This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States

by Manijeh Moradian

Overview

In This Flame Within Manijeh Moradian revises conventional histories of Iranian migration to the United States as a post-1979 phenomenon characterized by the flight of pro-Shah Iranians from the Islamic Republic and recounts the experiences of Iranian foreign students who joined a global movement against US imperialism during the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on archival evidence and in-depth interviews with members of the Iranian Students Association, Moradian traces what she calls "revolutionary affects"--the embodied force of affect generated by experiences of repression and resistance--from encounters with empire and dictatorship in Iran to joint organizing with other student activists in the United States. Moradian theorizes "affects of solidarity" that facilitated Iranian student participation in a wide range of antiracist and anticolonial movements and analyzes gendered manifestations of revolutionary affects within the emergence of Third World feminism. Arguing for a transnational feminist interpretation of the Iranian Student Association's legacy, Moradian demonstrates how the recognition of multiple sources of oppression in the West and in Iran can reorient Iranian diasporic politics today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478018810
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	11/29/2022
Pages:	354
Sales rank:	613,372
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Manijeh Moradian is Assistant Professor in the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations  ix
Acknowledgments  xi
Introduction. Before We Were “Terrorists”  1
1. Revolutionary Affects and the Archive of Memory  33
2. Revolt in the Metropole  69
3. Making the Most of an American Education  95
4. The Feeling and Practice of Solidarity  128
5. Political Cultures of Revolutionary Belonging  176
6. Intersectional Anti-Imperialism: Alternative Genealogies of Revolution and Diaspora  215
Conclusion. Revolutionary Affects and the Remaking of Diaspora  247
Notes  275
Bibliography  301
Index  323
 

What People are Saying About This

Persis Karim

“Manijeh Moradian’s This Flame Within is an example of how we should reconsider histories of immigration, transnationalism, and global history. Shedding new light on a generation of Iranian students in the United States who were motivated to pursue a vision that was deeply influenced by anti-imperialism, social justice, and revolution, she beautifully tells the story of Iranians who wanted to change the world and were changed by the struggle to do so. It is exciting to read Moradian’s scholarship and see the essential and grounding arguments for a praxis of solidarity as well as her sharp insights about how events of the past are indeed part of the complexities of the Iranian diaspora today.”

Nadine Naber

“Manijeh Moradian’s groundbreaking analysis of revolutionary affect among Iranian diasporas will transform the study of Third World internationalism in the United States and in fields such as ethnic studies, feminist studies, diaspora studies, and Middle East studies. This Flame Within’s transnational feminist reframing of revolutionary pasts and futures makes it a must-read for anyone interested in politics and social movements.”

Editorial Reviews

"An important and timely history of the Iranian Students Association (ISA) during the Cold War era. . . . Moradian's meticulous close readings of her interlocutors--their words, emotions, and bodily comportments--give readers a sense of the weight that this history holds for her subjects. Her ability to access these communities and forms of knowledge is particularly critical to her arguments on affect."--Ida Yalzadeh "Mashriq & Mahjar" (8/8/2023 12:00:00 AM)

"A useful contribution to the many legacies of the Iranian revolution, and not just of the secular masculine left. Examining This Flame Within allows one to ask how revolutionary knowledge is transmitted across generations, how new generational understandings draw on lessons from historical legacies on which they claim to build, and how so-called defeats and victories in the past actually have complicated and multiple legacies for future action."--Michael M. J. Fischer "Public Books" (10/25/2023 12:00:00 AM)

"This Flame Within takes seriously the power, pleasure, and melancholy of social movements. It would work especially well in upper-level undergraduate and graduate seminars. Moradian's MFA in creative nonfiction and many years of organizing work in progressive feminist of color and anti-war social movements help her construct a beautifully written academic book that is also a generous and tender recording of social history."--Neda Maghbouleh "Gender and Society" (7/1/2023 12:00:00 AM)

"This wonderful book examines the history of the left wing of the Iranian diaspora in the U.S., developing a theory of revolutionary affect in the process. Moradian is a wonderful writer and interviewer who combines analytic sophistication with an unusual kind of political and intellectual generosity."--Lisa Duggan "Commie Pinko Queer newsletter" (5/1/2023 12:00:00 AM)

From the Publisher

"This Flame Within takes seriously the power, pleasure, and melancholy of social movements. It would work especially well in upper-level undergraduate and graduate seminars. Moradian’s MFA in creative nonfiction and many years of organizing work in progressive feminist of color and anti-war social movements help her construct a beautifully written academic book that is also a generous and tender recording of social history."

Gender and Society - Neda Maghbouleh

"A useful contribution to the many legacies of the Iranian revolution, and not just of the secular masculine left. Examining This Flame Within allows one to ask how revolutionary knowledge is transmitted across generations, how new generational understandings draw on lessons from historical legacies on which they claim to build, and how so-called defeats and victories in the past actually have complicated and multiple legacies for future action."

Public Books - Michael M. J. Fischer

"An important and timely history of the Iranian Students Association (ISA) during the Cold War era. . . . Moradian’s meticulous close readings of her interlocutors—their words, emotions, and bodily comportments—give readers a sense of the weight that this history holds for her subjects. Her ability to access these communities and forms of knowledge is particularly critical to her arguments on affect."

Mashriq & Mahjar - Ida Yalzadeh

"This wonderful book examines the history of the left wing of the Iranian diaspora in the U.S., developing a theory of revolutionary affect in the process. Moradian is a wonderful writer and interviewer who combines analytic sophistication with an unusual kind of political and intellectual generosity."

Commie Pinko Queer newsletter - Lisa Duggan