Second-generation diaspora identity is forged through ironic performance of authentic practices

Evidence

The totality of her performance, which reflected the nature of these US-born young people’s proximity to and distance from authentically Iranian modes of expression, is a creative, empirical example of the “empowering paradox of diaspora.” It is in the tender but ironic performance of taarof, a most “authentically” and uniquely Iranian social practice, that second-generation identity in diaspora was collectively and creatively forged. — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 508

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘empowering paradox of diaspora’ resonates with Homi Bhabha’s mimicry and with the ambivalent cultural repertoire themes in The Reluctant Fundamentalist in my library.