CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Modares Mousavi Behbahani, Zahra |
|---|---|
| Title | Transnational Migration and Identity Construction: A Comparative Case Study of Female Iranian Migrants Marjane Satrapi and Parsua Bashi s Graphic Memoirs |
| Summary | The objective of this study is to investigate the process of identity construction of middle-class female Iranian migrants in the contexts of both the home and the host societies. For this purpose, two graphic memoirs titled Persepolis and Nylon Road, written respectively by Marjane Satrapi and Parsua Bashi, two female Iranian Migrants to Europe, were chosen. Through a close reading of these texts which includes both visual and verbal analysis, this study attempts to demonstrate how the two authors and their protagonists (re)negotiate their identity in different contexts. The analytical chapters are focused on the situation in the sending and in the receiving societies, analyzing the dominant strategies for constructing group identities both in each respective country through obligatory veiling and reformation of family law, and through racism and ethnicization. As a result it is suggested in the thesis that the two autobiographers face specific imposed identities in both contexts, which is also reflected in their work and the way they represent their main characters. In both cases the bi-directional situation of transnational migration makes female migrants’ identities continuously shaped and (re)constructed in relation to both cultures. Thus a hybrid identity is formed which allows for more complex understanding of both home and host cultures. Such a migrant is not choosing between the two, but attempts to preserve access to the preferred values of both cultures, as well as a critical perspective on repressive social practices of both societies. |
| Supervisor | Lukic, Jasmina |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/modares_sahar.pdf |
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