The Iranian Studies Initiative at NYU (ISI-NYU) provides an intellectual and academic space for NYU faculty members and graduate students to study Iranian history, culture and society. Supported by the Gallatin School of Individualized Study and the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, ISI-NYU draws on faculty members from departments and centers across the University. Directed by Professor Ali Mirsepassi, ISI-NYU includes a translation service, a lecture series, lunch discussions and other public events, from art exhibitions to film screenings. ISI-NYU reaches out to academics at Columbia University, City University, the New School and Princeton University as well as the rich intellectual and artistic Iranian Diaspora community in New York City in pursuit of its mission to create a central place for the study of Iran.
The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race
A lecture by Neda Maghbouleh, Sociology, University of Toronto
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In this lecture, based on her new book The Limits of Whiteness (2017, Stanford University Press), sociologist Neda Maghbouleh shares the story of how Iranian Americans move across a white/not-white color line in the United States. She documents how teenagers and young adults navigate their ambiguous racial status in childhood homes, American schools and neighborhoods, at a co-ethnic summer camp, and in travels to and from the Iranian "homeland." A century’s worth of neglected historical and legal evidence contextualizes their stories. hinge that opens or closes the door to whiteness.