IAAB's main project for 2003-2004 was the first annual International Conference on the Iranian Diaspora, which took place in Wellesley College and Tufts University in Boston, MA on April 17-18, 2004. The 2004 conference marked the beginning of a discussion about who the Iranian diaspora is, where we come from, where we are headed, and how we can work together to get there.

Read articles written about the conference in our Archives.

Video clips of the 2004 IAAB conference, as well as the Conference DVD, will be available soon; please check back!

Conference Schedule

Day 1: Saturday, April 17, 2004, Wellesley College, Jewett Auditorium

Ongoing art exhibition by: Houman Mortazavi, Jairan Sadeghi, and Asasin

Opening Remarks by Narges Bajoghli and Nikoo Paydar

Panel 1: Who Are We? Where Do We Come From? And, How Do We Define Ourselves?
Moderator: Leyla Pope

• Dr. Maboud Ansari, William Paterson University, The Making of the Iranian Community in America

• Mohammad Hafezi, Iranian Studies Group (MIT), Achievements of the Diaspora

• Dr. Mehdi Bozorgmehr, City University of New York, An Assessment of Iranians After a Generation in the United

• States Elham Gheytanchi, Santa Monica College, Iranian Communities in Diaspora
  
  

Panel 2: Twenty-five Years Later: Are We Still Guests in Our Societies? Learning to Engage in Civil Society and Making Our Voices Heard
Moderator: Amy Malek, New York University

• Dr. Ali Modarres, California State University, Settlement patterns of Iranians in the U.S.

• Dr. Zohreh Niknia, University of California Berkeley, Visiting Scholar, Iranian Immigrant Women's Labor Force Participation: An Entangled and Gendered Process

• Stephanie Gallbrecht, Bremen University, Comparison Between "Stranger in Society" and a "Lost" Generation

• Trita Parsi, National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), The Iranian Communities' Involvement in Civil Society

 

Workshops: (in smaller groups):

• Political Participation; led by NIAC (Dokhi Fassihian and Trita Parsi)

• Media's role in the formation of diasporic identities and notions of dissent; led by Niki Akhavan, University of California at Santa Cruz

• Iranian studies; a panel of students' research
  

• • Jian Khodadad, Georgetown University, Tahirih Qurratu'l-Ayn: Inaugurator of the Iranian Women's Movement, and Her Significance in Contemporary Iran

• • Pardis Ansari, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc., The Multiple Roles of Women in Shaping Perceptions of Career Opportunities from Globalization in Iran and the United States

• • Sara Moussavi, University of Maryland, College Park Developmentof a Culturally Competent Educational Program for Mothers in Zabol, Iran to Address Issues of Childhood Diarrhea and Malnutrition

• "The Tree that Remembers"; Film screening followed by discussion led by Jairan Sadeghi, Carnegie Mellon University

• Socio-political Responsibilities and Activism in America Today; led by Mahdis Keshavarez

Panel 3: How did Mohammad Become "Mo"?: Forming our Identities
Moderator: Ramin Bajoghli, Boston University

• Behzad Ghotb, York University, Diaspora, Islam, and Gender

• Dr. Arlene Dallalfar, Lesley College, Social identity and Iranian Communities in the U.S.

• Taghi Amirani, independent filmmaker, Film screening: "Tehrangeles" and "Gaga over Googoosh"
  
  

Evening event: Concert by Haale at Bayside Expo, also featuring DJ Delbar

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Day Two: Sunday, April 18, 2004: Tufts University, Cohen Auditorium

Panel 1

Moderator: Sogole Moin, Wellesley College

Part 1: Second Generation Iranians: Issues with Identity Building

• Dr. Ali Akbar Mahdi, Ohio Wesleyan University, Second Generation Iranians: Questions and Concerns

• Dr. Zohreh Sullivan, University of Illinois, Reflecting on "Exiled Memories"

Part 2: Beyond BMW's, Armani, and Cell Phones: Dissecting the "Persian Mafia"

• Amitra Mamdouhi, University of Virginia, Building My Identity as an Iranian and African-American through Poetry

• Bijan Khoshnood, Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union, Self-Made Iranian

• Haale Gafori, Vocalist and Composer, Culture as Homeland

• Neda Zarraby, Architect, Best of Both Worlds

Panel 2: Going Back (Home?): Building Alliances in Iran
Moderators: Narges Bajoghli, Wellesley College, and Nikoo Paydar, Tufts University

• Babak Namazi, Atieh Associates Law Firm, Iran, Sixteen Years Later

• Nina Aghabeikzadeh, Independent Artist, Butterflies Behind the Cocoon

• Leyla Pope, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Double Vision: Seeing the World Through Two Cultures at Once

• Neda Toloui-Semnani

Closing Remarks