facts On File.
-
Shaban, M.A. and M. Karimi. 1384. ‘Zanj Uprising; Slaves’ Revolt or A Racial Rebellion’, History in the Mirror of Research, 6 [In Farsi language].
-
Shafiee, M.A. 2018. ‘Black Social Movements in the USA: The Case of Black Lives Matter’, Master’s thesis: University of Tehran.
-
Sherriff, A. 2005. ‘The Slave Trade and its Fallout in the Persian Gulf’, in Campbell, G. ed. Abolition and Its Aftermath in the Indian Ocean Africa and Asia. London: Routledge, pp. 95–109.
-
Tajfel, H. 1972. ‘Some Developments in European Social Psychology’, European Journal of Social Psychology, 2 (3): 307–321.
-
Tajfel, H. and J.C. Turner. 1979. ‘An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict’, in Austin, W.G. and Worchel, S. eds. The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Inc., pp. 33–37.
-
Tajfel, H. and J.C. Turner. 1986. ‘The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behaviour’, in Worchel, S. and Austin, W. eds. Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall, pp. 7–24.
-
Turner, J.C., J.P. Oakes, S.A. Haslam and C. McGarty, C. 1994. ‘Self and Collective: Cognition and Social Context’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20 (5): 454–463.
-
Worden, N. 2005. ‘Indian Ocean Slavery and Its Demise in the Cape Colony’, in Campbell, G. ed. Abolition and Its Aftermath in the Indian Ocean Africa and Asia, London: Routledge, pp. 26–45.
-
Ysseldyk, R., K. Matheson and H. Anisman. 2010. ‘Religiosity as Identity: Toward an Understanding of Religion from a Social Identity Perspective’, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14 (1): 60–71.
| Insgesamt | Letzte 365 Tage | In den letzten 30 Tagen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen | 209 | 209 | 38 |
| Gesamttextansichten | 11 | 11 | 1 |
| PDF-Downloads | 17 | 17 | 0 |
The Rejection of Origin
Iranians of African Descent’s Social Identity Negotiation in Iran
in Diaspora StudiesSearch for other papers by Reza Bagheri in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Atefeh Toghyani in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
In James Baldwin’s famous words, ‘we [Black Africans] cannot escape our origins, however hard we try; those origins contain the key—could we but find it—to all that we later become’. In the Iranian context, however, individuals of African descent often reject their origins outright, embracing new identities in pursuit of social acceptance. Despite the profound implications of this phenomenon, scholarly analyses of their identity negotiations remain scarce, leaving critical nuances underexplored. This study draws on 30 semistructured qualitative interviews conducted in 2023 with Afro-Iranians across several cities in southern and northern Iran. Drawing on these interviews, this paper examines the foundation of ‘Iranian’ national identity from the perspective of Afro-Iranians. It underscores that, for most participants, Iranian national identity is primarily rooted in civic values rather than racial or ethnic markers, fostering a strong sense of belonging to Iranian national and local identities.
| Insgesamt | Letzte 365 Tage | In den letzten 30 Tagen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen | 209 | 209 | 38 |
| Gesamttextansichten | 11 | 11 | 1 |
| PDF-Downloads | 17 | 17 | 0 |
