October 10, 2024
Mahsa Hashemi

Mahsa Hashemi

Academic Rank: Assistant professor
Address:
Degree: Ph.D in English Language and Literature
Phone: 077
Faculty: Faculty of Humanities

Research

Title
Memory, Diaspora, and Cultural Hybridity in Firoozeh Dumas’s Funny in Farsi and Laughing without an Accent
Type Thesis
Keywords
Diaspora, Humor, Hybridity, Identity, Memory Studies
Researchers Bahareh Rafati (Student) , Mahsa Hashemi (Advisor)

Abstract

As a second-generation immigrant author, Firoozeh Dumas’ Funny in Farsi and Laughing Without an Accent, as autobiographical memoirs, provide a rare opportunity to understand the process whereby a hybrid psyche is constructed. Dumas’s memoirs were chosen due to their concentration on the matter of diaspora and identity. Therefore, the focal point of this thesis is analyzing the main points of difference between the identity and psyche of first-generation immigrants as opposed to the second-generation and to understand how the different barriers of language and culture affect each of these groups. Since Dumas’ books are autobiographical and have used humor as their main literary device, it has become imperative to further analyze the effect of humor in memory studies. To better understand this difference between generations and the process by which this difference occurs, through a close reading of the text, elements that were witness to the hybridity of the psyche in the secondgeneration immigrants are identified, and comparison is made between the different approaches of these two generations to the shift in their cultural settings. As an effort to understand the consequences of diaspora on the development of the identity, a postcolonial reading of these autobiographical is conducted with a focus on notions such as ‘Orientalism’, ‘Third-space’, and ‘Hybridity’ as introduced by Homi Bhabha and Edwards Said. It is observed that as part of their coping mechanism, the firstgeneration immigrants would display mimesis of the culture and social setting of the host country through which a resistance towards complete acceptance is visible, whereas for the second-generation it is no longer a matter of resistance but one of integration. This integration proves the existence of psychological hybridity within the second-generation causing their alienation from both cultural spheres to which they belong and drives them to a longing for a ‘third-space’ in which elements of both