Meet the Director

IAAB is proud to introduce Camp Ayandeh’s new Director, Shirin Vossoughi, PhD. Dr. Vossoughi joined the Camp Ayandeh team in 2010 for Camp’s 5th Anniversary.  As a lead-facilitator, Dr. Vossoughi played a large role in shaping and strengthening the curriculum.  In her role as the Director of Camp Ayandeh, Dr. Vossoughi will further develop the curriculum of Camp and help be at the forefront of Ayandeh’s expansion this summer.  Dr. Vossoughi received her PhD in Education from UCLA, studying the creative development of humanizing educational contexts for migrant and immigrant students. Dr. Vossoughi is currently a lecturer and teacher-educator at UCLA, where she focuses on the anthropology of literacy, human development, and social change.

“As an educator, I was inspired by Camp Ayandeh’s efforts to create an inclusive environment where young Iranian Americans can connect with one another, make sense of our shared experiences, and develop as leaders,” Dr. Vossoughi says of her experience during the 2010 Camp.  “I was especially drawn to the open, familial spirit of a space created by young Iranian American adults for Iranian American youth.”

Environments like Camp Ayandeh are especially essential in today “in the face of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment, the demonization of Middle Eastern and Muslim communities, and the increasing standardization of school curriculum,” says Dr. Vossoughi.  Spaces like Camp Ayandeh “affirm hybridity as a bi-cultural strength rather than a deficit. We are not ‘in-between’ cultures, we are our own place, concretized in the hybrid environment, practices, language, music, dance, and laughter of Camp,” notes Dr. Vossoughi.

Shirin Vossoughi's Vision for Camp Ayandeh 2011

This year, I am excited to continue learning from and building on Camp Ayandeh’s success. For 2011, we are developing a curriculum that invites campers to reflect on their history and their place in the Iranian diaspora, while working to build solidarity across difference. Through cultural and historical workshops, trust-building and leadership activities, campers will identify and develop responses to the issues they see affecting young people in the Iranian-American community. This includes working together to interrogate negative images, construct more humanizing narratives, and practice various forms of leadership.

For us, leaders are speakers, organizers, facilitators, and mentors, as well as writers, listeners, friends, artists, thinkers, historical and everyday actors. Leaders ask questions about the world as it is and work to build the world as it could be. Through a number of special guests, writing workshops, and artistic activities, we also aim to situate our Iranian-American experiences in a broader historical and global context, generating dialogue with other immigrant and diasporic communities. Borrowing from the Latin American tradition of “Teatro,” originated by Brazilian educator Augosto Boal, these activities will culminate in a series of theatrical projects that will be filmed and archived as resources for the future.

In this spirit, we are especially excited to help campers brainstorm ways of taking the tools and experiences from Camp back to their communities, to create new spaces that ripple out beyond the summer. Personally, as an Iranian-American who continues to make sense of my place in the world, I feel deeply honored to participate in Camp, and to make use of my education and training in a context that feels like home. I originally joined Ayandeh as a facilitator but ended up learning much more from the amazing campers, counselors, and staff. I look forward to another summer of learning and building together.