Iranian Culture Focus of Awareness Week

Author Firoozeh Dumas said most Iranians can agree that big noses are a big deal.

In a lecture as humorous as her national best seller, Dumas, a UC Berkeley alumna, talked about her memoir Funny in Farsi yesterday afternoon.

Dumas' visit to campus was part of the first multi-campus Iranian Awareness Week, an effort by the Iranian Student Alliance in America to increase interest and knowledge of Iranian culture.

Through 26 humorous short stories, Dumas chronicles her experiences growing up in the United States after immigrating when she was seven.

Dumas meant for the memoir to be unique in its humorous look at growing up Middle Eastern. She addresses personal issues, from thoughts on the traditionally larger Iranian nose to a retelling of how protesters attacked her family in Washington, D.C.

But she relates the smaller slices of life, like her father's love of free samples, to show how people can share experiences beyond their nationalities.

"I think our commonalities as humans far exceed our differences," Dumas said.

Many Iranian students who attended the lecture identified with Dumas' memoirs.

"We need more stories about Middle Easterners that don't portray them in a negative light," said Hoda Fahimi, a board member of the Iranian Student Alliance in America.

The Iranian Student Alliance in America was founded at UC Berkeley in 2002 to make Iranian-American culture a presence on campus.

"Iranian contemporary history is pretty hidden from mainstream America," said Pouya Alimagham, president of the Iranian Student Alliance in America. "Iran's linguistic and ethnic diversity is also hidden. We wanted to bring awareness about that."

It grew partly out of the frustrations Middle Eastern communities experienced after Sept. 11, 2001, as well. Many of the group's earliest events, including a lecture series, centered around the aftermath of Sept. 11 and its impact on Iranians.

However, this week focused more on the culture of Iran. The club organized an Iranian Language Night to bring to light Iran's diversity in language across its many religions. Among the languages represented at the event were Azari, Kurdish, Arabic and various Persian dialects.

Soraya Gheissari, an Iranian dancer, showed her skills in Iranian dance in the Persian Women's Folk Dance Workshop Saturday.

In the workshop, Gheissari touched on Bandari, Azari and Kurdish dance rhythms and introduced the basic movements of Iranian dance.

Twelve universities across the nation also participated in the awareness week, from nearby Foothill College to those as distant as Harvard and MIT.

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