Iran, America and Iranian American Community in Firoozeh Jazayeri Dumas’ Funny in Farsi

• Main Authors: Zohreh Ramin, Muhammad Sayyaf Jalalizadeh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Petra Christian University 2014-01-01
• Series: K@ta: A Biannual Publication on the Study of Language and Literature
• Subjects: Postcolonial identity; demonization; hybridity; post 9/11
• Online Access: http://puslit2.petra.ac.id/ejournal/index.php/ing/article/view/19361

Post 9/11 the United States of America concerns the reconstruction of already demonized identities of Arabs and Middle-eastern cultures. Postcolonial works reside in their rendering a tragic or serious image of Middle Easterners to bring the Western (American) audience into sympathizing with the Middle Eastern ethnicities. Could it be the case that a fundamentally humorous (not derogatory) depiction might contribute to easing such cultural tensions? Firoozeh Jazayeri Dumas’ works stand out as critically acclaimed and successful works familiarizing the American audience with the more humane, likeable, sweet and funny aspects of the Iranians and Iranian culture, and the hardships of being an Iranian immigrant and becoming a hybrid individual. This article explores the already-hybridized self and psyche of Firoozeh as an Iranian American. She writes about her mother land and her residence country and comparing the way she has written about them can help readers understand how one can make peace between different parts of her identity.