Farahani, Fataneh, Post Doc

By Malena Gustavson on 21 Jul | 0 comments

 
Fataneh Farahani has a PhD in ethnology and teaches at Stockholm University and Södertörns University Collage, Sweden.

Her academic publication includes, among others, her doctoral thesis; Diasporic Narratives of Sexuality: Identity Formation among Iranian- Swedish woman which is an ethnographical account of sexuality among Iranian women living in Sweden. Fataneh’s thesis was awarded for 2007 best dissertation of faculty of humanity at Stockholm University. Fataneh has also published a variety of articles in different anthologies and journals. The topics of her interest and teaching are primarily on sexuality, diasporic studies, feminist postcolonial theories, masculinity studies, whiteness studies, multiculturalism and Islam. Moreover, recently Fataneh was awarded a prestigious 2008 Endeavour Research Fellowship from the Australian Federal Government to undertake a Postdoctoral Research program at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). The visiting fellowship covers six months. Therefore, She will be in Sydney during July-December 2008.

GEXCEL PROJECT
Cultural and Racial Politics of Representation: A Study of Diasporic Masculinities among Iranian Men Living in Stockholm and London

Building upon my doctoral thesis, Diasporic Narratives of Sexuality: Identity Formation among Iranian- Swedish Women (Farahani 2007), for my postdoctoral research I seek to examine the under-researched area of (re)presentation of masculinity and sexuality of Iranian men living in two heterogeneous European cities; Stockholm and London. For the purposes of this research I seek to investigate (a) the effect of Iranian Islamic culture and socialization, (b) migration or displacement experiences on the men’s practices of masculinity and sexuality, and (c) how these influences may complicate their (re)presentation and perceptions of their masculinities and sexual experiences.

This research aims to provide further understandings of the processes of identity construction among diasporic Iranian men, in particular their (re)negotiation of masculinity, sexuality and subjectivity as they shift across multiple boundaries within historically specific, yet contingent and relational, social contexts. I will develop how cultural, religious and orientalist representations of masculinity and sexuality of Middle Eastern men are articulated in their narration of their daily experiences. Based on ethnographical accounts, this research will provide knowledge on how masculinity is not only constructed in a power relation with femininity but always in relation to various forms of masculinities. The theoretical platform of this project stems from different threads and will in intersecting ways shape the framework of this study.

The proposed research will engage mainly into the following themes: Sexuality; love and Social Theory; Power and Politics: A feminist View. While having masculinity theories at the centre of my focus, the following perspectives will help me to examine masculinity of Iranian-Swedish and Iranian-British men: Foucauldian discursive analysis of power and sexuality, postcolonial perspectives and theories on diaspora. Although the primarily empirical portion of this research will be based on the interviews, the analytical portion of the research will stem from a diverse array of scholarly and non-scholarly works. As a way of bringing together multidisciplinary research, in addition to conducting the interviews, I will attend a variety of Iranian cultural and social gatherings in Stockholm. I will also follow the local Persian language TV and radio programs, books, journals, and on line magazines and newspapers. Therefore, I consider them the secondary empirical material for this study.