Persian/American Exceptionalism: Post-9/11 Strategies of Belonging in the Iranian Diaspora through Cultural Production

ABSTRACT Since 9/11, Iranian Americans have challenged their racialization as troublesome terrorists through cultural productions that emphasize how they belong in a multicultural America. In this paper, I argue that these Iranian Americans perform “Persian/American exceptionalism,” a representational strategy that embraces capitalist conspicuous consumption and touts universalist notions of freedom. In so doing, they attempt to erase post-revolutionary Iran and its association with political Islam from the U.S. imaginary as part of an effort to distance themselves from two major flashpoints in U.S.-Middle Eastern history – the Iran Hostage Crisis and September 11th.